Thread: A bit of help please.

I could spend hours googling, but here is my first stop.
Mrs Naam has 2 Hotmail accounts. Has had them for years and has accessed both of them from her laptop.
The other day she was denied access to her main account. She went through the password reset procedure and still gets the message "It looks like someone else maybe using your account" message.
She goes through the process again and again, each time receiving the reset code in her alternative account, signing out and trying to sign into the major account again and each time getting the same "It looks like someone else maybe using your account" message.
Tried signing in on my laptop with the new verification code, same message.
Doesn't make sense.
Any advice, please?

Another weird thing: She has her phone number registered, and when she does the "send code to my phone" option, no txt comes through. Tried it several times.

have you tried clearing your history and cache and deleting all cookies with "hotmail", "live" or "msn"?

what about signing in with a different browser? or on her phone?

btw, hotmail is kind of crap (i have an account i use for some random things), so it could just be an error on their end that will eventually be resolved....but i'd start with what i mentioned above.


good luck.

Yeah, well that is why she tried on my laptop. I don't use hotmail.
Thanks for the suggestions. Cheers.

it's horrible...i should just dump that account i have but i used to for a lot of things back in the day and still get moderately important emails to that account.

did she ever use your laptop to sign in before this problem?

No, never used mine, and used hers for both accounts for years.
It doesn't make sense that in entering the verification code then entering the new password that she gets the same "Looks like someone is using your account" message and is prompted to reset the password. Every time.

Yeah, she would dump that account but has too much stored in it now. Needs to access it to retrieve what she needs...irony.

Can’t access your account?

There are ways to recover your account, even if a hacker has changed the password. If your account has been hacked, first try to reset your password. If you previously connected your account with an additional email address and/or a mobile phone number, we will send your new password there. You don’t need to know the password to reset it.
If you can’t reset your password, and you haven’t already added security information to your account, you can still get back into the account by filling out a questionnaire. You will be asked specific questions about the account and email messages that might be stored there. Someone will get back to you within 24 hours (typically a lot sooner).

Thanks Harry. Did that one too and it went straight into password replace and the whole rigamarole again.
Here's the thing; Put the new password in and it straight away comes up with "It seems someone else is using your account". It's not a wrong PW message, and it's not a message about another device. Text messages not going to her phone either, yet it's her phone number they prompted her to have a code sent to.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Thanks Harry. Did that one too and it went straight into password replace and the whole rigamarole again.
Here's the thing; Put the new password in and it straight away comes up with "It seems someone else is using your account". It's not a wrong PW message, and it's not a message about another device. Text messages not going to her phone either, yet it's her phone number they prompted her to have a code sent to.

Hang on,

You filled out the questionnaire and they didn't contact you?

I had a similar 'looped' Hotmail error a while back, where I couldn't get into a linked account for verification and codes sent to phone did not work.

Finally ended up at a Microsoft forum (not sure which one) and from there directed to a real time Hotmail support that resolved it within a few minutes after I explained the problem and responses with some screen shots. Not much there, no specifics but hope it helps.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Hang on,

You filled out the questionnaire and they didn't contact you?

I suspect he doesn't know what he has or hasn't done.

Google "Is Hotmail dead?" The response will be "Yep". Hotmail no longer exists, nor do any of the accounts or account data. Switched to Outlook.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Google "Is Hotmail dead?" The response will be "Yep". Hotmail no longer exists, nor do any of the accounts or account data. Switched to Outlook.

Horseshit.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Horseshit.

Did you Google it? I had several Hotmail accounts that all went belly up several months ago when Hotmail was replaced by Outlook..

I've had a hotmail account for ages and it's still called Hotmail but I assume it's really outlook. Still works ok.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Did you Google it? I had several Hotmail accounts that all went belly up several months ago when Hotmail was replaced by Outlook..

I'm guessing it's because you didn't use them enough to read the emails they sent out.

I have three hotmail accounts that I still use.

They moved all of the Hotmail and Live.com accounts to Outlook.com and IIRC you had to verify that the account was still active.

Probably a good move as there would have been loads of dead ones just taking up space, and what's the point in moving them?

Hotmail Is Dead; What Will Happen To @Hotmail.com Email Addresses?

