Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2023 October 14

= October 14 =

Microsoft torture with passwords
It seems anything I do is Microsoft related. My email browser is Outlook. Usually no PW is required to activate it. However once in 6 week a disaster happens. The system asks for a PW to get into the browser but when I give it a PW that had been set in August of this year, it rejects it. So, 3 hours had been spent today trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally I used an option of setting up new PW. First I had to recognize those crooked letters and digits. OK, jumped through this hoop. Enough? Not enough. MS promised to send a text (6 digits) to my phone for additional identification as they said. Duplicate checkup. The text never came in. Tried many times, no effect. I know what will work. I need to call MS directly, they will ask for my credit card number and there will be a $200 ripoff.

Why do I need a PW at all? I live alone, old man. I am the only user of my desktop. I am convinced MS does it to get additional revenue from the users. I don't trust them. I can survive without any PW at all. But they will get you one way or another. They are sharks. AboutFace 22 (talk) 23:46, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Leave the dark side and come into the light. There are other operating systems the have nothing to do with Microsoft.  There are other email clients and other internet browsers. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 08:45, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Without password protection, anyone who knows your Outlook user name (which includes everyone you ever sent an email to) can access your Outlook account, read all your emails, and impersonate you by sending emails as if you sent them. They do not need access to your computer, only to the Internet. So keep your password secret. If a malignant person gets hold of your password, the first thing they'll do is change it and change the recovery information in your profile, locking you out of your own account. The first symptom will be that Outlook asks you for your password, and the password you set recently does not work any longer. --Lambiam 09:24, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * There is a scam that I have seen happen on our public computers. A user has to reset a password. Instead of going to something like "microsoft.com" to reset a Microsoft password, they go to Google and search "reset my password," which quickly takes them to something like "pleaseletsomeasshatsinindiastealallyourmoneyandidentity.com." They happily click the link, jump through hoops, and end up being told to call a phone number where "Todd from Texas" with a thick Indian accent demands a lot of personal information and banking information. Next thing you know, their bank account is empty and they have a bunch of credit cards and loans open in their name. The patron comes back to us and says our library computers are hacked because there is no way it could be the user's fault. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 10:50, 16 October 2023 (UTC)