Microsoft makes it harder to avoid OneDrive during new Windows 11 installs
- Reference: 1719414006
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/26/microsoft_makes_onedrive_avoidance_trickier/
- Source link:
[1]First reported by Neowin , a change in Windows 11's setup for new devices has resulted in OneDrive being fired up for automatic folder backup without first asking for authorization.
It is difficult to avoid OneDrive when setting up a new installation of Windows 11. [2]Going through set-up without providing a Microsoft Account requires either some technical skill or a corporate account. If a user provides a Microsoft Account, then the OneDrive trap is sprung, and Microsoft's synchronization feature will ensure that desktop folders are populated.
[3]
The result can be a cluttered desktop after what should have been a clean Windows 11 installation.
[4]
[5]
As Microsoft has sought to streamline the Windows 11 set-up experience for new devices, several options have been removed, and notification prompts to turn on folder backup dropped in favor of having the functionality enabled by default.
The feature can be turned off – and won't be turned on for users able to dodge the Microsoft Account requirement or for existing Windows 11 installations – but the fact it is enabled by default in new installations will irritate many users. This will be particularly annoying when OneDrive's 5GB of free personal storage is exhausted, and the user is prompted to set up a subscription to add more capacity.
[6]That PowerShell 'fix' for your root cert 'problem' is a malware loader in disguise
[7]Amazon to ditch WorkDocs sharing service, support countdown begins
[8]Bumblebee malware wakes from hibernation, forgets what year it is, attacks with macros
[9]Microsoft sends OneDrive URL upload feature to the cloud graveyard
It's all a bit pushy on Microsoft's part. For users of the service, the OneDrive Folder Backup function is handy and allows customers to hop from device to device and access the same data with minimal effort. However, for users who have not bought into the Microsoft ecosystem, to have this enabled by default, coupled with the nag screens when the initial 5GB of storage is used up, will be an annoyance.
Microsoft is hardly alone in turning such features on by default. This writer has an iPhone that whinged piteously about iCloud being filled with backups and photos until either more space was purchased or the option found to shut it up.
[10]
Ultimately, as Neowin observes, "You can always just uninstall OneDrive and call it a day."
Or Microsoft could stop with the patterns that drive some customers to consider a subscription to its services. ®
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[1] https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-11-is-now-automatically-enabling-onedrive-folder-backup-without-asking-permission/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/26/musk_windows_11_account/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Znw7GhCvAjynHNezMAMzQgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Znw7GhCvAjynHNezMAMzQgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Znw7GhCvAjynHNezMAMzQgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/19/powershell_fix_malware/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/26/amazon_kills_workdocs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/bumblebee_malware_back/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/microsoft_axes_onedrive_url_upload/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Znw7GhCvAjynHNezMAMzQgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Anti-Trust
In more ways than one..
It's all a bit pushy on Microsoft's part. For users of the service, the OneDrive Folder Backup function is handy and allows customers to hop from device to device and access the same data with minimal effort.
What would be even handier is if the install asked users to nominate the server(s) or service they wanted OneDrive to backup to. Especially as there are multiple cloud storage players offering competing services, or people who roll their own servers. But it's not as if regulators have ever taken MS to task for bundling services, and making it very difficult for users to either opt out, or use alternatives.
Im oddly nostalgic
for the times when ms used their monopoly to simply force revenue through and out of their oem contracts, and restricted their predations to direct competitors
i have to think that the corporate installs will not work this way, otherwise ms risks slow+low take up rates ...
Never mind Windows 11, it's hard to avoid OneDrive when installing Windows 10 in unattended mode.
Then there's Office, which always tries to save to OneDrive by default
"You can always just uninstall OneDrive and call it a day."
I tried that on $CORP_LAPTOP and found after uninstalling that my user profile was b0rked as several profile directories were left inside a OneDrive directory and the Change where new content is saved settings didn't fix it. So yes, it will be a day of futzing around with the registry to get everything back where it was.
I'm either out of touch
with what users want, or Microsoft is. Either way, each new feature or direction MS takes makes me glad I abandoned Windows and switched to Linux long ago. MS seem determined to get their hands on your files and data by hook or by crook.
I guess that nowadays it is very much a case of what Microsoft wants being the direction of travel. More bucks to the bottom line is all that matters to them and screw the users, they are incidental.
"You can always just uninstall OneDrive and call it a day."
Or you could just not allow anything from MS to pollute your machine?
At the moment, my work machine, remotely managed by a huge company and with all sorts of compliance requirements, won't allow me to see, from within Teams, a file I put into Teams, using a link within Teams. That's apparently because it's moved it somewhere more convenient to it - I really have no idea. Life is too short for all this pissing around with remote file storage and sharing; if I put a file somewhere, I'd like it to be there the next time I look, thanks. But MS just abstracts all that away, because, hey, files and hierarchical directory structures are so last century, dahlings.
Re: "You can always just uninstall OneDrive and call it a day."
You're not supposed to use "files", but a service , and that service is all you need: "Files" only confuse the users paying customers...
There is a phone/tablet OS doing this and everybody is happy. Why shouldn't Microsoft be allowed to do the same?.. *rolling eyes*.
More evil than Satan himself
To the surprise of no one M$ is driving nubs using the OS that the PC came with to a service that will give them food for CoPilot and a pay day later when the measly 5G of OneDrive space runs out.
Really, if you care about privacy at all you can't use M$ Windows.
Nice move
Just when the EU have their eyes upon the forced Teams bundling with a prospective 10% gatekeeper fine, let's force another product to earn a second record fine! What could go wrong?