My laptop insists on being connected to the Internet
Thread poster: Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:17
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Nov 15, 2017

I have a hate/hate relationship with my ASUS laptop! It's fairly new and almost unused as it seems to spend 99% of its time on its "own business" - taking ages to come up, then just as long to log off. If it were male I'd call it a very rude name beginning with "W" .

Anyway, things came to a head at a recent meeting with tax officials, when it caused me a whole load of stress and grief, and I have another meeting co
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I have a hate/hate relationship with my ASUS laptop! It's fairly new and almost unused as it seems to spend 99% of its time on its "own business" - taking ages to come up, then just as long to log off. If it were male I'd call it a very rude name beginning with "W" .

Anyway, things came to a head at a recent meeting with tax officials, when it caused me a whole load of stress and grief, and I have another meeting coming up shortly. All I need is for it to display some files and screenshots stored on it. But the first screen it comes up with asks for my Outlook (Microsoft?) password. I've never known why, but it hasn't mattered before. However there's no Internet connection at the tax office and I simply couldn't get it to do anything but tell me there wasn't!

It used W8.1 at first, and now W10 - but it's always come up with that screen. Please can someone help me to do away with that password request altogether, or to bypass it on occasions? In simple, non-IT-jargon English please .
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Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:17
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Try this: Nov 15, 2017

1. Press Window Key + I
2. Select "Accounts"
3. Select "Sign-in options"

Now you should be able to disable the password screen and be taken directly to the desktop.


[Edited at 2017-11-15 16:22 GMT]


 
Glyn Lloyd-Jones
Glyn Lloyd-Jones  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:17
Member (2015)
Italian to English
Another tip Nov 15, 2017

is don't select "shut down" at the end of the day, but "hibernate". It won't fix your password issue (but you already have a good suggestion for that), but it does offer a number of benefits:

1. Although it does effectively turn off your laptop, it saves its current state first and restores it to the same state when you switch it back on. This means you can leave things open/running and you will find them as you left them.

2. Because it continues from where you left o
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is don't select "shut down" at the end of the day, but "hibernate". It won't fix your password issue (but you already have a good suggestion for that), but it does offer a number of benefits:

1. Although it does effectively turn off your laptop, it saves its current state first and restores it to the same state when you switch it back on. This means you can leave things open/running and you will find them as you left them.

2. Because it continues from where you left off, it doesn't have to start windows and everything else from scratch, which gets you up and running a lot quicker.

3. It will prevent windows from hijacking your laptop to do software updates at the most inopportune moments (like when meeting tax officials).

I hibernate my laptop at the end of weekdays and shut it down on Friday night so that windows can do any updates at the weekend when it won't hold up any work.
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Alexander Somin
Alexander Somin
Local time: 14:17
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Windows should accept password also off-line Nov 15, 2017

The last password is saved inside Windows on the computer and Windows should run even without the Internet connection.

Another feature for easing the task for the future: there is another sign-in option in Windows, which allows to use a pin code (which may be much shorter then a password and consists of digits only) instead of a password. One could find it in "All Setting" (low-right corner of the computer screen) under "Accounts".


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 12:17
English to German
Hibernate? With problematic computers? Hmm. Nov 16, 2017

Glyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:

Because it continues from where you left off, it doesn't have to start windows and everything else from scratch, which gets you up and running a lot quicker.

That's true. But it can be a drawback regarding reliability.

Standby & hibernate are two of several convenience features I'd never ever use. Actually I even deactivated these features. Instead of Standby my Windows shuts down the monitor and the hard disk. Instead of Hibernate I bring down Windows.

Why? There are 2 reasons:

(1) Any chip, especially memory chips, looses data via the so-called random errors. Example: If a single bit falls off, say, every 1000 years, this means that one of 10-power-5 bits will fall off within half a week. Ok, these numbers are exaggerated, but the principle is valid. Actually, my RAM memory consists of more than 10-power-11 bits ...

The errors I mean are smooth errors, no permanent defects. They vanish upon any cold boot beause all bits are rewritten. This means that the computer's reliability deteriorates in time while it is running without re-booting.

