Hotmail account - Help needed

Cate1976

My husband has/had his email a/c with Hotmail which is now Microsoft Outlook, he's used it with no problems since the change.

Last week he tried to access his email account from his phone but rather than ask me to set his phone up properly, he went through the internet browser. Microsoft understandably thought his account was being hacked, my husband then tried to access his account from his laptop and of course couldn't. He then started whinging that he won't get his payslip (due Thursday), I told him to leave it with me and I'd try to sort it.

Yesterday morning, I went to the homepage where you sign into your email account and under the password box was the clickable link for can't access account, went through that and answered the questions as best I could (neither of us can remember who we picked for the answer to the security question favourite historical person). For the email a/c to send the reply to, I used my gmail a/c. Within 15 minutes got a reply that information I gave wasn't enough but to try again which I did giving 2 email addresses that he's sent emails to within the last month or so. After you click submit, it says that the verification team will look at the info and if there's enough, details of how to regain access will be sent to the alternative (my gmail a/c) but it usually takes around 24 hours. I did the second attempt 4.25ish yesterday afternoon but haven't heard anything back other than an email saying that the request sent yesterday morning has been cancelled.

I'm hopeful that it's possibly taking longer than the 24 hours due to checking the information but not sure. He would like to get access back if only to get the email addresses of friends from Northern Ireland.

I've just set up an a/c for him with gmail and sent an email to his boss asking for payslip to be sent there rather than the hotmail one.

Before anyone asks why I set the accounts up and know his passwords, it's due to him having trouble with reading & writing (went to rubbish secondary school which had policy of putting those who found reading difficult at the back of the class, he went to the school in 1978).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with this.

Cate1976

Have just checked my emails and it turns out that the second attempt still didn't have enough information on it. My husband doesn't have many people that he would have emailed recently, I've given the 2 that I know he sent emails to but can't remember the subjects and I don't think the people he sent the emails to would have them anymore. If only one of us could remember the Favourite Historical Person answer, it might get him past the verification. I do have a few ideas but don't want to try and guess as I don't know how many attempts Microsoft will allow.

I've also remembered that we were living in Northern Ireland when he set up the a/c but I'm not sure if he had to say which part of Uk (4 'countries') he was living in, I think it was just UK. All phone numbers he would have had when the a/c was set up are now defunct. There doesn't appear to be any way to email Microsoft, there's only a postal address. My husband has now told me that if he can't get access back, he's going to lose touch with a few friends in Omagh who aren't on Facebook and the pieces of paper he wrote them on would have been binned.

The form isn't asking for information which I know we could provide and information Microsoft want is in the blocked a/c. Examples of information we could provide is addresses since the a/c was set up, ISP's, landline numbers and other places away from home where he would have accessed the a/c.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

securityguy

"Security questions" are an appalling way to so security, for exactly the reason you're finding. They are usually designed by young people for whom questions like "favourite film" make some vague sort of sense. But as we get older, such questions are much more likely to have an "it depends" answer, and being asked to remember what you would have said your favourite film was ten years ago is virtually impossible.

Anyone with a really good answer to this problem, get yourself to a computer science department and sign up for a PhD. This is a really, really hard problem.

imho

My friend had the same problem and 8 months later he still has not got his Hotmail account back.
I gave him the email addresses he had in his contacts as some emails he mailed to everyone so i could see who he mailed.
3 months ago Hotail sent him a code to his gmail account so he could use the code to get back into his email but twice it never worked so he now just uses Gmail instead

Uxb

No need for a PhD.
Use Keepass (or some similar program) and start recording things properly including reserve email addresses, memorable info, security questions plus their answers. (just like a Ph.D research student would do in fact - accurate data recording).
Answers to such questions need not be real - you can say you favourite film is "9fg67+HG$7" if you want.
Most people will have lots and lots of online accesses ranging from email accounts to online purchasing and online utilties though to online banking and saving, so a way of recording securely lots of security info is required.
(you do use different paswords for each don't you.........)

There was a similar thread on here recently about the same issue with Gmail - conclusion in that case was that the OP was kebbabbed with no way back in.
So to those whose solution is to open a Gmail account - make sure you know the answers to the security questions or reset them otherwise you may be in exactly the same position one day!

Cate1976

Thanks Uxb, I was wondering if there was a way of securely recording details of online things to avoid the problem (I was thinking notebook kept locked in filing cabinet). Is keepass free? Gmail a/c set up for him Monday night. I'm convinced that his a/c hasn't been hacked but that it was him trying to access his a/c from his phoe via the browser rather setting it up through the email 'app'.

It also raises the question of what happens if he gets a new laptop or wants to access his a/c away from home?

The worst thing is the email addresses of friends he's now going to lose touch with as a result. I've had a go at the favourite historical person in the hope of getting it right and one word that I think was in the subject of an email he sent to his boss.

