I use the uni account for office, but read online that they can access other files and your device. How does that actually work? How to verify?
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They very likely dont have read or write access to the files on your device.
However, they probably do have the ability to remotely wipe the device. This feature is typically used in enterprise if a phone or laptop is lost or stolen to prevent bad actors from getting access to the data stored on the device.
When on the fediverse, there’s a good chance someone will tell you to install linux. With this sort of question, honestly I guess there’s no way of knowing how much access they have if you logged on with your work account on your personal computer. IMO, you shouldn’t be using your personal computer for work stuff unless they are somehow separated. I have no idea how to do that with software, so the easiest is to ask my job to provide a laptop and only use that laptop for work.
You’ll have to be more specific. Who bought the device? What OS is it running? What work software are installed on it?
Depending on the configuration, they can have anything from zero access to full control of the device.
I bought it, windows, as per work software what do you refer to? After buying it I logged with two accounts: my personal one, with my Gmail email AND the University’s email. during COVID they gave us free access to office, so obviously we would use the university email for that.
Did they give you any programs to install on that computer or did anyone ever take your computer and install anything to it? Did you notice any new programs pop up that weren’t there before?
In the search on the bottom of the computer, type “control panel” then click Uninstall a program. Click the name for Date Installed to sort the column by most recently installed programs. Tell us if you see any since setting up with the university that you didn’t install yourself.
well being a short list I’ll upload the images: the first ones I think are programs already present on the pc, and being 2020 when I first accessed office with the uni account, I don’t think there’s anythign weird there. But I don’t know much about softwares and stuff so here they are:
At the least, they could have access to any files you open through MS office since it has file history. I would also review your OneDrive settings and see what’s being backed up where, since Microsoft likes to mess with those settings.
Look into LibreOffice and OnlyOffice. Both can help you get around needing MSOffice, and the latter is visually very similar to MS
If you bought it, and they didn’t compensate you for it, then it is legally yours. (Of course, the work-related data is theirs unless stated otherwise.) If you ask them officially (e.g. e-mail IT support), they have to tell you what, if any, control they have. They can lie, but no one is risking jail term over such small stakes.
As for software, they might have asked you to install some antivirus / security software, that may give them some control over your computer.
Also, as the other poster said, they can control anything you do using your Office account. So don’t use your work e-mail for anything personal. And Microsoft may 'back-up your files to the work account’s OneDrive, so go check those systems.
In general, I don’t think a university would do anything malicious, but they could be incompetent and leak your data to a third party.
And thank you for answering!
If you are not logging into the computer with your school account they probably do not have direct access to the device. If you are using office365 and have online files they probably have access to them. Maybe if you have OneDrive set up to sync folders with your school account they could have access that way.
There is no one school environment though so it would be impossible for us to know exactly how it is set up.
How do I know if I’m logging into the computer with it? also how to check the onedrive syncing files? would I see that on the app? Cause if that’s it then I’ve already checked, I just don’t know if there might be more to it haha
How do I know if I’m logging into the computer with it?
Are you signing into your computer with the same username and password as your university office or email account? Or one that you made when setting it up, or a personal Microsoft account?
also how to check the onedrive syncing files?
I don’t use OneDrive but maybe in OneDrive settings it will show the path or folder syncs. I would google this one.
Right now I appear to have two Microsoft accounts: my personal one (the same I use for personal email, Gmail, and stuff) and school/work account.
You are signing into both when you turn on your computer for the very first time? I’m not talking about accessing programs or email, I’m talking about this screen:
No there I just put in a pin (not a password) and it shows my name and surname, that’s all.
