JorgeA

More research: According to this website, if you go Settings --> Accounts, then under "Your Account" there will be a clickable option to "Disconnect my Microsoft account." However, the window looks different from what I have in Build 10162, with some different content. The screenshot shown is probably from an earlier build. That means, though. that the functionality could have changed in the meantime too. So I'm hoping that someone who's on 10162 or a later build can confirm that you can still in fact sign out of your Microsoft account and continue to use the computer. --JorgeA

OK, I see that if I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, I get the screen with various options (power off, Task Manager, and so on). One of the options is to "Sign out." So now the question becomes: if you "sign out," can you still work in Windows (10), opening and editing documents, launching a browser, etc., just as if you had never "signed in"? Or is there some functional limitation that kicks in once you sign out? (I do know about using certain Microsoft services that require an account, such as SkyDrive and the Windows Store.) I have no experience with "signing into" any of my computers, so I literally have zero knowledge as to what happens when you sign out. And things might be different with Win10. Can I sign out of Windows 10 and then sign back in to individual services, like I do currently with (for example) the Windows Feedback app? --JorgeA

You don't say! Wi-Fi Sense in Windows 10 could result in privacy and security problems [emphasis added!] This feature hazard was turned on by default on my Win10 test laptop. One intriguing implication of this automated acceptance of terms of use: conceivably, it could weaken the ironclad argument that "you agreed to it, therefore you're subject to it." Realistically speaking, how many Windows 10 users out there will even know that Wi-Fi Sense is automatically connecting them to whatever hotspot it finds -- let alone that they can turn off this function? It's hard to argue that you have consented to terms if you don't even realize that there are terms to consent to. * * * About something else, down in the comments section: --JorgeA

Ever since Build 10162 downloaded and installed, I've been getting periodic reminders (with a little jingle) to "connect" my copy of Win10 to my Microsoft Account. Starting the process soon takes me to a scary-sounding dialog where I'm invited to enter my local password "one last time." So, does anybody know whether -- once you "connect" Win10 and the MSA -- there is any way later to "disconnect" them and return to a local account? Or is it a one-way proposition, like checking into the Hotel California? --JorgeA

You really don't think your life is a bit empty without a connected coffee mug? http://www.pauligmuki.com/index.php?lang=en I guess a lot of people miss gross images and pranks very early in the morning.... ... or maybe the friends and colleagues I ever had are actually (much) worse than average . jaclaz Well, I don't know your friends so I can't confirm or refute this... But it's amazing that somebody has ALREADY thought of a networked coffee mug. Hey, to judge from some of the names associated with that website, it sounds like the mug is Finnish. I wonder how many exiles from the Nokia massacre they have working for them? They do have experience designing connected devices... --JorgeA

Heehee, that would be great! But I "trust" the lawyers over at MSFT to make sure that whatever terms they come up with, end up excluding this very scenario. --JorgeA

The thing is, Win8.1 has more bad parts to avoid than any previous OS by Microsoft. And it seems to need more tweaking than previous OSes in order to get it into good working condition. --JorgeA

I have built hotels with "smart technology" starting some 20 (twenty) years ago, and though admittedly people (average customer) were at the time less "technologically advanced" the end result has always been to have the customer pass much more than 12 minutes on the "smart" control panel, and all in all what was running was a dedicated RTOS embedded (historically proven to be slightly less prone then common Windows OSes to BSOD's ) and everything was cabled (and shielded and - within limits - tamper proof) and OBVIOUSLY completely detached from any external connections. Now, what could happen when you depend on IoT for utilities (given that the "system admin" is your average little hotel manager and there is no end of exploits due to any number of mis-configurations and/or bugs in the actual protocols (let alone the actual software), and additionally all this under the risk of a "forced" update that can, even if "planned" bring down the whole stuff for - say - 4 hours (due to loss of connection to the internet, intervention time of the IT specialist (if any knowledgeable enough actually can intervene and he/she is within 1 hour driving distance) or *whatever* else? Heck, even SCADA systems (usually devised and maintained by someone on average more educated than the average hotel manager) have been hacked, and you are telling me that I should rely for vital things like security (door latches), temperature of hot water, lighting, conditioning system etc. on something that can be jammed by - say - a modified garage door remote and a bunch of AV trasmitters? jaclaz Yup. Very well said. I expect that it will take a number of increasingly damaging hacking incidents to convince the public that this IoT thing isn't such a hot idea, but that eventually they will decide that it's not worth the risk. The reason, in my estimation, is the increasingly marginal value of adding Internet connectivity to common devices and items that have never been so connected. Sure, it makes a huge difference to have a desktop PC that can go on the Web. Ditto for a laptop computer that you can carry around with you, and for a smartphone that you can put in your pocket. These are worth putting up with hackers of various types. We'll carry on and the arms race will continue indefinitely into the future, because we gain so much from worldwide connectivity. But a refrigerator? A toaster? Your lights and home cooling/heating system? Your table, chair, and coffee mug?? The inevitably higher price of covering the cost of connectivity and the decreased level of personal security, added to the increasingly dubious value of the capabilities thus gained, suggest to me that this might be no more than a passing fad as people determine the cost/benefit ratio of the "Internet of Things." --JorgeA

