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Last week I bought I desktop PC, an i9 Mini with Windows 11. I decided it was time to update my i5 Windows 10. I'm happy with the PC, an MSECORE Mini and was looking forward to any new Windows features. I was disappointed to say the least; Windows 11 seems to have dropped at least one major feature of Windows 10 that I use - taskbar toolbars. (I was able to restore that thanks to the GitHub folks). And other things such as some menus are more awkward to use. Perhaps it should have been called Windows 9?
73
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I recently installed Win11 on a new machine, as well, and was surprised to find that it defaults to a PIN logon, instead of a secure password. Windows 9 would be a fine name for it.
-73-
Will Rogers never met me.
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The change to PIN was to improve security, as it's a local to a specific bit of hardware - if you have two PC's with the same MS account on them, you have to set a pin on them both. It can be the same on both, but it doesn't have to be.
Passwords on the other hand are linked to your account - and that requires a trip to the server for verification, and is less secure as a result. There is an article on it here: Why a PIN is better than an online password - Windows Security | Microsoft Learn[^]
But if you want a password, that's easy to do:
1) Open Settings on Windows 11.
2) Click on "Accounts"
3) Click the "Sign-in options" tab
4) Open the "PIN (Windows Hello" setting under the "Ways to sign in" section.
5) Click the "Remove" button in the "Remove this sign-in option" setting.
6) Follow the prompts (I don't want to remove mine, so I stopped there)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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So that's what the TPM is for! I hadn't found any information about that thing when I was trying to get this machine built and working. Apparently I can add an extra TPM module, but either the CPU or the MB have the function built in. Thanks for that article, Griff!
Will Rogers never met me.
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You're welcome!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: and that requires a trip to the server for verification, and is less secure as a result.
So, it sounds like the login was more secure prior to online accounts. Yay progress. 
Jeremy Falcon
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Of course it was - every time you open your systems up to the internet (even a little bit) you are decreasing security compared to an "air gapped" system or network.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Passwords on the other hand are linked to your account - and that requires a trip to the server for verification, and is less secure as a result.
So the idea is that PIN validation is done entirely locally...?
In theory, that makes sense (and I suppose they can try to justify that makes it more secure), but based on my observations...that can't be right:
A few years ago I got tired of my gaming rig (Windows 10) continually trying to get me to use a PIN rather than logging in with the Microsoft account I'd been using since I installed the OS (and in hindsight, I never should've allowed it to do that, and use a domain account instead). But I had too much stuff under that profile, and never bothered migrating over.
A few weeks ago the machine somehow decided it wasn't seeing the network anymore. Tried to validate the PIN at login time, and I was told I had to be online to do that. Verified everything I could, and the machine was on the network...
I couldn't log in using the PIN, so I logged in as the local admin (fortunely I still remembered the password) - that got me in, and while running under that profile, it did see the network. Logged back out, tried again with the PIN - and again, was told I need to be connected to the internet. So I abandoned that, and started logging in with my domain account. Still today, if I try to go back to the Microsoft account (using the PIN), it still insists I "need to be online".
Never mind the fact that it thinks it's offline (which is clearly inaccurate)...if PIN validation was done entirely locally, why am I being told I need to be online in order to do that...?
A system preventing successful logins, just because it's offline, is just a recipe for disaster.
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On the flip side, I didn't want any authentication on my Windows 11 laptop. Its a home computer and I don't want/need it. I had to fight the pin multiple times. I would remove it and it came back a few times. I've won for now...
Hogan
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Where does the 'pin' stuff show up on your system? I haven't seen any of that with my system. I did an upgrade from Win 10 as opposed to a clean install. I use Open Shell to have a Win7ish Start Menu and ExplorerPatcher to restore the Win10 task bar.
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Mine was a new purchase from a local store. I followed steps to disable it and it came back a few times. I may write software professionally, but when I'm off work I tend to go play outdoors. If it was really important, I would fix it like you stated with OpenShell, but for now, that would take away time from things I actually care bout.
Hogan
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The problem with Microsoft is creativity has never been their strong suit. Some of it's not their fault because people will complain about any change, but some of it is their fault. They do well in other areas, but not originality / creativity. Windows 11 was their idea of a simplified UI, which while sounds great in theory... the implementation of it is horrendous.
Jeremy Falcon
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Yep. Microsoft seems intent on dumbing down the Windows UI to make it match the Apple UI.
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Well, chasing the fruit company has never worked out poorly for them in the past. /s
A chunk of recent "innovation" is really more about killing off dependencies on old windows code.
The fruit company sucks though. They suck so hard. It doesn't matter if they have a usable product. That's like a liar making a "good" politician.
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Thank you! Works fine!
73
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The main point of Windows 11, besides disabling features, is the TPM. The TPM that now prevents me from logging into Outlook or Teams from the app. I sure hope they don't require TPM for anything else.
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No, they should rename it 911  .
Gilles Plante
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That's an insult for Porsche  
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Windows 10 was the last version of Windows. Or so they said.
To be honest, I just give a **** about Microsoft's marketing shills. Or about the **** all their UX clowns are coming up with.
New icons anyone?.... 
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Ralf Quint wrote: Windows 10 was the last version of Windows.
Nah, Windows 3 was.
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I'm curious -- you say you managed to restore taskbar toolbars thanks to GitHub. Any chance of a pointer to where you found a solution?
Thanks.
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It was a program in GitHub called ExplorerPatches
73
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oops..ExplorerPatcher not ExplorerPatches
73
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Followers.
Secret passwords.
Distorted view of reality.
False sense of belonging.
Ritualistic dependency.
Mob mentality.
Preaches, vilifies, condemns.
Difficult to quit.
So ... "Weird cult", or "Social media"?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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