Using Windows Live ID to log on to Windows 8 --- cloud revolution in the Internet Age

Every Windows user wants to set and use a PC in his/her own way. However, in current multi-user and multi-PC environments, it is not easy to achieve this desire. We have learned that PC sharing is quite common and many users complain that switching between multiple accounts is too troublesome. Because it is difficult to manage multiple accounts, users usually choose to share one account on the PC, some personalized experiences will be lost (and there may be potential privacy leaks ). We also learned that there are more and more users using multiple devices today. It is inconvenient to set up a new PC and it will waste a lot of time. In Windows 8, we want to ensure that every user can enjoy a truly personalized experience: Seamless switching between online and offline tasks makes it easier to set and use personalized settings, you can also
Share personalized settings between Windows 8 PCs. Therefore, we have introduced the use of Windows Live ID (which can be used to log on to multiple devices and applicationsProgramAnd services.

 

72% of desktop computers and 49% of laptops share PCs

Sharing user account usage on a computer

Number of PCs owned by families in the United States

What are the advantages of using Windows Live ID to log on to Windows 8?

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Using a single ID to log on has the following advantages:

• You can associate the most common Windows Settings with your user account. When you log on to your account on any Windows 8 PC, you can use the saved settings. Your PC will be set as you are familiar!
• You can easily re-access Metro applications on multiple Windows 8 PCs. You can save application settings and the latest Usage Status across all Windows 8 PCs.
• Saves logon creden。 for various applications and websites in use, so that you can easily re-access these applications and websites without entering creden。 each time you log on.
• Automatically log on to the application and service that uses Windows Live ID for authentication.

When you purchase a Windows 8 pc instance and set up a user account for the first time, you can create an account and associate it with the Windows Live ID. You can use an existing ID or create a new ID. If you choose to create a new ID, you can use any email address as the new ID, and then create a unique password. For example, you can use a example@live.com or a someone@example.com. You only need to specify the email address you want to use and associate it with the Windows Live ID service, and then provide a unique password. Of course, you can continue to use the local Windows
Accounts and domain management accounts.

Therefore, although many people will assume that they will need to register a new email account to obtain a Windows Live ID, they do not have to do so. In fact, many online services use "strings" such as someone@example.com to represent the user name, although the string looks like an email address. For example, when you order a book in an online bookstore, your user name may look like an email address, even though your online book dealer does not manage your email. Using someone@example.com addresses can easily identify you because most Internet users today have e-mail addresses. Therefore, your email account and password are still managed by the email supplier you selected. We use the user name and password you provided to help you
Windows 8 pc manages your settings and status, even if you are not logged on to Hotmail or other Microsoft services that use this ID.

You may spend as much time as we do to personalize your windows experience to show your personality, life, and PC habits. We fully understand how frustrated you are when you purchase a new PC or use another PC (or simply reformat the hard disk) and see that all personalized settings no longer exist. We changed this situation in Windows 8. When you log on with a Windows Live ID, you will be able to get a personalized windows experience on any Windows 8 PC. Now, settings such as screen lock image, desktop background, user avatar, browser favorites and history, spelling check dictionary, resource manager settings, mouse settings, and auxiliary function settings are associated with your
Windows 8 accounts are stored in the cloud. When these settings are changed or updated, You can synchronize these settings and apply them to each computer in use.

A real personalized experience for Windows 8 also includes Metro-style applications: Application usage habits, settings used, and exit status. You can see which Metro-style applications you have purchased and which applications you choose to install on each Windows 8 PC. By using your ID to log on to Windows, you can synchronize the settings and status of Metro-style applications between PCs in use. For example, suppose you are using a reader application on a tablet to browse news. If you add a specific source that you want to keep an eye on, these sources are automatically displayed on any other Windows 8 PC
In the same reader application. We will also support developers to build Metro-style applications that report their status to Windows, so that when you switch the PC, you can continue from the location you just left. When switching between Windows 8 PCs, you can locate the same page of a book, the same level of a game, or the same location of the movie you just watched. In Windows 8 Developer Preview, you can see this feature in Internet Explorer 10.

