Switcher 2026: Privacy, Security, and What Really Matters ⭐

One of the things I keep coming back to as I investigate Big Tech alternatives is how good Windows 11 can be … once you figure out how to curb its worst behaviors. Yes, I wrote a book on this topic this year. But it occurs that some may want to go even further and exorcise Microsoft as much as possible from its own platform. Perhaps make Windows 11 behave more like its distant predecessors did in the era when Microsoft actually served its customers’ needs instead of enshittifying the product.

What might that look like?

Well, it depends on how serious you are about loosening Microsoft’s grip on your life. De-Enshittify Windows 11 explains how you can use tools like Tiny11 Builder and Win11Debloat to make sweeping changes to a new or existing Windows 11 install, respectively, and I discuss other utilities, like Rufus and MSEdgeRedirect that help solve other related issues with the platform. But then YouTube recommended a video from a guy who typically creates Linux content, but this time about Windows 11. And against my better judgment, I watched it. And grew increasingly bothered as it continued.

The title of the video explains both my hesitation and my resulting irritation. The only safe way to use Windows 11, its maker claims, is to eliminate the use of a Microsoft account (MSA). And wow. I have some problems with that.

As noted, the person who recorded this video typically creates Linux content. But the general theme of his channel is privacy; he describes himself as “The Internet Privacy Guy.” And though he has an “extensive knowledge of cybersecurity,” he seems to be confusing or at least commingling privacy and security. Which are related, yes. But also different.

I disagree with some of his advice in this video, and his take on the role of a TPM chip is borderline misinformation. But I find his misunderstanding of Windows privacy and security a lot more problematic. I don’t have extreme viewpoints on just about anything, but I understand that those who care about privacy above all else do, by definition. So I will give this guy a pass here in the sense that the use of the word “safe” in the video title is really about privacy, not security: He’s not being malicious here; he’s taking a privacy-first stance. But if you are a mainstream user with little understanding of cybersecurity, there is in fact no safer–i.e. more secure–way to use Windows 11 than to sign-in using an MSA. I’ve explained many times, so there’s no need to reiterate the facts here.

But in using Linux more and more, and in watching many, many videos on that topic by this guy and many others, I have come to appreciate that there is a certain Zen of Linux, if you will, and I will write on that topic soon. Those experiences and my nearly visceral reaction to this video got me thinking. I care about security quite a bit. And I do care about privacy, too. But perhaps not as much as I do about security, if that makes sense. Certainly not as much as this guy.

There is an argument to be made that using an MSA comes with certain privacy implications, just as using a Google account does. But then, so does Windows 11, an operating system that forces telemetry collection on its users while offering no way to fully disable it. This is a classic problem, and I see both sides of the issue. By collecting telemetry, Microsoft can more easily identify widespread problems and fix them for everyone. But by collecting telemetry, Microsoft can also explicitly track us and fingerprint us online and then use that data to target users with ads while also selling it to data brokers who will engage in similar activities. To be clear, Microsoft does both of these things. This is not a theory.

To my centrist brain, there are trade-offs to everything in life. And the yin and the yang of Windows 11 is that we give up certain freedoms and perhaps some privacy so that we can be more secure (in this case; there are other pros and cons, too, of course). This can be irritating. But it can also be more than that. Microsoft’s disrespect of its customers’ choices is problematic.

Here’s a simple and fairly recent example.

When I inadvertently tap the Copilot key on a new laptop for the first time, a Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot app I never want to use runs and interrupts whatever it is I was doing. This serves as a reminder to me to just uninstall that stupid app. But then I inadvertently tap the key again, and this time, the Settings app runs, navigates to the Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard page, and selects the option “Customize Copilot key on keyboard.” If Microsoft were serving its customers’ needs, one of the choices in the associated dropdown would be “Do nothing.” But that is not what Microsoft is doing, so the choices are “None selected” (the default when Copilot has been expunged, which means I will launch the Settings app to this page every time I hit that key), “Search,” and “Custom.” And no, that Custom choice won’t let me disable this silliness. Instead, it will help me install apps like Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT from the Microsoft Store. For f#$k’s sake. Do what I want, not what you want, Microsoft.

