How is the user function in windows meant to be used? In public PCs should i log in with my windows(outlook) account? Or it was not intended for this?

Question

I have windows 11 22h2. I've my outlook user account. I was wondering how should I use it when using friend's PC, public PC? Should I log in to my windows username? or is it not intended to be used like that? I searched google, most of them were about local accounts. I am asking about the cloud account(outlook account). In other words How is the user function in windows meant to be used? In public PCs should i log in with my windows(outlook) account? Or it was not intended for this?

Answer 1

My recommendation

Don't use your personal Microsoft/Outlook (Cloud) account (respectively any personal account) on foreign computers, even if it's the one from a friend.
This is a high critical security risk.

The computer may be infected with malware and any admin account can read/change everything on that computer, including but not limited to:

• read synchronized data (browser history, browser passwords, OneDrive Files, Settings), because they may get downloaded on first login
• read your Microsoft/Outlook password via lsass credential dump or other password exporters focusing on the credential manager and registry
• change the system proxy which does SSL/TLS interception (= Man-in-the-middle (MITM) proxy)

About Cloud Account

The Cloud Account is indeed intended to be used on any PC, but I would only recommend it on computers where you have admin rights and where you can ensure a clean and secure environment, i.e. on your own devices.