BY MARIA VULTAGGIO@MARIAMZZARELLAON 05/02/13 AT 11:07 PM

Ding-dong Hotmail’s dead.

Microsoft has officially transferred all Hotmail accounts to its newer system: Outlook. There’s no need for Hotmail users to worry, though; their address will still be @hotmail and they can still send and receive messages from that account.

hotmail was great for signing up only to gay porn, but nothing else

is that why you have 3 of them, harry ?

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

hotmail was great for signing up only to gay porn, but nothing else

is that why you have 3 of them, harry ?

Oh look, it's the "IT Expert".

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I'm guessing it's because you didn't use them enough to read the emails they sent out.

I have three hotmail accounts that I still use.

They moved all of the Hotmail and Live.com accounts to Outlook.com and IIRC you had to verify that the account was still active.

Probably a good move as there would have been loads of dead ones just taking up space, and what's the point in moving them?

What was the politics behind the broad and dramatic change, Harry? I refer to the technical politics of it all.
This transfer of all Hotmail and later live.com accounts to outlook didn't take place yesterday, but came about a few years ago - depending on locale. And a greater percentage still retain [technically] @hotmail address -

I believe, in the day, hotmail might have been the most commonly used email service with millions upon millions of accounts worldwide, as it was the most promoted and available of the mainstream commercial networks. Somewhere along the line, Microsoft stumbled and lost to more accessible and easier to use commercial types [gmail, aol, yahoo among others] and then when they fucked around around with the first change of @live.com which eventually morphed onto what is now Outlook


Microsoft doesn't have a keen reputation for public changes - software, OS, browsers, email services, etc -

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Hang on,

You filled out the questionnaire and they didn't contact you?

No, it was just the loop again of resetting the password. Clicked your link (which we did yesterday too from our own struggles) for the questionaire and it's just prompts for an alternative address to send the verification code.
Just did it again from your link: "Looks like someone is using your account". Signed out of everything. She's never used this account on her phone or her tablet. As I said, it's odd that it reaches the conclusion that someone is using the account straight after it allowing a password reset and without any mention of wrong password or anything about devices.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

No, it was just the loop again of resetting the password. Clicked your link (which we did yesterday too from our own struggles) for the questionaire and it's just prompts for an alternative address to send the verification code.

You don't get the questionnaire until you verify.

Duh.

The alternate email is so they can ask you questions if needed, FFS.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

What was the politics behind the broad and dramatic change, Harry? I refer to the technical politics of it all.
This transfer of all Hotmail and later live.com accounts to outlook didn't take place yesterday, but came about a few years ago - depending on locale. And a greater percentage still retain [technically] @hotmail address -

I believe, in the day, hotmail might have been the most commonly used email service with millions upon millions of accounts worldwide, as it was the most promoted and available of the mainstream commercial networks. Somewhere along the line, Microsoft stumbled and lost to more accessible and easier to use commercial types [gmail, aol, yahoo among others] and then when they fucked around around with the first change of @live.com which eventually morphed onto what is now Outlook


Microsoft doesn't have a keen reputation for public changes - software, OS, browsers, email services, etc -

They bought Hotmail from someone else. There was probably a ton of shit old legacy code they didn't want to rewrite or maintain.

Live.com was supposed to be their big User Portal to everything.

But the Exchange team, who wrote Active Directory as well, obviously decided to move the whole thing onto the Internet, so Outlook won.

That would be my guess.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

You don't get the questionnaire until you verify.

Duh.

The alternate email is so they can ask you questions if needed, FFS.

Thanks for your advice so far Harry. I don't think you're up to it. As I have been saying, there is no questionnaire. Not online in the screen that comes up after verifying, nor in her email (the alternate one from which she gets the verification code).

I have been Googling and have read numerous accounts of the same problem. Have not found an answer yet.

Originally Posted by Luigi

I suspect he doesn't know what he has or hasn't done.

Is that the best you can do Mr Brer Fox who is so blinded by his narcissism that he falls for it every time?
Pack your hatred (borne of insecurity) of me away, bud. It's making you look foolish.

Please find out exactly how she got locked out. Sounds to me like she fell for a scam in her email account. Sorry to be harsh, but other than being hacked by a computer savvy friend this is the only answer I can see. I once clicked on a Pay Pal notification and thank my bank for giving me a hand.