“Remove user email from the login screen, it's private info”

Sep 28, 2015 12:32 GMT  ·  By

Many believe that Windows 10 has a privacy issue because a number of built-in services are being used to collect and transmit your data to Microsoft, but this isn't the only way that the new operating system might actually put your information at risk.

For example, the login screen of your Windows 10 PC shows not only your profile picture and username but also the email address, which for some users represents a violation of privacy.

So as a result, posts in the Windows 10 feedback app call for the company to update the operating system and remove the email address from the login screen because, otherwise, anyone can see it and use it for all kinds of malicious purposes.

“Stop showing my email address on the lock screen, please,” one suggestion reads. “Please remove user email from the login screen. It's private info,” another one adds.

In Windows, unless you use a local account, an email is needed to log into the operating system and authenticate in all Microsoft services, such as the store, OneDrive, OneNote, and all the others.

User accounts for the win

So if you don't like using a Microsoft account and thus expose your email address, you can always go for a local account, which needs no information. Of course, you're going to miss some services and app updates, but it's the easiest workaround for what seems to be another privacy issue.

Microsoft hasn't replied to these user suggestions in the Feedback app, but implementing a feature to hide the email address or to allow account owners to decide whether they want it to be displayed or not shouldn't be too difficult.

The next major update for Windows 10 is projected to debut sometime in the next couple of months, so this is pretty much the best moment for Microsoft to make such changes.