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...