Change sync settings

Hi patrice

There are two types of accounts starting with Windows 8, a local account or a Microsoft account.

A local account is just that, it is kept locally on your machine (password). If you forgot your password you hoped you had a password reset disk, an alternate admin account or you activated the System Administrator account.

With Windows 8 came the ability to sign on with an MS account. If you forgot your password you could go online and reset it. It also allowed you to sync your settings and Edge across your multiple machines and could log you into onedrive.

Your Windows 7 only uses local accounts with admin, standard or guest privileges . Unless you are using Onedrive, something you have to add, there really in nothing to sync. Edge isn't available to my knowledge on Win 7.

On your Windows 10 machine click on accounts in settings. The first window tells you if you are using a Local account, the word Local is there, or you see an email address, your MS account name.



Ken

Missing something here.

You said you don't want devices to sync and it sounds like both your devices, Win 7 and Win 10 both use local accounts. As such no syncing occurs.


Not following message account is already here.

If you click family and other users ( Start > Settings > Accounts > Family and other users (down left) are any other accounts already on this machine?

Could you post actual error message?

Windows 7 uses local accounts.

You said when you went in accounts under your info it said local. This is a windows 10 screen shot with a local user. I assume yours is the same.



Please confirm.

Now as to what you are trying to achieve.

If you use an email account, say a gmail or outlook.com account, then indeed these will will sync. Actually it really isn't a sync. You are updating the files on the email web server. If you then look at them from a phone, an XP machine or a Win 10 machine they are going to have the same data. The viewer may be different but the data is the same.

As to browsers which browsers are you using and are you signed into the browser? If you sign in to a browser there are options to sync your data, different browser behave differently.

They aren't linked.

Chrome is linked. Click the three dots upper right, then Settings. With Settings look for People and then Sync and Google Services


You can make changes but write down what you change so you can undo.

Since you are a Google user, as am I, you want to check out your Google activity and all the sub headings within it.

https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity

Once inside you can check out Activity Controls and Google account, actually all the headings on the left.

Amazing the stuff they store, you can even see last commands if you have a google device listening.

You may even wish to sign out of Chrome although this does offer a nice backup of things like bookmarks.

The whole issue of Privacy is quite involved. Please go to the "Privacy" heading in settings, Win 10, and work your way through each category.

You may want to explore getting a VPN as your ISP very likely tracks you since the net neutrality laws were changed. Pretty sure they are now allowed to track you although I haven't fully read law.

You could also explore DuckDuckGo as a search engine, less tracking.

Hopefully you have third party cookies disable or have a method to sweep daily, maybe use Incognito mode.

Most of this also applies to your mobile phone.

Privacy is really hard to control. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be addressing where ever possible.

You can disable third party cookies.

Chrome > Three dots upper right > Settings > Click three bars upper left > Advance > Privacy and Settings

On this page enable "Do not Track"

Then click on Site Settings > Cookies

If you disable third party you might find when you purchase online some transactions can't be processed. That is because smaller sites transfer the actual payment handling to a third party. In this case I just use an alternate browser.


Now as two people sharing a computer. Add them as a separate account, local user. They will "Standard" privileges which is good, you retain admin rights.

They won't have access to any of your stuff. They use Chrome and if necessary they sign in with their gmail account. They set their start pages, their task bar, their start menu, their colors etc.

If you have documents or music you want to share you put them in the public folders.