You can turn off One Drive. I did. I'm a Control Freak too. :Wink:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

There are two things you can do. First, you can go to the One Drive and change your Settings. Click on the One Drive icon on the Task Bar, select More, and choose Settings. In the Accounts tab, you can choose what One Drive folders are also available on your PC. In the Auto Save tab, you can choose what folders on your PC are sync to One Drive. Second, you can go to All settings | System | Storage and click on "Change where new content is saved" (on the right) and select where documents, music, photos, etc. are saved.

I'm not happy that Dell sends your files to One Drive by default! I didn't realize when I bought this computer and wondered where all my files went! It took an hour or 2 to get my files back and then delete anything to do with it. I never ended up getting all my files back...………...lost in the dam clouds!

According to this article: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/files-save-to-onedrive-by-default-in-windows-10-33da0077-770c-4bda-b61e-8c8e8ca70ac7

Dell didn't setup OneDrive as the default location, it happened because you selected to protect your files with OneDrive. Whether or not you save by default to OneDrive or your PC, all your files should be available on your PC.

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@Vic384 wrote:

According to this article: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/files-save-to-onedrive-by-default-in-windows-10-33da0077-770c-4bda-b61e-8c8e8ca70ac7

Dell didn't setup OneDrive as the default location, it happened because you selected to protect your files with OneDrive. Whether or not you save by default to OneDrive or your PC, all your files should be available on your PC.

 

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No, I didn't select anything, they just went to the clouds and I never got them all back They all went there!

I would say it is very unusual if OneDrive set itself up automatically. First, OneDrive requires a Microsoft account to sign in, so if you had setup Windows to sign in with a local account, OneDrive will require you to establish a Microsoft account. OneDrive could have also been setup with another Microsoft product like Office 365 but that also requires a Microsoft account. Neither Dell or Windows automatically provides a Microsoft account.

Newer and newer versions of windows try to discourage you from having a local account.

This has 2 bad consequences.

1. it sets up one drive and Microsoft account Immediately.

2.  If your ISP is broken you cannot get into your machine because there is no default offline account.

I  always setup windows 10 OFFLINE and with a local account.

Once you get online and activate it will try 5 different ways to get you to setup one drive and a Microsoft account.  One drive by default also starts when your computer starts.  You have to go back and REMOVE one drive and then reboot then go to the previous one drive and tell it not to start when windows starts.

I also turn off ALL notifications and turn off UPDATE STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET for windows update.

I turn off ALL LIVE TILES on the start menu.

I never allow advertising ID,  suggestions,  spam,  Cortana, ETC.

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@speedstep wrote:

Newer and newer versions of windows try to discourage you from having a local account.

This has 2 bad consequences.

1. it sets up one drive and Microsoft account Immediately.

2.  If your ISP is broken you cannot get into your machine because there is no default offline account.

I  always setup windows 10 OFFLINE and with a local account.

Once you get online and activate it will try 5 different ways to get you to setup one drive and a Microsoft account.  One drive by default also starts when your computer starts.  You have to go back and REMOVE one drive and then reboot then go to the previous one drive and tell it not to start when windows starts.

I also turn off ALL notifications and turn off UPDATE STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET for windows update.

I turn off ALL LIVE TILES on the start menu.

I never allow advertising ID,  suggestions,  spam,  Cortana, ETC.

 

 

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I agree, they tricked me into a MS account and the sneaked Onedrive in, they should be ashamed of themselves. The first thing I do on my next PC is to delete anything that resembles MS or Onedrive……..disgusting.

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@speedstep wrote:

2.  If your ISP is broken you cannot get into your machine because there is no default offline account.

 

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According to this article about the difference between local and Microsoft accounts: https://www.lifewire.com/local-vs-microsoft-accounts-in-windows-3507003, "It is possible to log into your computer if you don't have internet access, but it'll require an extra step where you need to confirm you're willing to use the latest saved settings".

This is chicken and egg.

If you did your initial setup OFFLINE and then later did a microsoft account you can get in.

If you started by making a microsoft account you NEVER GET THE OPTION to login when the PC cannot get online.