Confused about Cortana and Microsoft Account changes

[Moondoggy]

I'm a bit confused about Cortana and it's use of a Microsoft Account and I was wondering if someone can shed a little light on this issue?

I have 2 accounts with Microsoft. One is a Hotmail.com account and the other is an Outlook.com account. I use my Outlook.com account for email and I use my Hotmail.com account for OneDrive. Why? Because MS offered me a ton of free storage space years ago before they introduced Outlook.com. Microsoft won't migrate this free space over from my Hotmail.com account to my Outlook.com account and I don't want to pay for the space on my Outlook.com account just to eliminate my old Hotmail.com account.

I have a laptop PC, a desktop PC an android cell phone and an android tablet that all connect to the OneDrive space associated with my Hotmail account.

So, here's my concerns...... My laptop was converted to Windows 10 but I'm still waiting on my desktop to receive the update. I went to setup Cortana on my laptop and it prompted me to provide her with my Microsoft account. But at this point, which one should I provide her with? If I give her the Hotmail account will this mess up anything with my email on Outlook.com? If I give her my Outlook.com account will this mess up my OneDrive setup on my laptop and my phone and tablet? Will providing her with either account mess up anything when go to setup my desktop PC as I'm wondering if I can use the same account on both PC's with Cortana? Also I got far enough into the sign up process to note that there was something about the fact that I would no longer need my password to log into my Microsoft account and that a pin number would be used instead. If I converted my account to use a pin instead of a password will this mess up the access to my OneDrive on my cell phone and/or tablet? Bottom line is that I'm very concerned about the impact any change I make setting up Cortana might have on my accounts and my equipment. Can anyone explain all of this in pure, simple, laymen's terms so a dummy can understand? Thanks.

 

[hopmedic]

I have a similar setup, but not quite. I do still use my ancient hotmail account for email, but not the kind that comes from actual people. I got an outlook account with my name as the email as soon as outlook.com came out. But since my developer account, SkyDrive, and everything else was associated with the hotmail account, I continued using that for "business" (not my business, but businesses that you sign up on their websites for one service or another) and junk. That's the one I use for my calendar, as well. So my situation isn't quite the same as yours, since the email that counts for Cortana will be in that hotmail account, and that's the account I have as primary on my phone and PC....

Anyway, if you go into settings, then accounts, scroll to the bottom of the Your Account tab, and there are "Other accounts you use" and you can add a Microsoft account. I don't know if Cortana will then start looking in that account that you use or not, but it is worth a shot.

 

[Moondoggy]

Thanks. Actually both my Hotmail.com and my Outlook.com email accounts are setup as forwarders and my real mailbox is a Gmail account and I have my Gmail account spoofed so that any replies, emails or forwards I send either from Outlook 2010 on my PC or from Google's Webmail interface appear as if my email sending address is my Outlook.com address. I've done this as a means of protection as Google has an excellent spam filter and if one of my addresses happens to get compromised or I need to change it for some reason I don't have to change anything related to my Google account only acquire a new email address and set it up to forward to my Gmail account.

My main concern is what, if anything, Cortana will do if I give it either my Hotmail.com or my Outlook.com it to use as my Microsoft account as was requested?. There was some reference during the set-up process that talked about no longer needing a password to sign in and that you would use a pin instead. Since I have many devices pointing to my Hotmail account for OneDrive I didn't want to mess any of these up but if I give Cortana my Outlook.com account will it mess up my OneDrive on my PC's? Bottom line is that I'm totally confused as to what Cortana is going to do or not do once I give it one of my accounts.

 

[RumoredNow]

Which account owns your Apps on phone?

Which account owns your Apps on PC?

If they are the same, that would be a good first step in reconciling your issues.

Edit > for that matter, what account did you use to sign in on the Windows 10 PC? That's the OneDrive that should attach...

 

[Moondoggy]

My accounts on my laptop and my desktop are just my first name and neither my laptop nor my desktop have passwords as I don't need that kind of security in the environment that I'm in now (retired). I have my desktop with Outlook 2010 setup to access my Google account for incoming mail and my wife and I share that one email mailbox. If I'm on the road with my laptop I just use Google's webmail interface to read mail. On my cell phone everything is tied to my Google account (i.e. contacts, mail, calendar). On my laptop, desktop and my cell phone and my android tablet I have OneDrive setup to my Hotmail.com account.

 

[RumoredNow]

I think you are bombarding us with too many specific uses. No further usage details required. It's too much tangled thread and need not be repeated every post. It's making it difficult for me to help get to the root of what I need to know.

Do you have a Microsoft Account on your PC? Just yes or no, if you will indulge me. Which email is it tied to (Outlook/Hotmail/Google)?
Is it the same Microsoft Account across all computers and tablets?

Do you have a Microsoft Account on your Phone? Just yes or no, if you will indulge me. Which email is it tied to (Outlook/Hotmail/Google)?
Is it the same Microsoft Account across all Phones?

 

[Moondoggy]

Sorry. I think I'm figuring part of this out as I didn't understand what was being asked by Cortana during the setup. As I understand it now (please tell me if I'm wrong) is that in Windows 8.x you could use your Microsoft account to log into your PC instead of using a local account. I upgraded from Windows 7 and my PC only has a local account and that local account has no password. My incoming email account on my desktop is my Gmail account however my OneDrive uses my Hotmail account.