That was funny! Sadly, though, a more likely scenario is that instead of talking with the tech, let alone controlling it, our lives will increasingly be controlled by the tech around us, with the user having little say in how it operates. We may consider the forced automatic updates in Win10 as a preview of this. --JorgeA

Disturbing hints and intimations: Free Windows 10 is not an upgrade … it's marketing. Microsoft goes vague on Windows 10 support .Microsoft to provide free upgrades to Windows 10 for 2 to 4 years The upshot of this sequence of reports is that, conceivably, a Windows 7 or 8.1 user who "upgrades" to Windows 10 in 2015 could see their OS support cut off sooner than if they'd stayed on 7 or 8.1. When that happens, expect MSFT apologists to coldly point out that, "you agreed to Windows 10's terms and conditions, so you have nothing to complain about." You have been warned. --JorgeA

It's been a slow posting week on MSFN. People must be on vacation. Give it a few more days and we'll see what happens. Maybe somebody qualified to comment on the technical aspects of the issue (for sure not me ) will pick this up. --JorgeA

Apple Watch sales plunge 90% I guess that Apple is starting to run out of people with cash to burn who are willing to buy mildly interesting devices at wildly inflated prices... "Internet of Things" fans, take note! --JorgeA

Thanks Trip, that did the trick. Wonder how many millions out there will be faced with this and have no clue what to do about it. And even if they do, unless MSFT fixes it Real Soon it will be another mark against Windows 10 in the public eye. --JorgeA

or: jaclaz That was a very interesting piece, and for even more reasons than you give. The following caught my eye: This reminds me of the Microsoft vision video that some Win10 fanbois tout as the company's ultimate goal for Windows. The Desktop and indeed all traces of any interface would disappear; you would be interacting with the item you're touching, not just physically but also electronically. Then there's this: They do seem to be making progress in that direction (at least in the second half of that sentence), what with their making it ever harder to AVOID signing into your own PC with a Microsoft Account. As to the bit about putting "users in control of their digital lives," that line of propaganda would be more credible if they actually allowed users to customize the Desktop to their liking (think: Aero Glass) and if they allowed users to pick and choose the Windows Updates they want to install. All in all, a fantastic and prescient article. We should go on the Insider forums and quote it all over the place there. That is, until the Insider forum commissars take down the posts and send the perpetrators into digital exile. --JorgeA

Build 10162 downloaded overnight and I installed it this morning. Right away, a question and an issue. First, the issue. Anybody who's on 10162 notice this in their Start Menu: Two crapps seem to have installed incorrectly (the first two are identical) and they're showing up at the top of the menu listings under "&" (ampersand). And then the question. See the following screenshot from Settings --> Privacy --> Other devices: "Staples"? What's that?? Anybody have an idea what that means? Curiously, they explain what a self-explanatory term ("trusted device") is, but not what they mean by an unfamiliar, mysterious term ("Staples"). --JorgeA

The eternal rumor: Will Microsoft dump Windows Mobile and go for Android? Maybe there is somebody in Redmond with two contiguous, firing brain cells after all. Given the company's consistent failure with anything that smacks of the Metro interface (think Zune, Windows Phone, Windows 8 -- only Xbox can lay a claim to success, and even it lags behind the Sony Playstation), it is simply common sense to cut your losses and focus on what you're good at. Such a move would, of course, undermine the whole rationale of Windows 10: the fantasy of "One Windows" that works on any machine with a CPU. Maybe then we'd end up with a truly improved new Windows that starts off with the magnificent Windows 7 ship and sheds the Metro/Modern/Universal barnacles. --JorgeA

Windows 10: Here’s what Microsoft should have done instead And of course, all this effort has so far completely failed to "extend [Microsoft's] dominance" into the mobile market. It's gotten nowhere there, while at the same time annoying its most loyal customers. --JorgeA

UI design experts weigh in on the fashion for minimalist interfaces. Everything they say about Web pages is of course also applicable to operating systems: The Roots of Minimalism in Web Design Hidden in the middle of presenting the pro-minimalist viewpoint, there is this gem... ...which argues against everything Microsoft has done with Windows 10. That last link to their Windows 8 discussion is totally worth reading. --JorgeA

Will give this a try! --JorgeA

I found a thread over at ThinkPad forums where somebody got the classic theme running in Windows 8. The download included a desk.cpl in the source folder, which I decided to try out in Windows 10, but I think that an old desk.cpl from NT4 or Win2k will work, from any directory. Thanks, that was interesting. Neat idea, to graft a control panel element from one OS onto another. I'll give this a shot when there's a good block of time. --JorgeA

How did you do that? Can you give a step-by-step for the part about using an old desk.cpl? I have a dual-boot Win7 and Win10 system. Found the desk.cpl from Win7 and wanted to copy it over to the Win10 partition, but the OS isn't letting me change the name of the current desk.cpl so that I can drop in the one from Win7. What do I need to do to accomplish that? --JorgeA

Oh, has that list already been published by hackers? I didn't think it would take them long to steal. -Noel LOL --JorgeA

More Windows 10 coolness (not!): Reported here. --JorgeA

My worst week with Windows 10 Preview: When downloads go very, very wrong --JorgeA

That wouild be the happiest tech surprise of the decade. --JorgeA