How can I use a local account in Windows 10?

A motherboard change can look like a new PC, so you might well have needed to talk to Microsoft even if you had been using a Microsoft account. Either way, you should recognise that Windows 10 is fundamentally different from Windows 7 in at least two important ways. Some major features – including Cortana, Notifications and apps – originated in the smartphone world. As with other mobile operating systems, everything is maintained from the cloud. Second, Windows 10 is just one part of Microsoft's cross-platform ecosystem, which includes smartphones, tablets, the Xbox One range of games consoles, cloud-based services such as OneDrive and Office 365, and dozens of Microsoft apps on Android and Apple iOS devices.