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Microsoft automatically turns on OneDrive Backup in new Windows 11 installations.
Your files aren't stolen -- they've just been moved to a new folder and synced to the cloud.
A recent, undocumented change lets you turn off OneDrive Backup and move files back to your local folders.
Microsoft is getting more aggressive about tying its flagship productivity products to its cloud services.
In the most recent release of Windows 11, version 25H2, the OneDrive Backup feature is turned on automatically when you sign in with a Microsoft account on a new PC; as a result, some of the most common data folders in your user profile -- Documents, Pictures, and Desktop -- are moved out of their normal location and into OneDrive. The local copies aren't deleted from your PC, but it's easy to lose track of them if you don't know how the OneDrive integration works.
The result? Angry complaints like this recent one from BoingBoing.net: Everyone hates OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud app that steals then deletes all your files.
Ouch.
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