New
#1
Microsoft account makes networking more difficult?
I've been using standard networking since win95, when it was so easy anybody could do it. It keeps getting more difficult. I had to learn in Win7 that you had to type in a permission name that wasn't even in the list "Everyone" and grant it the desired permissions. Seems pretty ridiculous but once I did it a dozen times I could do it without even looking it up. I just installed win10 on two of the computers in my network and when I tried to access shared folders I ran into the dreaded window that asks for a username and password. Usually this means you just screwed up one of the dozen or so networking settings that have to be just right, but after going over it many dozens of times I figured out that this was a new problem related to the fact that I now have a microsoft account. When the win10 installation suggested I create such an account it seemed harmless enough ... but big mistake! I wasted many hours in getting the file sharing to work. I didn't even know what user/password it wanted but it turns out I had to enter my Microsoft account username and password before the file sharing would work. So if a friend brings over his laptop and I want to share folders with him, not only do I have to give him my wifi password but I also have to give him my Microsoft account password!!! Does Microsoft really think people want to do this? I'm sure not, which means there is probably something basic I am missing. Can somebody explain this crazy state of affairs?