Not satisfied with the way Microsoft handles your personal information? Then you can delete your Microsoft account. There are a few points to keep in mind.
Cancel Microsoft Account: Why?
Microsoft is working hard to make accounts indispensable. For example, to sign in to Windows 10. After all, an account is indispensable for marketing services that make money. Consider OneDrive, Office, and apps from the Windows 10 app store. A lot of personal data collected can also be linked to your account, which is a win-win situation for Microsoft. But there is a bottleneck, especially in the latter. Since the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has come under constant fire for collecting personal data. If you don’t like it, you have no choice but a few privacy settings. Deleting your Microsoft account makes data collection difficult for Microsoft.
Of course, there may be other reasons for deleting your Microsoft account. Maybe you have too many accounts? Perhaps you no longer use Microsoft services at all? Or do you personally want to have nothing to do with Microsoft?
Step 1: Knotted together
Canceling complex services such as a Microsoft account requires some caution. Let’s take a newspaper subscription as an example. It would be remarkable that after you’re done, the washing machine stops and your car no longer turns on. This can happen with complex services with all kinds of branches and connections (not quite literally, of course). For example, by deleting your Microsoft account, you may lose your photos, lose money, and your word processor may not work. If you really want to get rid of your Microsoft account, you can avoid such problems with the right preparation.
Step 2: Don’t forget OneDrive
Canceling your Microsoft account goes beyond signing in locally to Windows 10. Home / Settings / Accounts / Sign in with a local account instead† Your Microsoft account is the ‘red line’ between any service. It connects Windows devices and provides access to your files stored in OneDrive, for example. By actually canceling your Microsoft account, you terminate all services associated with it.
First copy everything on your OneDrive to your own storage on your computer, then you already have it. If you don’t have access to your OneDrive through Windows Explorer, you can do so at www.onedrive.com. Notes from OneNote are also linked to your Microsoft account.
Switching to another cloud service is usually very simple: You can move the copied data on your computer directly to a cloud service of your choice. Many cloud services also have a help guide for migration. For example, if you want to transfer your data from OneDrive to Google, you can learn more about it via this link.
Sign up locally
In this article, we will talk about the option to log into Windows 10 locally. It is better for your privacy. However, installing Windows 11 required an active internet connection and a Microsoft Account since October last year. So Windows 11 users cannot log in with a local account.
Step 3: Really Uninstall
Do you use a Microsoft email address (Outlook.com, Hotmail or other) with your Microsoft account? This address will then be deleted as well, including all your messages, contacts, calendar appointments and other settings. Therefore, it is worth importing all your emails and contacts, for example, to Gmail. You can do this by going to settings in Gmail. accounts click. Click next to Check mail from other accounts (with POP3) on Add your own POP3 mail account† Enter your full Hotmail or Outlook address and click. Next step† You will then be presented with various options to transfer your data.
An overview of computers, tablets, and phones linked to your Microsoft account can be found on the Microsoft administration page. Remove the link here.
You can delete anything related to programs and services and linked to your Microsoft account. Also consider extra OneDrive storage or existing subscriptions for Microsoft Office, for example. Is everything checked and checked? Then go to this website to cancel your Microsoft account. Your account will be kept for another 60 days, after which it will actually be deleted.
If you regret it and still want to recover your Microsoft account, you must do so within 60 days. After this period, you must create a new account. This is a fairly easy process described by Microsoft on this page. If you want a Windows account for work and private life, you can create multiple accounts. In another article, we’ll go deeper into how creating an extra Windows 10 account works so that work and private life can be better separated.
Source: Computer Totaal
