Win11: OneDrive folder backup automatically enabled

[madires]

Windows 11 is now automatically enabling OneDrive folder backup without asking permission: https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-11-is-now-automatically-enabling-onedrive-folder-backup-without-asking-permission/

[soldar]

the money is not in making software or appliances or cars or anything. The money is in spying on you and selling your data. That's what Google does an the rest are just following suit.

Louiss Rossmann talks about it in his channel

LG TVs spy on you timestamp: 11:40
https://youtu.be/JR8_SAcFF5g?t=700


Philips changes terms after the sale: requires data-sharing account to use a light bulb...



This voice application gives Google less access to your data



General Motors sells detailed driver logs without your consent



Vultr Claims Rights to Sell Your Data & Programs?



Sonos removes restriction on selling personal data & forces users to accept new TOS



Banks start using purchase history for targeted ads



EVERY US Carrier Sold Your Location Data with 0.02% Penalties from the FCC!



Singapore police jail woman based on data stored in car infotainment system: it can happen here.



Google follows Samsung, asserts the right to steal your phone during a repair



moviesanywhere.com changes TOS and opts you in without implicit consent

[bson]

Why would you keep OneDrive installed in the first place?

[themadhippy]

Why would you keep OneDrive installed in the first place?

wots the betting that a future " security update" quietly puts it back

[soldar]

This was the main reason I switched to Linux years ago.

[HighVoltage]

The solution is simple, don't have a OneDrive account.
Or use a good firewall and block the OneDrive access.
Or disable OneDrive
...

[MrMobodies]

After that think with Windows 10 when Office refuses to save to the OneDrive folder after an update to use the build in "Cloud" plugin feature it put me off and I uninstalled it and used the web browser instead.

Windows 11 is now automatically enabling OneDrive folder backup without asking permission:

I'd kill it. Uninstall it and do what's necessary. Looks like it has lost it's credibility denying the user a choice and set to do thing the user may not want it to do.

[petrinch]

So much drama for such a little problem. One Drive is easily disabled and uninstalled.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0

[Halcyon]

the money is not in making software or appliances or cars or anything. The money is in spying on you and selling your data. That's what Google does an the rest are just following suit.

It's worth repeating here, but free versions of these types of platforms are entirely different to the paid versions, like Google Workspace. With Workspace, you have ultimate control of the Google applications suite (what is and isn't allowed to run, for example), your data and who can access it. Google Workspace doesn't sell your data to anyone and your data isn't used to target advertising to you (not that there are any ads in Google Workspace anyway). Your data is your data. They are pretty clear and transparent about this.

If you're using the free version of any platform, best to read the terms and conditions so you understand what is and isn't being done with your personal information and data.

[coromonadalix]

Onedrive crashed on me  Win11   22h4,  would not restore the files completly  WITHOUT an paid account to use the recovery feature

Luckily  Msoft offer 1 month trial, i could recover them,   bbye Onedrive disabled for good,  and i use Sony microvault  usb keys,  2x of them and cloned all together in content, one is outside the home

[CharlotteSwiss]

It's always been like this, I don't see the problem. If I install an operating system linked to a Microsoft account that I already used for OneDrive, it seems right to me that the folder with the cloud files is automatically created (in C-user).

[drago462]

This is one the first thing I do after a Windows install: Remove OneDrive  .
I don't trust cloud services which is why I set up my self-hosted NextCloud.

[Bryn]

Yet another reason to avoid Windows 11 like the plague... to me, this looks like an abuse of power from Microsoft, nevermind everything else they did (Windows 10 update nag, anyone)?

[porter]

I found this useful.
Here's how to permanently wipe OneDrive folders from your PC if they keep recreating themselves
https://www.pcgamer.com/onedrive-default-folder-location-fix-disabled-keeps-recreating/

[abeyer]

It's worth repeating here, but free versions of these types of platforms are entirely different to the paid versions

I'd argue that in this case the paid version of this might actually be worse than the free one, from what I've seen/heard of onedrive. I don't use the free consumer version at all... but the paid version that does this auto backup thing for enterprise customers actually creates these broken shadow copies of your "common" folders (Desktop, Documents, etc...) but doesn't get rid of the originals, and just papers over this fact in the UI. But then you go to use any command line tools or other non-MS software and things go sideways because it looks like a file is in one place, when it's actually somewhere else, and some of them get backed up as intended, but others don't.

[shabaz]

I'd argue that in this case the paid version of this might actually be worse than the free one, from what I've seen/heard of onedrive. I don't use the free consumer version at all... but the paid version that does this auto backup thing for enterprise customers ...

There's also a paid (subscription) version for consumers, which is bundled with Microsoft 365. The price is low, particularly with the family subscription (but still low-cost for an individual subscription too).

It's easy to configure so that only what you want is backed up. There's a little cloud icon in the
taskbar, click on it, and then everything is self-explanatory (screenshots are attached showing the details for those who don't use it and are curious).

I find it useful for:
* file-sharing with others (without pop-up ads!)
* file-sharing with myself (i.e. to phone, etc)
* useful as another backup for anything critical (the subscription provides 1 TB per user, but I'm only using about 30 Gbytes currently).

Plus it has all the usual collaboration features like Google Docs, so that more than one person can work on a document simultaneously. There may be feature differences here and there when compared with Google Docs, but I've not found a showstopper for my purposes.

It works on all platforms since it can be accessed by app, or, if that doesn't exist, in-browser (again like Google Docs).

I think all that is quite good for the price, bearing in mind that OneDrive is just one small part of the functionality offered in the bundle. I've been using it for at least three years (maybe coming up to 4 years), no problems so far.