Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service has drawn renewed criticism for a particularly frustrating behavior pattern that can leave users without access to their local files after the service automatically activates during Windows updates.
Author Jason Pargin recently outlined the problem: Windows updates can enable OneDrive backup without any plain-language warning or opt-out option, and the service then quietly begins uploading the contents of a user’s computer to Microsoft’s servers. The trouble begins when users attempt to disable OneDrive Backup. According to Pargin, turning off the feature can result in local files being deleted, leaving behind only a desktop icon labeled “Where are my files?”
Users can redownload their files from Microsoft’s servers, but attempting to then delete Microsoft’s copies triggers another deletion of the local files. The only workaround requires users to hunt down YouTube tutorials that walk through the steps, as the relevant options are buried in menus and none clearly describe their function in plain English. Pargin compared the experience to a ransomware attack.
I’ll copy-paste what I said in another comm, on this matter:
Odds are MS will never fix this OneDrive mess. It doesn’t look poorly designed; it looks perfectly designed against the user. I think it’s trying to make users incorrectly believe they need a paid OneDrive subscription to store their files. Rain falls down, fire is hot, and your files are in OneDrive, simple uh.
It’ll likely get worse as time goes by, they refine the design further, and do everything possible to force that goal, while barely avoiding OneDrive to be classified as plain ransomware.
Some people talking about this topic blamed the user, with “this is
revkasPEBKAC” (problem exists between keyboard and chair). I don’t think users should be blamed for not being tech-savvy, specially not when the software is made by hostile clowns misleading them.I’m getting real tired of this shit. I miss software from the 10s. In a lot of aspects it was more usable than it is now.
Unpopular opinion: I miss buying software on discs sold at electronics stores.
I miss discs in general: buying software with them, recording music CDs to play in my devices, sharing DVDs full of anime episodes with my friends… it might be silly, but they were some physical proof you “had” something, you know? USB sticks are way more convenient, but if you’re going to overwrite the files in there you don’t really own them, at least that’s what my “lizard brain” says.
I’m also genuinely considering to buy a bluray recorder and use it for backups. In 2025.