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Catch 22 all over again

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  toy187 
#1 ·
I have two hotmail accounts going back over 15 years in the early days of computers. I no longer use them as active outgoing mail but do use one or the other when required for whatever reason such as grocery store offers I sign up for etc. I had to change the password for one of them and did so thinking I would remember it. Not so. This 82 year old brain is not sure why my car keys end up in the frig never mind passwords. So I click on "forgot my password" and hilight the bullet for "email me my new password" or whatever. Even though I have asked for email they insist I give them the last two digits of my phone number plus 90 and click on next. This is so they can phone me with new data.:confused: To verify that this is the right "number" I have to click next. There is also a box for code and when I click next I get the message that this box is required. How the hell can I give them a new code when I do not have a code that I am trying to get???
On two separate occasions I did get a 4 digit code and when I entered the 4 digits I get the message that I need to enter the 5 digit code. FIVE???? Augggh!.
How did so many 8 year olds in knee pants get to these senior management positions in this world? sailmaker:(
 
#2 ·
A similar thing just happened to me. My first thought was how nice it was that Microsoft seems to care that somebody else might have accessed my email account and now seems generally concerned.

My second thought was how annoying this whole experience is (I already went through it a month earlier and eventually remembered my info, only to forget it all over again) and simply gave up trying, by going with the option to deal with it all at a later date.

I hope I don't need to bother with anything else Microsoft, but it does seem to have a rather penetrating online presence.
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm guessing the reason why they want to confirm the last digits of the phone number is not because they want to call you but rather because they want to text you that 5 digit code. Can that number accept text messages? If not, in the account security options you can add different email addresses or phone numbers to be used to contact you, did you specify any other emails? If you did I'm guessing it should then give you the choice to either be contacted on that phone number or using one of the listed emails.

if you have issues remembering passwords you might want to take a look into programs for that. I've started using keepass (it's free) a little while ago and I love it. It can even be integrated into most browsers and smartphones to fill password info automatically for you.
 
#4 ·
KeePass is good but not the easiest to setup. Most browsers will save passwords. Just be sure to protect access to those passwords with a master browser password. I also keep a copy in a text file that is encrypted and password protected with 7zip. That may not be the most secure but it's easier to manage than some password programs.
 
#5 ·
Sailmaker, just recently a friend forgot her password for hotmail, ( she got a new computer and always had her old set to remember her). Long story short went to recover her pass, they wanted an alternate email and I just skipped the phone part. She didn't have one so I created one with outlook.com which is still Microsoft. So we used that one. Then she answered a few password hints from the original hotmail account. It did take about 12 hours for her to get a response in the new outlook account. But was able to recover hotmail. This was just a few weeks ago.
 
#6 ·
@toy187: quote from my original post "On two separate occasions I did get a 4 digit code and when I entered the 4 digits I get the message that I need to enter the 5 digit code. FIVE???? On one occasion when I gave them my other hotmail address the response was how to change the password in that GOOD email address. I repeat, too many idiots in high places. sailmaker
 
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