MUST I have a Live account to use the Surface Pro??

[whiteblazer01]

I've been in the market for a laptop for some time now, and had my eye on the Samsung Series 9. Then I saw in Best Buy the Surface Pro (which I had never seen before or known about). I was very impressed that it was a tablet with full Windows on it, AND a keyboard. Very cool! So now I'm looking to buy a Surface Pro.

The only thing is, I don't care much for social media, cloud storage, rewards club membership programs, or having my life experience aggregated into some sort of 'profile'. I use numerous Firefox Add-Ons to block many things, and I use Startpage.com instead of Google.com or Bing.com, and hushmail.com instead of gmail.com (just to give an idea of my personal preferences regarding privacy).

Anyway, I'm wondering if I can use the Surface Pro "anonymously", without having to create a Live account. I won't be downloading apps or doing any gaming, or using Skydrive, etc...

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[jnjroach]

During setup you can create a local account but you need to select it explicitly. If you want to change it later to a Live Account you can.

 

[Garyjk]

i use a live account on my surface, but not on my desktop. you do not need a live account. there will be a slightly less obvious link you'll see to create a local account during initial set up. you won't be able to use the store, but i don't use it on my desktop.

 

[Chase_Payne]

During the set up it asks you to enter in an email, once you do this it will give you an option to make a windows account. Instead of continuing, you can click the use a local account instead..

This will allow you to create exactly what you stated.