Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Local Accounts vs. Microsoft Accounts

Until Windows 8, any account you created on your PC was a local account, meaning stored on the computer itself. All your stuff—your files, email, settings, passwords—sat on the PC itself.

Seems obvious, right? Where else would you store all those details?

Today, there’s an answer to that: online.

In Windows 8, you have the option to have your account details stored by Microsoft, online (“in the cloud,” as the marketing people might say). You don’t log in with a name like Fizzywinks; instead, you log in with an email address that you’ve registered with Microsoft. If your name and password are correct, you’ve just succeeded in logging in with your Microsoft account instead of with a local one.

And why is that a good thing? Because it means you can sign into any Windows 8 computer anywhere—your other laptop, a friend’s PC, another company’s—and find yourself instantly at home. You won’t have your files, music collection, and movies, of course (unless you’ve stored them on your OneDrive). But you will find every possible account-related element ready and waiting, even on a computer you’ve never used before. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Hotmail, and other accounts. You’re supposed to link these to your Microsoft account. After that, no matter what computer you use, your People app, Skype program, and other address books will always be up to date and fully loaded.

• Your online photos. Once again, your Microsoft account can store ...