Signing out of gmail. It seems tied to the OS.

[netstruggler]

Originally Posted by Loose rivets

Firefox. I just run the gmail from a Bookmark. Have done for years. I don't like it for a bunch of reasons but I was told how lucky I was getting my own name without putting a number after it. Also, folk seem to copy down @gmail.com with practised efficiency - unlike my Yahoo, @sbcglobal.net I'm just lazy, I've been meaning to get onto an email that A/ is going to last and B/doesn't annoy me every time I use it. But I seem to slide onto the science forum, Quora every night after PPRuNe, and not do anything that I should be doing. Every night is often 22.00 until daybreak. One is behaving strangely in one's dotage.

So, is my W10 username set linked? Good question. The answer is I don't know, but it sounds logical. The kind of thing that MS does especially to confuse stupid old people.

The lady - who Mercedes I fixed when nobody else seemed to be able to - had become a friend. She'd entered into a phase of things going wrong. Seriously so. I should know better, but I set up this unused Lenovo in her house specifically for her photographic program which was too demanding for her iPad. She signed in on my Windows password.

She called me in a distressed state saying that she couldn't sign in because it wanted verification of the (probably associated) email. To my dismay, while we were talking, I suddenly saw something like, "Updating or changing password . . . " (active dots), all happening in goodness knows what screen I was on. But there it was. I hadn't got the heart to protest and suggested a small change which she typed in.

I have never signed into Windows since I updated legally from W7. I don't know why she has to. Anyway, I assumed my gmail had a separate password. Indeed, on my KeePass database, I see I had a different Windows password in Aug 2018, and they had my Yahoo account. I have no recollection of making such a dramatic change, but frankly I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

I've just had another look at gmail and not only have I not been able to sign out of it, I've opened 'Meet' which is taking up half the side menu. I can not get rid of it.

Covid not only stops me sitting with my friend at her house but also seemingly stops all kinds of support which has become ethereal at best.

Well, you did say, could you elaborate more.

Windows always requires a user to be signed in. However it's possible to create a user account with no password, which means you just click your name to sign in, and it's also possible to configure windows to sign a particular use in automatically, in which case you do nothing.

When you create a windows user account Microsoft herd you towards the option of creating an external Microsoft account to use on your computer rather than a private local account. A Microsoft account needs an email address as a username, which is how you can end up with your gmail address as your windows login.

As far as signing out of gmail goes, I've found that to be relatively easy under windows (unlike under Android where I find it almost impossible). When you go to any Google site, such as GMail or Google Meet, there should be a grey box in the top right hand corner of the screen with your initials in it. Click on that and you'll see the sign out option.

Of course your experience might differ.

HTH

D