Onedrive is horrible, invasive and impossible

Anonymous
2023-02-09T16:57:08+00:00

Without my knowledge or consent, when I plugged in my new Dell computer and signed in to my MS 365 account, all my files were put in a cloud including copies of driver's licenses, passports, and family medical records. I thought okay, I'll just take them out of the cloud, which as we now understand also deletes them from the desktop.

I have gone back and forth about a dozen times in emails with MS techs. Some of their advice caused all of my files to disappear from my computer. I asked repeatedly if there is a way to choose what to backup and got no answer from MS. I've had a tech at my home twice, and he finds there is no way to manually backup or choose what files to backup. We decided to quit onedrive. I now have duplicates of files and paths still pointing to onedrive, so I will have to get more help with this. Research that I have been working on for years has been convoluted and possibly lost due to multiple duplicates.

I've been working from home for over 30 years and have never had problems like this. I'm used to figuring out solutions, but this is beyond absurd. I simply bought a new computer to replace my 10-year-old machine and am now in this nightmare.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2023-11-01T06:34:15+00:00

Thanks for this, VJA142. I wish I had seen these before I turned on my new PC. After watching the video you suggested and Leo's The Problem with OneDrive Backup, I'm less confused and beginning to wrap my head around it. I don't use the "Documents" folder and have individual folders on my desktop where I save things, but I get the gist.

Good suggestion too about automatic updates. I have always paused updates for several weeks and do one computer at a time to manage the nasty surprises.

Hi Enerak, glad you found Leo’s YouTube videos Re OneDrive helpful, I know I sure did, the light finally came on for me. He also has a web page (ask Leo.com) where he posts articles with links to his videos. The replies to his OneDrive articles are like this forum, full of people (including some IT types) who are all experiencing issues with OneDrive.

What’s crazy is that we all PAID for this Microsoft software, with many of us having invested in new computer hardware, only to turn on our PC’s and have our digital lives literally scrambled and yanked inside out.

I’m glad we’ve had this forum to vent & share info!

Thanks, Vikki

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-04-19T12:08:01+00:00

    The Microsoft invasion just never ends. A couple of mornings ago I awoke to find an unfamiliar icon on my new computer. Turns out MS had installed some Xbox **** without my knowledge or consent, as usual. I checked my two old computers, and sure enough it was there also, so I had to waste time uninstalling it. This is particularly creepy because a year or so ago I found a charge on the card I used for the MS account for $14.99, which would recur monthly, for an Xbox subscription that I never asked for. I had it removed and had to cancel the card. MS never gave an explanation for this.

    I have never used Xbox in my life.

    After recently opening my laptop while working on a rush job, an asinine "exciting announcement" from MS popped up and FORCED ME TO LOG IN TO MSN. I could not do anything until I did so. Their interference is increasingly outrageous.

    I just renewed my MS subscription and changed from family to personal because nobody else wants this ****. What an ordeal that was. I found an MS page with instructions on how to make this change which did not work at all. I had to let it expire and then change it, although there are dire warnings that your data can be lost if you let it expire. As soon as the charge went through, I canceled automatic billing and removed the card from the account.

    What a sad way to have to do things.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-28T19:31:11+00:00

    One of the several Microsoft techs I've dealt with said only about 11 percent of MS users have Windows 11. Even the MS techs don't know what's going on and have given me lots of bad advice. So far disabling onedrive from startup has helped, but it's too convoluted for me to do anything further with it myself. I've spent so many hours on this it makes me physically sick and will pray that the next visit from the tech will get rid of onedrive and its nonsense.

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  3. Craig Long 18,550 Reputation points
    2023-02-09T19:16:59+00:00

    Hi. Welcome to the Microsoft community.

    All I can suggest is to turn off the backup of your folders. Go to the white cloud icon on the taskbar > Settings > Backup or Sync and backup tab > Manage backup and stop the backup of your folders.

    If you don't do that first before unlinking your account and uninstalling OneDrive then your files will still point to OneDrive. So stop the backup (sync) first and then unlink your account from OneDrive by going to the cloud icon on the taskbar > Settings > Account tab > Unlink This PC. Lastly, you can uninstall OneDrive.

    I hope that helps.

    • Craig

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-16T19:06:13+00:00

    Absolutely correct! OneDrive is simply the worst designed program I have ever used. It is truly not even worth while to go over all of the various and ludicrous ways that this program has disrupted and failed me. There is no chance that it will ever be worthwhile.

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