You may wonder how to roam non-Metro applications and settings without a domain. This problem cannot be solved by using Windows Live ID, and we disable the use of tools to try to achieve roaming by checking the registry or copying executable files. However, you can use the new "Restore/refresh" tool to easily create an image with your favorite desktop application installed, and then use this image as the refresh point. If you want to roam the desktop application settings, you can continue to use the mechanisms provided by Active Directory and Windows Server for roaming configuration files and client file caching.

Another advantage of using Windows Live ID to log on is that it can simplify the requirements for logging on to multiple services and applications. We can simplify it in two ways. First, you do not need to enter this ID again when logging on to any application or website that uses the same ID after logging on to windows with the Windows Live ID. For example, after you use Windows Live ID to log on to Windows, you can start the Windows messaging application to chat with friends without logging on again. Similarly, you can browse your Hotmail inbox page without entering your email address and password. You can log out of the webpage and Log On As another user at any time. However, by default, you will log on automatically. However, it should be clarified that these applications and websites do not have access to your
Special permissions for Windows PC or personal data.

Secondly, Windows can store various Metro-style applications and website creden。 (if you choose to apply this function ). You can then synchronize these creden。 to each Windows 8 PC that you trust and has passed the authentication. You do not need to enter your username or password. Just confirm the logon as prompted. Similar to messaging applications, when you start a metro-style application with this feature enabled, you will automatically log on to the application, the application will continue to run from the last time you left.

User Control

Using Windows Live ID to log on to Windows has many advantages. However, every Windows user has its own unique needs. Your Windows 8 experience is under your control. When creating a Windows account, you can select the Account type you want to use. You can create an account associated with the Windows Live ID, or continue to use the local account as in Windows 7. You can also change your local account later to associate it with the Windows Live ID.

If you select to associate a local account with a Windows Live ID, we provide related control options to control what to synchronize with each Windows 8 PC in use. In the control panel, there is a section named [Sync PC settings] (Sync PC settings) where you can enable or disable the set synchronization function.

You can choose to disable all synchronization, or disable synchronization according to the set type. The Configuration group includes:

• Personalized settings
• Topic
• Easy access
• Language preferences
• Applications
• Web Browser
• Other settings
• Some passwords

The Recommended default behavior assumes that users want to use the most common settings for roaming in a personalized and custom PC mode. In particular, we have received a lot of user feedback, pointing out that personalized PC display settings are very important. In Windows 8, we introduced key settings such as changing the screen lock image. In addition, you can also roam the desktop themes that you use and create, including colors, sounds, and desktop backgrounds (Note: currently, for background images, if the selected image is less than 2 MB, the original image will be roaming. If the image is larger than 2 MB, the image will be compressed and cropped to 1920x1200 ).

When work content is intertwined with personal data, it is also important to maintain data control. In Windows 8, When you associate a Windows account with a Windows Live ID, we will advance (before synchronizing data) ask which data you want to synchronize between the PC that is added to the domain and other PCs that use this ID. In this way, you can decide whether to synchronize the web history, favorites, creden, and other content to the work computer, or do you want to keep the above content and any other synchronized content on your PC only.

We also allow IT administrators to control the content that users can synchronize with work PCs through group policies. We provide related control options for IT administrators to determine whether common users are allowed to associate their domain accounts with Windows Live IDs and whether the administrator accounts are allowed to enable this association function, and what types of data can be synchronized by common users.

Note that the creden entered and stored on the computer that is added to the domain are not uploaded to the cloud, it will not be synchronized to other PCs-this ensures that enterprise creden。 are always kept on PCs managed by the IT administrator.

