Microsoft Account required for Cortana

[fragment137]

I'm not really here to complain, more to inquire. I just installed the Windows 10 TP on my desktop at home. Until this point i've avoided hooking my main computer up to my Microsoft account. This is for various reasons, but the main reason is that I don't like the idea of a cloud user having administrative access to my main machine.

So I have a couple of questions:

Is it at all possible to use Cortana in the TP without a microsoft account? If not, What are some precautions I can take to retain the security of my machine but still use my microsoft account for Cortana?

 

[Chuck Foltz]

The reason is so she can save the data about your and stuff to your Microsoft Account so its accessible across multiple devices. This doesnt really open you up to any security holes. Its just like using facebook to login to websites. Its just another authentication for your computer. If you turn off all the save to one drive etc that gets enabled when you do this than yeah your stuff is not saved online. This is what i do. I dont want to use One Drive cause cloud storage is a ripoff. I do have it save my windows settings so i can have a synced theme etc though.

 

[anon(5335899)]

What gives you the idea there is a cloud user having administrative access? The whole idea of services like Cortana is that it has access to what you do, when and how. This enable the service to anticipate and work with this information. If you do not want/like/trust that then you can't use the service. Your/a Microsoft Account is a major component of such services.

 

[fragment137]

What gives you the idea there is a cloud user having administrative access? The whole idea of services like Cortana is that it has access to what you do, when and how. This enable the service to anticipate and work with this information. If you do not want/like/trust that then you can't use the service. Your/a Microsoft Account is a major component of such services.

I understand it's a major component, I was asking after the security implications of using a Microsoft account vs a local account. It's still my account, but instead of it being local to my machine it is now authenticated to Microsoft's servers. I don't mind Single Sign On (on the contrary I think it's a great way of managing accounts) but I would rather do it in an environment that I have more direct control over (I.E. using an SSO service like Okta that plugs into Active Directory Domain Services).

For the purposes of testing Cortana I don't mind having my microsoft account hooked up to this machine. However in my Daily Driver build I still don't think I'll use it. Just my preference.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I'm guessing you are aware that a Microsoft Account is bit more than a SSO account ..

The idea and concept of "mobile first/cloud first" (as I understand it), at least as far as consumers go, hinges on the Microsoft account as the central hub where you can link any device or service to and from where you can share your information and data between those.

Cortana, in that respect, is 'just' another service which, to be able to do what it is designed to do, needs to be aware of what you are doing on other linked devices and services. If you take this away Cortana basically becomes 'Bing with a voice'.

 

[Moondoggy]

I guess I'm still a bit confused regarding this Cortana app. I have 2 Microsoft accounts now - a Hotmail.com account and an Outlook.com account. My Hotmail account is the one that contains all of my OneDrive cloud storage data and my Outlook.com account is used as my incoming and outgoing mailbox. My desktop and my laptop PC's only have local accounts on them and neither of these local accounts have passwords on them. I was going to setup Cortana but wasn't sure which of my 2 accounts to use. More importantly, The setup screen for Cortana says that if I complete the setup process, my access to this PC will no longer use the local password which is blank (null) and that I'll be required to use a PIN number to access this device. Is this true? What if I like things the way they are now and don't want to enter a password to access my PC? Does this mean that If I want a null password on my machine I can't use Cortana? Can anyone please advise? Thanks.

 

[bmetelsky]

Password for your microsoft account or pin number would be required. I like assigning a Pin to my account because it is quicker to sign in that way. I type in 4 digits, don't even have to hit enter.