Windows 8 Live-ID Makes Sharing Computers Easier

Operating System, Security - By admin on Sunday, January 22, 2012 - 15:46

Did you know that most of us have to share our computers our laptops? According to research from Microsoft 72% of us share our PCs and 49% share our laptops.





That is understandable, both in the home and the office. Especially in the home where again, Microsoft's research shows that most homes only have access to one PC.




And at work, sometimes you just need to work on someone else's machine. But as someone who does this on a regular basis, isn't it a pain having to use a different PC? You have to set it up to your settings or cope with unfamiliar settings. I don't know what things are like in your office, but for most of us, it looks something like this chart from Microsoft.





Well, Microsoft has been working at finding a solution to this problem of sharing PCs and laptops; it has developed the Windows 8 Live ID sign-in.

Windows 8 Live ID Sign-In

Sign in to your home computer or a work computer with a Windows Live-ID and then set up your PC or laptop to your own settings, i.e. sound levels, position of task bar, apps to use, internet sites pinned to the start screen, screen lock picture etc. Now log-off and sign-in to a different PC or laptop with your Windows Live-ID and this one is set up immediately to the same settings as your 'home' PC or Laptop. No more time wasted re-setting sound levels, moving task bars or hunting down regularly visited sites or apps when you're working on someone else's machine; it's all there waiting for you.

Security of Windows 8 Live ID

But is it secure? Katie Frigon, the group program manager of the You-Centered Experience team for Microsoft, states on the MSDN blog that it definitely is. "We’ve taken measures to safeguard the ID and password you use to sign in to Windows. We do this in a couple ways. First, we will require a strong password (and you can’t leave password blank). Next, we’ll collect a secondary proof of your identity. This will allow us to establish 'trust' with specific PCs that you use frequently or own. This in turn will also enable more secure syncing of private data like passwords. Collecting the secondary proof of your identity also helps make account recovery easier and more secure. Examples of secondary proofs are alternative email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and questions with secret answers—something that generally only you will know.

"Signing in with a Windows Live ID also gives you much more control over your password, including your ability to recover a lost one. If you use a local account and you forget your password, you’re in a tough spot, and your options are limited. You may be able to recover your password with a hint or a recovery key, but if neither of those works, you’re generally left with having to rebuild your PC from scratch. (Technically there are some password cracking tools available on the Internet that you could download and try, but they’re unlikely to work on a suitably strong password, and many of the cracking tools available online are actually malware downloads!) However, if you sign in to your PC with your Windows Live ID and you later forget your password, you can reset your password from another PC by navigating to https://login.live.com and clicking on 'forgot my password.' This will allow you to reset your password in a secure fashion without losing any information on your PC. Resetting your password this way is also more secure because it takes advantage of the secondary proof we mentioned earlier to make sure it’s really you resetting your password."

Could this be the way we work in the future? What do you think?