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Funny dot on Windows 10 user icon

jcdammeyer

jcdammeyer

John
Premium Member
I have this little brown dot when I click on the start button. Googling this says it's something to do with one-drive except I don't have one-drive on this laptop. When I click on the icon to sign out or sleep the screen just goes back to the regular background. Click on the start button again and now the dot is gone. Later on it shows up again.
Any ideas?
1744922038227.png
 
1744926773294.png

Different explanation.
I'm noticing strange log-in related things in Chrome lately. When I research them its becoming apparent how buggy its become. Maybe little gifts from rapidly departing employees? LOL
 
PeterT said:
View attachment 63354
Different explanation.
I'm noticing strange log-in related things in Chrome lately. When I research them its becoming apparent how buggy its become. Maybe little gifts from rapidly departing employees? LOL
Click to expand...
The only indication I saw online was that OneDrive was causing the problem. So I removed OneDrive as I wasn't using it anyway. But that didn't make it go away.
 
It is a generic notification indicator. There are a long list of causes.

There are so many versions of Windows now that I can't immediately say how to find more details. Sometimes you can get more by hovering the mouse. some have a notification area on the right (or other places on the screen depending on settings) or sometimes it it setting -> notification
 
jcdammeyer said:
The only indication I saw online was that OneDrive was causing the problem. So I removed OneDrive as I wasn't using it anyway. But that didn't make it go away.
Click to expand...

OneDrive is so highly integrated into Windows and Office now that I don't think you can actually completely remove it anymore. Even disabling it is iffy.
 
jcdammeyer said:
I have this little brown dot when I click on the start button. Googling this says it's something to do with one-drive except I don't have one-drive on this laptop.
Click to expand...

Hey John, I asked Perplexity (an AI app) about it. It led to various articles one of which said this:

1. Brown/orange dot on user profile icon = Microsoft account sign-in issue.

2. Brown box on file icons = OneDrive or icon cache glitch.

I found similar explanations elsewhere.

I'd focus your resolution efforts on your Microsoft or Windows Account, not on OneDrive.
 
Susquatch said:
Hey John, I asked Perplexity (an AI app) about it. It led to various articles one of which said this:

1. Brown/orange dot on user profile icon = Microsoft account sign-in issue.

2. Brown box on file icons = OneDrive or icon cache glitch.

I found similar explanations elsewhere.

I'd focus your resolution efforts on your Microsoft or Windows Account, not on OneDrive.
Click to expand...
Thanks. That makes sense. I'll let you know what I find.
 
Unrelated but this is the red dot I occasionally get in Chrome. For some reason only/predominantly this site. I used to think it somehow was acting like an alert to a subscribed post, but that's not the case.
Ask Google & you get a multiple explanations.

1744946833333.png


Back to OneDrive, yes they are irritatingly invasive. They are always trying to trick you into using as file backup service while in any MS app. (Never do that unless you have fully researched because it can be a nightmare to regain control). Seems to me I got it resolved by clicking no or X in every app, Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook... If you didn't say no in one of them, it interpreted that as as a 'maybe' so keeps nagging. It goes dormant for a few months & then comes back.

I seem to recall after a certain Win-10 update, it reset some of the OneDrive setting switches, so check that. Also if you have logged in/out of Microsoft account
1744947799291.png


And I also remember confirming settings within OneDrive itself. I've noticed it creates wonderful new folder's on its own like Vault that were not there before. But I'm quit sure it diddled some switches with that update.
1744947950038.png
 
PeterT said:
Unrelated but this is the red dot I occasionally get in Chrome. For some reason only/predominantly this site. I used to think it somehow was acting like an alert to a subscribed post, but that's not the case.
Ask Google & you get a multiple explanations.

View attachment 63364

Back to OneDrive, yes they are irritatingly invasive. They are always trying to trick you into using as file backup service while in any MS app. (Never do that unless you have fully researched because it can be a nightmare to regain control). Seems to me I got it resolved by clicking no or X in every app, Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook... If you didn't say no in one of them, it interpreted that as as a 'maybe' so keeps nagging. It goes dormant for a few months & then comes back.

I seem to recall after a certain Win-10 update, it reset some of the OneDrive setting switches, so check that. Also if you have logged in/out of Microsoft account
View attachment 63365

And I also remember confirming settings within OneDrive itself. I've noticed it creates wonderful new folder's on its own like Vault that were not there before. But I'm quit sure it diddled some switches with that update.
View attachment 63366
Click to expand...
I uninstalled one drive after the dot started showing up. It's possible that there is something lingering where the system tries to log into onedrive and can't so it puts up the dot. Touch the icon and that column of stuff vanishes. Click on start again and the icon now doesn't have the dot.

It just more than doubled the number of clicks I have to do to lock my laptop.
 
jcdammeyer said:
It just more than doubled the number of clicks I have to do to lock my laptop.
Click to expand...
AI says: To quickly sign out of Windows, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Delete, followed by selecting "Sign Out". Alternatively, pressing Alt + F4 while on the desktop and choosing "Sign Out" will also log you out. Another option is to press Win + L to lock the screen and effectively sign out.
 
I had a bugger of a time with getting Windows 11 to not use OneDrive. It’s still not cleanly being unused, but at least it’s not continually reminding me to backup empty folders.
 
MrWhoopee said:
AI says: To quickly sign out of Windows, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Delete, followed by selecting "Sign Out". Alternatively, pressing Alt + F4 while on the desktop and choosing "Sign Out" will also log you out. Another option is to press Win + L to lock the screen and effectively sign out.
Click to expand...
Ah. I googled it. The Windows key + L locks. I'll try that the next time the brown dot is there. I haven't figured out yet what makes it come back. It's not there at the moment.
 
jcdammeyer said:
Ah. I googled it. The Windows key + L locks. I'll try that the next time the brown dot is there. I haven't figured out yet what makes it come back. It's not there at the moment.
Click to expand...

I use the Windows-L key all the time to prevent grandkids from messing up my profile.

Win-L does NOT log you out. It merely locks your profile and gets you to the switch profile screen. In the background, your profile is still exactly as it was when you locked it.
 
Susquatch said:
I use the Windows-L key all the time to prevent grandkids from messing up my profile.

Win-L does NOT log you out. It merely locks your profile and gets you to the switch profile screen. In the background, your profile is still exactly as it was when you locked it.
Click to expand...
Exactly but normally I've used the windows start icon on the bottom left and then selected that user icon at the top. That's what is getting the brown dot and then clicking does nothing other than get rid of the brown dot. Then I have to select the start icon again.

Turns out the Windows-L works right away and leaves the brown dot on the user so I'm fine with that. Microsoft can get stuffed if the software is expecting a call home indication or something.
 
I just put together a desktop for the basement and found out you don't need an activate windows 10 they will allow you to fully use it except for a few limitations like changing the desktop settings and has an activation watermark on the desktop..

www.digitalcitizen.life

Windows 10 doesn’t require a product key to install and use

In contrast to older versions of Windows such as Windows 7, Microsoft allows you to download and install Windows 10 without necessarily providing a license key. Not only that, but you can also use Windows 10 without activating it, forever. Still, there are some limitations that the company put...
www.digitalcitizen.life www.digitalcitizen.life
 
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