Sunday, January 1, 2012

How To Stop Microsoft From Automatically Adding Your Contacts And Events Posted On The Windows Phone To Your Windows Live Account

I am REALLY angry with Microsoft! I mean BEYOND angry! That company SHOULD be at the head of the pack! They should be at the top of their game. Instead, they do stupid things that end up leaving them in the dust! Some person at that company thought it would be a good idea to force Windows Phone users to do a few things.

  1. First, they want to force you to get a Windows Live account. This isn't a big deal. I am a developer. I have had a Windows Live account for years (a.k.a. Windows Passport account). It is WHY they want you to do this that is upsetting.
  2. Second, they want to force you to add it to your Windows Phone. This is not good, but it isn't the end of the world.
  3. Third, they want to force you to load your contacts and calendar in the cloud - to your Windows Live account by default or to your Gmail or other account if you select, BUT you have to load them somewhere other than just on your phone! If you don't select a different account, they will load that information on THEIR servers BY DEFAULT!!!! THERE IT IS!
I AM SO UPSET ABOUT #3. First of all, if I wanted my appointments in the cloud, I SHOULD HAVE THE CHOICE to put them there! Microsoft has DECIDED that they want them there and just added them! That is the most ridiculous decision EVER!!!!! I wish I could talk to the person that made this decision and ask them what they were smoking when they decided to do that. Now I love Microsoft, but I HATE some of the things the Windows Phone does. It really is unfortunate too, because the HTC Titan is a solid, well built phone with an EXCELLENT CAMERA that a photog like me REALLY likes.

SO, ever since I got this phone, I have been going over it to try to figure out how I could stop Windows Live from automatically grabbing my contacts and appointments and adding them online. I FINALLY figured out how it can be done and I wanted to share this with ANYONE and EVERYONE that wants to use the Windows Phone without having all of their private data added to Microsoft's servers, and hence, have all of their Windows Phone information added to the Internet. So without further adieu, here you go!

How To Stop Windows Phone 7 From Adding All Of Your Contacts And Calendar Information To Windows Live (On The Htc Titan)
  1. Go to Settings
  2. Go to email + accounts
  3. Select the Windows Live (account you were forced to create)
  4. Once the account information opens up, change the password to something other than the real password (:-) - LOL)
  5. Hit the check at the bottom of the screen to save
  6. Now go and add your contacts and calendar AND ADD WHATEVER YOU WANT WITHOUT HAVING IT END UP IN THE CLOUD UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO BE THERE!!!! YEAH!!!
After doing this, I was still able to download apps from the Marketplace using the phone and do all of the other things that I wanted to do with the phone. This, as stated earlier, was done using the fabulous HTC Titan (AWESOME phone HTC - GOOD JOB!).

I am so sad that I have to do this hacky BS to use this phone. I have an iPhone, a Samsung Infuse Android phone, a Sony S Tablet and this phone and this has REALLY stressed me out! I have to be honest, I would SUE Microsoft for this if I had enough spare time on my hands. You don't take people's information and add it to the Internet BY DEFAULT! Anyway, maybe Microsoft will get a clue and stop this stupid practice. If they don't, lets work together to make sure we come up with hacks to circumvent their stupid ideas. Also, make SURE that you download the Microsoft Suggestion App from their Marketplace and vote for the suggestion I put in there under Windows Live to stop this stupidity. As a side note, the Suggestion Box is messed up too. You can only enter 25 characters. I guess Microsoft thinks that all issues should be able to be described in 25 characters or less. They are wrong on that too!

Smooches,
Kila Morton




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. I stumbled upon this post after searching the internet with similar concerns. I'm really surprised (and shocked) that so few other people seem bothered by this. Maybe they are blissfully unaware? or is it learned helplessness? Anyway, thanks so much for your suggestion - which I will put to the test very shortly. I'm so glad I found this, and I feel slightly less lonely and paranoid now! Thankyou.

Kila Morton said...

LOL - YOU ARE NOT ALONE.......
I too am so surprised that people aren't angry about it. Maybe as more people become aware, there will be more outrage about it. Maybe not. I think it will require one good news story to get people to realize what is happening.

Anonymous said...

It was a real "WOW" moment when I logged into "my" live account - only to find a complete list of all my personal contacts.

Another thing which is bothering me is the fact: When you point your camera at anything, then press the home button - followed by the "multitasking" option; a cached image is visible of the last thing you pointed the camera at. Now the next question is: are these cached to the internal storage, or are the just held in memory? In essence, the camera is "functioning" before you actually "shoot" a picture. Do I have this right?

Anyway, your suggestion worked like a charm and I'm very grateful for it. Thanks again.