A little Windows 10 Help Needed!

[RVTECH]

Ok 'new' (used) computer set up working well and all good so far.

Ok, taking it step by step as my experience with Win 10 is limited but I have enough to get through it and learn about it.

OK, I have downloaded NOTHING on it, no pictures etc. however earlier when I was working with my phone on it, basically just going through the motions of how to download pics from it I clicked on something, and I think it said 'Drive F' and a BUNCH of OLD pics popped up I had forgotten about but remember downloading from the 'net. It was a bunch of pics of old RVs and other stuff I remember using to help customers out at the time.

Upon seeing them I remember having downloaded them but they must have been saved 'somewhere' (cloud??) I am unaware of.

I DID open my Google acct. but the only pics saved on it are the ones taken with my new phone.

Where in the heck did this computer possibly 'find' these old pics? Any help, ideas or hints will be appreciated!

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[Jason Brown]

Maybe OneDrive? It likes to do that kind of crap.

 

[arakboss]

Ok 'new' (used) computer set up working well and all good so far.

Ok, taking it step by step as my experience with Win 10 is limited but I have enough to get through it and learn about it.

OK, I have downloaded NOTHING on it, no pictures etc. however earlier when I was working with my phone on it, basically just going through the motions of how to download pics from it I clicked on something, and I think it said 'Drive F' and a BUNCH of OLD pics popped up I had forgotten about but remember downloading from the 'net. It was a bunch of pics of old RVs and other stuff I remember using to help customers out at the time.

Upon seeing them I remember having downloaded them but they must have been saved 'somewhere' (cloud??) I am unaware of.

I DID open my Google acct. but the only pics saved on it are the ones taken with my new phone.

Where in the heck did this computer possibly 'find' these old pics? Any help, ideas or hints will be appreciated!

Are any of the pics incriminating, if so I would bury that hard drive really deep.

 

[RVTECH]

Are any of the pics incriminating, if so I would bury that hard drive really deep.

Not at all.

AND if you read my OP they are NOT on the hard drive on this new computer. I have NOT downloaded anything on it yet.

I probably saved those pics on a computer years ago but they have no connection with this new one.

 

[obesechess]

Educated Guess:

My recollection is that the "F" Drive is the recovery drive. if you ever backed anything up to the hardware you are using now then it's attempting to automatically "sync" those with the new software. When you say it's a new/used computer, what exactly are you referring to?

 

[RVTECH]

Maybe OneDrive?

Well, ive opened it but the pics are NOT in there.

I downloaded these pics maybe 8-10 years ago (can't remember exactly) and quite frankly probably didn't even KNOW anything about One Drive at the time.

 

[RVTECH]

When you say it's a new/used computer, what exactly are you referring to?

I bought this as a 'refurbished' off Amazon and just got it yesterday.

I have backed NOTHING up, downloaded or saved anything on it.

I am essentially starting 'fresh' with it. It's a 'clean slate'.

 

[obesechess]

I bought this as a 'refurbished' off Amazon and just got it yesterday.

I have backed NOTHING up, downloaded or saved anything on it.

I am essentially starting 'fresh' with it.

Got it. I know Windows 11 requires you to set up or input a Microsoft account when setting everything up, did you do this when installing Windows 10?

 

[RVTECH]

did you do this when installing Windows 10?

I did NOT install Win 10. It came installed on the computer.

I don't recall setting up a MS account other than inputting a email address and a pin #.

 

[Alexx1401]

I bought this as a 'refurbished' off Amazon and just got it yesterday.

I have backed NOTHING up, downloaded or saved anything on it.

I am essentially starting 'fresh' with it. It's a 'clean slate'.

One of the cloud services is showing you they have them. Waiting to see if you want to download them on the new machine.

 

[Alexx1401]

I did NOT install Win 10. It came installed on the computer.

I don't recall setting up a MS account other than inputting a email address and a pin #.

That started an "account" with them. Assuming the email addy was the same as you used before? With that Microsoft is wanting you to use one of their cloud services.

 

[obesechess]

I did NOT install Win 10. I came installed on the computer.

I don't recall setting up a MS account other than inputting a email address and a pin #.

Got it, sorry, not "installing," but setting everything up. So, my thinking here is similar to that of @arakboss - if you input an email address you've had for a while and ever used that email for work, then OneDrive, which has been around since 07 and was integrated into Microsoft Office, Hotmail, Outlook, Internet Explorer and a host of other things, probably automatically "backed up" some of the stuff you're referring to and is now adding it back onto the computer. OneDrive has gotten much more intrusive about this kind of thing over the past few years - it's weird and annoying behavior, to be sure, but it is not something I would be concerned about as some sort of tracking or data breach or anything like that.

 

[Kruel J]

If you logged in to your Microsoft account during setup they are likely from your MS account storage.

 

[bionic knees]

I ran windows 7 till the bitter end, I hate windows 10, been running it for almost 2 years now and still hate it.

 

[Koda]

Somewhere you have these photos stored in the cloud with the same sign in name you used to sign into the new computer with. It may have auto downloaded them, or you may be seeing them from a browser application.

 

[RVTECH]

Somewhere you have these photos stored in the cloud with the same sign in name you used to sign into the new computer with. It may have auto downloaded them, or you may be seeing them from a browser application.

And you are probably correct as I have re-discovered the 'Icloud' app I MIGHT have had set up a few years ago when I HAD an Iphone.

I'll try to re-login to it and see if this is the case.....

 

[lucusloc]

I did NOT install Win 10. It came installed on the computer.

I don't recall setting up a MS account other than inputting a email address and a pin #.

If you signed in with you MS account by default you allowed it to connect to all cloud storage services attached to that account and "consented" to whatever applications are needed to make those connections (usually it all installed by default, no downloads necessary). If you do not want this behavior you would have had to dive into the deeper options or settings to turn it all off.

You Microsoft account can connect to more than just Microsoft services, so be aware of everything it has been attached to, like possibly your iCloud account. Also make sure you have proper account recovery set up for everything (most services will have separate recovery options). Microsoft likes to change the terms of service and if you are not on top of things you can lose access to an account unless you can complete the recovery process.

 

[Ruger Rich]

I ran windows 7 till the bitter end, I hate windows 10, been running it for almost 2 years now and still hate it.

Hear ya Brother, I'm still on 7 on two PC's. Though I do have a laptop
running 10. Hate it. And for those of you that wanna say it, I'll say it
for you, "I'm an old fuddy duddy".

 

[3MTA3]

Windows 8 drove me to Ubuntu. I only run Windows where it's an absolute requirement. BTW Both 10 and 11 can be installed without a MS account, which I refuse to do. I have my own internal "cloud" in the form of a fault tolerant NAS and, no, I don't trust "the cloud".

 

[Koda]

Windows 8 drove me to Ubuntu. I only run Windows where it's an absolute requirement. BTW Both 10 and 11 can be installed without a MS account, which I refuse to do. I have my own internal "cloud" in the form of a fault tolerant NAS and, no, I don't trust "the cloud".

I also switched to Ubuntu years ago. It baffles me why people pay for an OS where there are free ones that dont come with bloatware.
Curious why you wouldnt run Windows without a MS account? Account free is one of the freedoms with Linux systems, I personally dont believe any OS should "need" someones data.