A hot potato: Most Windows 10 users are tired of Microsoft bugging them to move to Windows 11, but that's not the only nag Redmond is pushing onto people. Microsoft also prefers Windows users to have a Microsoft account and, as such, is testing a prompt in the Settings app that will suggest moving away from local accounts in favor of its cloud-based service.
News that Microsoft will once again be nagging Windows 10 users comes from release notes for the Windows 10 19045.4353 preview build (via Windows Central).
A section of the notes titled 'Features and Improvements' reveals that the update includes a rollout of account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts in Windows 10's Settings app.
The included text explains that a Microsoft account offers several benefits, such as connecting Windows to your Microsoft apps, backing up all your data, and helping manage your subscriptions. It also helps keep users from being locked out of their account, writes Microsoft.
While what Microsoft says is true and there are other perks to having one of the company's accounts, including finding a lost or stolen PC and multi-device syncing, many people would rather not give Microsoft (even more) access to their personal data, preferring to stick with local accounts. A local account also offers more security.
The good news is that these notifications can be easily disabled. Just go to Settings > Privacy & security > General and then deselect everything.
Microsoft removed the option to create a local account from the Windows 10 Home installation wizard in 2022, but there are other ways of creating one.
For all that Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11, the former remains the most popular version of the OS by far. Statcounter notes that Windows 10's global user share went up in March while its successor's declined, a trend mirrored in the most recent Steam survey.
It's not been the best month for Windows. First we heard that Microsoft could soon sneak more ads into the Start menu. Then there was the former Microsoft dev who called the Start menu's performance "comically bad." Microsoft also blamed a bug for automatically installing the Copilot app on some Windows 11 PCs without notifying users.