This is where my decades of experience fixing or working around the many problems in Windows 11 come into play. It’s why I write books like the Windows 11 Field Guide and De-Enshittify Windows 11. I know how to fix this. So I install PowerToys if it’s not already installed, and then I use its Keyboard Manager utility to configure the Copilot key to do the same thing as whatever key is to its right. On most keyboards, that’s the Left arrow key. And now, when I inadvertently tap the Copilot key, I won’t even notice that happened because it will do the thing my clumsy fingers probably meant to do in the first place. My life is once again in balance. At least this part of it.

But that’s where my head is at. Returning to the topic of that video, I can’t write about using a local account in Windows 11, and God help me, I certainly can’t defend the MSA requirement in Windows 11, without getting the same pushback from every power user who comes across these articles. But there’s a misunderstanding here. I don’t mind if power users sign into Windows 11 with a local account as long as they always take the steps necessary to adequately secure that PC. I do mind them believing that this is something others should do, however. Many will not follow through on everything else that needs to happen here, for example, encrypting the system drive, which does not happen automatically in Windows 11 unless you sign in with an MSA (or a Microsoft Work or School account). The problem with being smarter than everyone else is that you get cocky or at least forgetful. And that can hurt people.

Anyway, we just got home from Mexico, we have a busy weekend with our son and a roommate friend visiting, a busy week ahead in which I have multiple meetings, podcasts, and events each day, and then we head up to the Finger Lakes with my sister and her husband on Friday. I came home to a kitchen table piled with mail and packages, among them two laptops I need to configure and write about. And I came here with two other laptops I now need to review. So I have lots to do. And yet I cannot get this topic out of my brain.

I’ve written about using a local account with Windows more times than I can remember. I try to approach this pragmatically because the security implications are real, and not everyone who reads these things will be technical or understand the inherent risks. I’ve noted that the way one signs into a Mac, using a local account that is then typically “connected” to an online Apple Account, is how Windows worked in the Windows Vista/7 days, meaning over 15 years ago. And I’ve observed that the way Linux works with user accounts is all local, which feels both ancient and risky. There is no such thing as an online account sign-in in Linux.

To the highly technical, especially those of a certain age, like me, it can feel thrilling and liberating. This is where the privacy-first crowd cheers, “This is my computer, after all, and I can protect my data, or not, as I prefer.” This explains the focus of that video I referenced up top, where a local account sign-in is “safer” because Microsoft isn’t storing an encryption key up in the cloud somewhere, can’t be compelled by some law enforcement agency to let them in so they can see whatever nefarious activities I am up to. Which, to me, is a silly concern but resonates with a certain audience.

My concern is that achieving a level of privacy–from Microsoft, in this case–will come with a yin and yang of its own, similar to my point about telemetry in Windows 11 above: Your privacy could be violated down the road if the PC wasn’t secured properly. If you don’t choose to encrypt the disk, for example, the physical theft of the laptop could lead to a malicious actor gaining access to the personal data it contains. And that is not a silly concern. Unlikely, yes. But a more likely occurrence than a law enforcement agency compelling Microsoft to bypass whatever security and privacy controls you or it put in place, for sure.

Put simply, there is a right way to do this. If you are going to stick with Windows 11, you can use a local account using the Home or Pro variants of this system. It’s not difficult. But there are steps to take, especially around securing the PC. And then there are steps you can take to make that PC behave much like Windows used to back in the day, but more securely. You can remove OneDrive, Microsoft 365, and, with a bit of effort, even Microsoft Edge. You can scale back the access that Microsoft has to your activities. You can take back your PC, so to speak.

I will write about that soon, but I am begging you–literally begging you–to do this right if you’re going to do it at all. And that means implementing the proper security on that PC in addition to just protecting your privacy. This isn’t a vague theory; it’s real life, and you can’t just want to be responsible; you have to actually behave responsibly too. That’s the only safe way to use Windows 11. Or any other computing platform you choose.

More soon.