(2) Like any operating system Windows contains thousands of errors. Some of these result in wrong data which are stored and might cause unidentified problems later on. In the end the effect is the effect I described at (1): The reliability deteriorates. The interactions with applications and users make things even worse.

The most healthy system is a system that has been booted one minute ago.

You may ask, why web servers or other industrial computers run all year long. The hardware is much better and runs in an air-conditioned room, and the software is better and performs rather few different activitivities only. But our desktops' hardware is less reliable, let alone our laptops. And our software is less error-proof and performs much more versatile tasks.

That's why I never put my computers into a standby or hibernate state. May be the one or other colleague would get less trouble if he or she would refrain from quickly snapping the laptop shut instead of bringing down Windows.


 
Alison MacG
Alison MacG  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:17
German to English
+ ...
Sign in using a local account rather than a Microsoft account? Nov 16, 2017

If you use a local account to sign in (the old way before Windows 8), no internet access is required. The following is a really good article, explaining everything you need to do step by step.

iHow do I switch back to a local account sign-in for Windows 10

The Windows 10 set-up and upgrade process really, really encourages you to associate your computer with a “Microsoft account”, and use it to sign in to the computer from then on. Many people find this near-req
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If you use a local account to sign in (the old way before Windows 8), no internet access is required. The following is a really good article, explaining everything you need to do step by step.

iHow do I switch back to a local account sign-in for Windows 10

The Windows 10 set-up and upgrade process really, really encourages you to associate your computer with a “Microsoft account”, and use it to sign in to the computer from then on. Many people find this near-requirement inconvenient, and even a potential invasion of privacy. They would prefer, instead, to continue to use a local machine account for signing in.

While it’s difficult, after the fact, to disassociate the computer from a Microsoft account, it turns out it’s fairly easy to return your sign-in to a more familiar “local machine account”.

https://askleo.com/how-do-i-switch-back-to-a-local-account-sign-in-for-windows-10/
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Nathan Russell
Nathan Russell  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:17
Member (2017)
Spanish to English
Give this a try... Nov 16, 2017

Hi Sheila,

I had this problem before and the solution was to go into the Windows 'Credential Manager'.

To access this, go to the Control Panel, then in the search box in the top right search for 'Credential Manager'. Then click that option and you should come to the Credential Manager. You should see two different columns: 'Web Credentials' and 'Windows Credentials'. Click the latter option.

Hopefully you should now see an entry with the same email or user
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Hi Sheila,

I had this problem before and the solution was to go into the Windows 'Credential Manager'.

To access this, go to the Control Panel, then in the search box in the top right search for 'Credential Manager'. Then click that option and you should come to the Credential Manager. You should see two different columns: 'Web Credentials' and 'Windows Credentials'. Click the latter option.

Hopefully you should now see an entry with the same email or username that appears when it keeps asking you for the password.

If you just want to do away with the prompt then you could remove the credential altogether. To remove a credential there should be a symbol that looks like this: (^) next to it. Click that and then click 'Remove'.

I hope that I've explained this clearly and that it helps. If you need any help in carrying out the steps above then please let me know.
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Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:17
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Wow - one of them should work for me! Nov 16, 2017

Thanks a lot! They all sound fairly straightforward so I'll try to get it sorted later today. "Round Two" at the tax office is tomorrow.

@ Alexander : The password itself isn't the problem as I know what it is. The problem is that I type it in and then the laptop says there's a problem: I don't have an Internet connection and I must go away and get one before I can get any further! Not helpful when you're sitting opposite a tax official and the clock is ticking ...
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Thanks a lot! They all sound fairly straightforward so I'll try to get it sorted later today. "Round Two" at the tax office is tomorrow.

@ Alexander : The password itself isn't the problem as I know what it is. The problem is that I type it in and then the laptop says there's a problem: I don't have an Internet connection and I must go away and get one before I can get any further! Not helpful when you're sitting opposite a tax official and the clock is ticking . "Round Two" is tomorrow.
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Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:17
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
All sorted - thanks Nov 16, 2017

I believe it was a combination of the advice from Daniel and Alison that did it, but I got a bit muddled - as usual. Still, got there in the end.

Thanks everyone


 


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My laptop insists on being connected to the Internet






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