With multiple accounts - not necessarily.
Do you borrow your daughter’s dress to wear it to a business party? Do you like wearing makeup like your wife?
You probably think - of course not, that would be super embarrassing! So why do you use their Zoom accounts on your private or business calls?
One of the recent examples of what can happen when you do that is the Cat In a Court. During his zoom call, a lawyer accidentally appeared in front of the court with a cat filter on. And it went viral. There are two possible explanations for that amusing, yet awkward situation. One is that the lawyer lent his PC to his daughter or granddaughter and she frivolously used his zoom account for fun. The other, more possible one, is that - to his horror- he used our hypothetical granddaughter’s zoom account by mistake.
The first and last name were typed in lower case, which implies the speaker was in a hurry to change the login, once he had noticed the problem. Yeah - you might ask- but if he noticed the issue why did he not change the account? It is not that simple, and that’s why we’ll have a closer look at it.
Time and again we see clients join zoom meetings from their wife's or child’s account. It is not because they cannot register for the app themselves. What is more, they may even be sure that they have just logged in from their very own account. But for some reason and to their surprise (and horror), a stable and responsible Mr. Smith suddenly joins the call as PumpkinAlis_X0 or Virg1nSlay3r07.
Questions arise. Why do I constantly join Zoom calls from another person’s Account, despite the fact that I'm logged into my own? How can I change back to my Zoom profile?
Frustration grows. Zoom connects me from another account. I’m logged in on the Zoom app on my profile but when I join the call it is my son’s name and settings.
Listed above, there are just a few examples of Google search phrases on this topic. So WHY does it happen?
The answer is simple, but the solution is not obvious. The reason behind it is the way zoom connects you with a pre-planned call. When you click on a link in your calendar or in a direct message, your PC or Mac opens a browser window, and the browser sends information to your desktop app to join the call. And then the app magic happens and the problem appears. When the browser opens a link, it checks the currently logged Zoom account. If you never log into your Zoom account through a web browser, then most probably you do not have that problem. But if you or someone who has access to your machine did that, THE BROWSER KNOWS. You do not need to have an open Zoom tab, the only thing your browser needs is one small cookie. When Chrome or Firefox or any other browser checks the last logged account, it automatically sends information to the desktop app, “Hey App, be a good sport and connect me to that meeting with the profile I used here last time. With love, your browser.” And the app responds “Yeah, ok, whatever”. A few seconds later you are no longer John, you are N00bCrusher!!!111 - CS Player feared by thousands, or at least that’s what your son likes to think.
How do I log as me on Zoom?
Well, as mentioned above, it is simple but not obvious.
First of all, go to the Zoom website and log off. It works almost all the time.
If you want to be extra sure, delete Zoom cookies.
In Chrome go to Settings:
then to Privacy and Security -> Site settings.
Then click “View permissions and data stored across sites” and in search window type zoom (lower case).
Next go to the zoom.us, expand the rolldown by clicking the down arrow button and remove all cookies.
You can also remove all of them just by clicking the 3 dots on right side of the zoom.us.
Here at TDCM we like to keep separate Chrome profiles per client, so if you like us and have multiple Chrome profiles on the same machine, you will need to repeat those actions in each of them. As soon as you do that, you will no longer be someone else.
Finally, You can be You.