Privacy and security

We understand that privacy and security are your top priorities when using services connected to the cloud. When you associate a Windows user account with a Windows Live ID, there are three types of data in terms of privacy and security:

1. Windows Live ID username and password
2. Windows Live ID user configuration file
3. Settings and data to be synchronized

We have taken careful measures to protect the security of the ID and password you use to log on to Windows. These measures provide protection in two aspects. First, we need to use a strong password (the password cannot be left blank ). Secondly, we will collect the auxiliary proof of your identity. In this way, we can establish a "trust" with your frequently used or specific PC ". At the same time, it can securely synchronize private data (such as passwords. The auxiliary proof of identity collection also helps to perform account recovery more conveniently and securely. For example, the secondary proof includes a backup email address, mobile phone number, and a secret question with an established answer (usually only you know ).

By using Windows Live ID to log on, You can more effectively control the password (including restoring the forgotten password ). If you use a local account, you will be in trouble when you forget your password, and the options you can choose from are very limited. You may be able to recover the password through a clue or a recovery key, but if neither of them can be restored, you can only reinstall the operating system. (Technically, you can download some password cracking tools from the Internet to try to crack the password, but these tools may not be able to do anything about standardized strong passwords, and many of the cracking tools downloaded online are actually some malware !) However, if you use Windows Live ID to log on to your PC and forget your password, you can access
Https://login.live.com and click forgot password to reset the password. In this way, you can reset the password without losing any information in the PC. It is safer to reset the password in this way because it uses the auxiliary proof mentioned above to ensure that it is indeed your own request to reset the code.

You may also worry, "what if my Windows Live ID is stolen ?" In response to this situation, we also provide corresponding countermeasures. Windows Live ID includes some special security features to check whether your account is stolen. If an account is stolen, the account status will change to "leaked" (account restriction ), until you use the previously configured two-factor authentication feature (secondary proof) to regain control of your account. It is important that you still have full access to your PC, because you can log on to the PC using the password you set before the account is stolen, and before performing our "forgot password" workflow online, you cannot use services and applications that depend on this ID.

In Windows 8, we want to give you the following control: control the usage of data and control the data to be synchronized between Windows 8 PCs. When you use Windows Live ID to log on to Windows 8 pc, only a small amount of data (your name, last name, and display name) is shared with windows ). Windows does not use any other configuration file data. The configuration file data stored in the cloud is only made public to applications or websites that allow you to access the data. Although any metro-style application can use Windows Live ID for login authentication, they must first ask if you want to allow it to access specific information in the configuration file.

As described above, when you log on with a Windows Live ID, you can synchronize three types of data with Windows 8 PC: 1) Windows Settings; 2) application settings and data; and 3) creden. The data is stored in the cloud for you to log on to different Windows 8 PCs. We minimize the size of the data to be roaming. We only enforce some restrictions based on the relevant settings (for example, the size of the file that the screen locks the image ). None of the above data occupies your Windows Live storage quota. The data will also be associated with your other Windows Live data (for example
Data stored on SkyDrive) is stored separately.

You may be concerned about how to protect the security of configuration file data. We have taken various measures to protect user data. First, we will not roam data through wwan by default. Second, before sending user data to the cloud, We encrypt user data on the client. All data and settings sent from the PC are transmitted using SSL/TLS. For extremely sensitive information (such as creden), We encrypt the information based on your password. Then, when transmitting information over the Internet, we encrypt the information again. Microsoft services or third parties cannot access stored data. Finally, for the first time in the second Windows 8 PC
Before you access sensitive information, you must provide further authentication to create a "trust" for the PC ". Further proof can be completed by providing windows withCode, Or provide the code that is sent to the alternate email address according to the relevant instructions.

Any data stored in the cloud through the roaming mechanism can only be accessed by windows for the purpose of roaming. This is very important. For example, Internet Explorer history is saved as roaming, but cannot be used or accessed in any other context, this is no different from manually creating the same website history on other computers.