Cate1976

Here's the contents of the email I've now got back twice:

We recently received a request to recover your Microsoft account xxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@hotmail.co.uk. Unfortunately, our automated system has determined that the information you provided was not sufficient for us to validate your account ownership. Microsoft takes the security and privacy of our customers very seriously, and our commitment to protecting your personal information requires that we take the utmost care in ensuring that you are the account owner.

We have taken the additional step of blocking your account xxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@hotmail.co.uk until we can verify you as the account owner. This will prevent any further use of the account, and protect you from any possible malicious activity.

Please submit a new account verification form

At this point, your best option is to submit a new form with as much accurate information as you can gather. The more information you can include in the form, the better the chance you’ll have of regaining access to your account. We’ve included a few tips below to help you fill out the form as completely as possible.

> Submit a new form

Helpful tips for filling out another form:

Answer as many questions as you can.
Use the information you provided when you created the account, or last updated it.
Submit the form from a computer you frequently use.
You will be asked to list recently used email addresses and the subject lines from recent emails. Ask for help from family members, friends, or business contacts to confirm their email addresses and tell you the subject lines of the last three emails they sent you.
Make sure to use the correct domain for your account, such as hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com. Keep in mind that your email address may be country specific. For example, if you created your account in Sweden, your domain would be “hotmail.co.se” rather than “hotmail.com”.

Ready?

> Submit a new form

Thank you,
Microsoft Support Team

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
USA


Account recovery request 93759378 is now closed. Please do not reply to this message. Replies to this message are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our Privacy Statement.

I've now done the form with Northern Ireland being the constituant country/region and the postcode of where we were living when the a/c was set up even though I'm sure that hotmail only asked for country and when we chose UK, it didn't ask for which 'country' we were in.

Cate1976

imho: Glad you were able to help your friend, shame that the code didn't work.

SleeplessinScandinavia

Cate1976 wrote: »

.... For example, if you created your account in Sweden, your domain would be “hotmail.co.se” rather than “hotmail.com”.....

I live in Sweden. I've never heard of any Swedish "hotmail.co.se" accounts. Every (private) individual I know has 'hotmail.com' or 'yahoo.com' in their e-mail address.

Usually Swedish organisations/companies use .se in their domain address (for example the tax agency skatteverket.se)

Uxb

http://keepass.info/
'tis free
As with all programs take time to learn how to use it and set it up as you want etc

I use the 1. series rather than the 2. series as the 2. series requires the .net framework to be installed on the computer which most have, but if the .net framework becomes corrupted on your PC then you may start to have problems with the program.
The 1. series is more self contained/portable

As well as the usual password/username/websaite access/name data it also allows you to record in the notes field all those other details about a particular account - such as indeed the security questions and the answers to them.

As ever only as good as the data you put into it and yes recording/updating data does take time

Obvious safeguards
1. Choose a very long very secure central password to it.
2. Make sure you keep multiple backups of the database - you really do not want to find your sole copy of the database has been corrputed due to say a disk problem or power failure on the computer.

I advise against using the seperate key file on a USB stick method as a means of unlocking accessing the data. If the key file gets corrupted - again you are knackered.
It is an open source type program there are no backdoors into the program at all of any form if you loose your access password.



PS have have several hotmail.co.uk addresses that were being given out at one time and which I still use It is possible that hotmail were giving out other country code ending addresses as one time as well.

Cate1976

Got this reply back after resubmitting the new form yesterday. Not good news as my husband's payslip hasn't gone to his gmail a/c:

Your security is important to us
Recently, we received several requests to gain access to malcolm.taylor67@hotmail.co.uk. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify your ownership using the information that was provided. Microsoft takes the security and privacy of our customers very seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information, and our careful account recovery process is intended to protect you from any possible malicious activity.

Now what?
Because there have been multiple unsuccessful recovery attempts for this account, we recommend at this point that you create a new account. It's quick and easy, and we have tools to help you import contacts, connect with Facebook, and even receive messages from multiple email accounts.

> Open a new account

With a new account, you’ll be able to use the following services across all of your devices:

Best-in-class email with unlimited storage at lightning speed and serious security.
Stay connected with friends and family, see social updates and chat with Facebook friends, and make ordinary moments memorable with video calls.
Free online storage for thousands of docs and photos, shared your way.
Don’t get locked out again
Once you create a new account, we highly recommend you update your password reset information with a phone number or alternate email address. This will make it easier for you to gain access to your account in the future if you are locked out again.

> Open a new account

Thank you

Microsoft Support Team

Underneath this is Microsoft's address, my husband would like me to write to them giving the information we can provide which isn't on the form but I think it'd be a very long shot as all I'd be able to give would be ISP's (would need to trawl through BT bills to find when we switched to them). Could also give postcodes with dates we were at each.

The payslips is the biggest issue as not all of them have been saved to the laptop. My husband told me last night that he gave his email address to 30ish people before we moved but didn't get theirs and I've worked out that most of his closest friends are either on Facebook or he gets updates on them from others.