My phone does not have a Microsoft Account on it. Like my PC my incoming email account is my Gmail Account however my OneDrive on my Android phone is setup to use my Hotmail Account.

Both my phone and my PC use the same incoming Gmail account and same Hotmail account for Cloud storage. Hope this clears up the confusion I've evidently created.

 

[hopmedic]

RumoredNow is on track with helping you, so I'm not going to cut in on that, but I'm going to throw one thing in there. If you think your environment is such that you don't need a password on your computer, I suggest that you rethink that. Do you ever do any banking on your computer? Ever buy anything online? These are just two of many reasons you may need to think more about security.

Just last night I wiped a computer clean and reinstalled Windows for a friend who had been taken over because he was socially engineered - he was suckered into clicking what they wanted him to click, and gave someone complete control of his computer, thinking he was talking to someone from Microsoft.

If a PC is connected to the internet, it needs to be secured. No exceptions.

 

[RumoredNow]

In your PC browser go here: Microsoft account ? A single login to services and devices

Sign into your Microsoft Account with your Hotmail Address.

Click on your Name in the upper right and select Account Settings.

Click on the "Your Info" tab > Manage your Sign-In Email or Phone Number > verify that your Hotmail Account is showing as "primary" > Add Email Alias > select "Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias"

Input your Outlook Address in the field > Click the "Add Alias" button.

Verify that your Hotmail is still primary.

From this day forward... Sign into everything Microsoft with the Hotmail Account only. No more scattering things between the two. Keep Outlook just as a mail coordinator, but own Microsoft product via the Hotmail.

In about 48 hours, all the servers should catch up with the changes and your 2 email accounts should be merged under one Microsoft Account and you will not lose your cloud storage.

Good luck.

 

[Moondoggy]

Not sure what you mean by wait 48 hours and the servers will merge my two accounts together and I won't loose any storage. Can you elaborate as the last time I checked with Microsoft there was no way to merge the two accounts?

 

[RumoredNow]

You are aliasing the secondary account (Outlook) and subordinating it to the primary (Hotmail). You will still own the things you own under the Hotmail as that is the most important to you (your mega-storage in the cloud).

We want to simplify things. That's why you need to bring the Outlook in under the Hotmail umbrella. Ownership of Apps appears not to be much of an issue for you yet. But going forward with Windows 10 you will probably want Apps. They are handy and useful and the future looks to be moving in that direction. Many times it is buy once and deploy across many devices, especially if those devices are all running some flavor of Windows.

Take NOAA Hi-Def Radar as an example. I paid for it once. It is on my phone, on my laptop and on my RT tablet. Or Here Maps. I have it everywhere. Ditto, Skype. These products are the same on every device. My Microsoft Account or my Here Account see to that. Change it in one spot and the change goes everywhere. I don't have to repeat the same work on every device. I seamlessly participate in the same Skype conversation all day long whether I'm on my phone, or my laptop, or my tablet.

To leverage the cloud and cloud services, you want a consistent log in. Use that Hotmail to sign into any Microsoft services and as the Microsoft Account from which you "buy" Apps and own them (this methodology even applies to free Apps; you need to own them under one account as much as possible).

You have expressed time and again that your Outlook is "just an email address." Great, fold it in under your Microsoft Account for consistency and ownership verification. You have expressed time and again that the Hotmail ownership of "large amounts of free cloud storage" is the ownership of note that you are worried about preserving. Make sure that the Hotmail is the Primary email address for your Microsoft Account and reinforce that with the habit that it is the email address that owns all your future Apps and Services. No matter the device. No matter which platform. Especially where Microsoft Services come into play. OneDrive, Outlook (services apart from email such as Calendar/Contacts/Tasks), Cortana, Office, OneNote, etc...

The 48 hours is my experience from having changed my Primary email which "owns" my Microsoft Account in the past. I killed off Gmail and successfully switched to Outlook and lost not one single App or Service. Everyone said that can't be done and I proved them wrong. I did it and others have followed what I advised and reported success. Impossible usually means difficult to a degree that most people stop searching for an answer and retreat from the problem. When I switched over from Gmail to Outlook for my primary, it was scary... I saw patches where only one or the other showed as true. But after about 48 hours the new change showed in effect everywhere. The cloud is powerful. You need to work with it. Right now you are scattering it across multiple accounts. You really need to tighten it up.

Is there something you aren't revealing?

I asked you straight out earlier; does the Outlook account "own" anything in terms of Apps or Services you can not let go of? You are very circuitous in your answers to what should be a yes or no question. If the answer is no, then my answer remains unchanged. Hotmail is your Primary for your Microsoft Account, Outlook gets placed under it as an alias on that Account. You only want one Microsoft Account. Truly. Own everything with the Hotmail from now forward...

 

[Moondoggy]

Not holding back anything. My Hotmail account is used only for onedrive storage. Any email I might get from that Hotmail address is forwarded to my Gmail.com email address. My Outlook.com account is only used for Email and the email is also forwarded to my Gmail email address. I use my outlook.com email address as my public facing email address as my Gmail address is not publically known. This is as simple as I know how to make it.

 

[RumoredNow]

Then... To preserve ownership of the large cloud storage you were gifted. Associate the Hotmail ONLY with any Microsoft Accounts for any devices, App download/purchase and services... That takes us back to your original question. For setting up Cortana, use the Hotmail.