Do You Hate Microsoft OneDrive as Much as I Do? Tell Me Why

Maybe we can get this software problem fixed

If the very mention of the name OneDrive makes your blood boil, or even if it doesn’t yet, you've come to the right place.

Microsoft OneDrive is software that's pre-installed on Windows 11 computers (and can easily find its way onto Macs, too) that is causing endless problems for many people:

• Problems like finding that important files you saved on your local computer have been moved to a different computer somewhere in the so-called “cloud.” Not just copied, but with the originals having been deleted from your computer.

• Or like finding that the OneDrive software you didn't even know was there has exhausted its meager allotment of 5 GB “free storage” in the cloud and is now holding up your work until you pay Microsoft annually for more storage.

• Or like trying to remove OneDrive from your computer, but finding that it has reactivated itself against your wishes.

OneDrive can move your personal files to somewhere in tbe “cloud” even when you thought you’d saved them on your own computer.

For a sample of the thousands of outraged users’ complaints, check this Microsoft user forum or this discussion on Reddit. Or, if you have a lot of free time, Google “OneDrive complaints.”

To be fair, OneDrive is useful software with a legitimate purpose, namely to allow knowledgeable people to engage in “cloud computing.” But because of how it is designed and pre-installed, many people without a tech background—and even many who do have one—do not understand how it works or how to get rid of it.

I do not believe this is by accident. Microsoft is doubtless making a lot of money from OneDrive, much of it I suspect from users who feel they have been blackmailed into subscribing to a service they do not want.

So far as I can tell, there are no class action lawsuits now against Microsoft's use of OneDrive to boost profits while manipulating users. What MS is doing may, in fact, be legal. There are numerous websites claiming to tell you how to disable or remove OneDrive. If you want to give them a try, Google “How to Remove OneDrive.”

I will continue to write about OneDrive in the hope that Microsoft will voluntarily improve this situation (unlikely) or that it will be legally forced to do so.

In the meantime, please let others know about the risks of OneDrive.

Note: I covered technology, privacy, and security for Consumer Reports for 24 years as its Technology Editor and investigated major tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. That was before OneDrive existed.

Microsoft's history of abuse of power

This is nothing new for Microsoft, which has a long history of using its role as the maker of the dominant operating system (Windows now, but previously MS-DOS) to manipulate users, destroy competing software companies, and cement its dominance in the software market.

In 2000, after the US government sued Microsoft, the company was found guilty of violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and of being a monopoly. Microsoft was supposed to be broken up into multiple companies.

However, after George W. Bush became President and the case was appealed, the new Justice Department reached a settlement with Microsoft that, in my opinion, was more like a slap on the wrist.