How not to Get Locked Out of Your Microsoft Account While travelling.
Hi everyone. Leo, Notenboom.
Here for AskLeo.com. Some years ago, I traveled to the Netherlands.
I'm normally here in the Upper West Hand Side
of the United States, but for this trip to visit some relatives,
I took my laptop and expected to have connectivity during my stay.
One of the common complaints I get from folks who travel is that once they
reach their destination, they find that they've been locked out
of their Microsoft account for a variety of reasons.
I want to go over exactly why that is, why that happens,
what you need to do to prepare for it, and why I was never locked out.
So the most common question I get about
this, of course, is why would I get locked out?
I know my password, I've signed into my account successfully before.
Why should I have to jump through additional hoops?
Well, honestly, it's very simple.
Hackers look like what you just did.
Put another way, if a hacker knows your
password, well, they're going to be in a different country.
They're going to be signing in using your
password from a different country, just like you are.
Well, that's kind of suspicious to Microsoft.
They don't know that you are who you are, even with your password.
And I say that because account hacking this way happens so often.
Microsoft has to take steps.
They simply do.
The alternative is that your account is
that much easier for hackers to hack something you probably don't want.
So when you think about it,
if you spend almost all of your time in the northwestern corner
of the United States and suddenly, like a day later you're in a foreign
country on another continent, kind of looks suspicious.
Unless you travel often, which I don't,
then it looks like there's at least a question to be asked.
Let's make sure you are who you say you are, even if you know your password.
The way they do that, of course,
is to ask you to enter a code from an email they send
to an alternate email address, or enter a code that was sent to one
of the phone numbers you have associated with your account.
As long as you can do that, you're fine.
You enter the code, your account is unlocked, and you're good to go.
But wait a minute, you're traveling.
The common complaint I get is that, well,
of course I can't respond to an SMS to my phone, my phone is at home,
or I don't receive texts when I travel internationally.
Yes, that's the problem.
The other problem is almost ironic in that if you set an alternate email
address for your account and that alternate email account also
happens to have the same security concerns that the Microsoft account does,
you can find yourself in a chicken and egg situation.
Microsoft wants you to confirm that you
are who you say you are by sending a code to your alternate email account.
Your alternate email account wants you
to confirm who you say you are through some other additional hoop.
Again, people get locked out.
If you can't provide the additional information
that proves you are who you say you are, you'll be locked out of your account.
It could be no other way.
And the reason, like I said, is hacking.
And when you get back home,
chances are you're back to where Microsoft thinks you normally hang out.
Then it won't be as much of a concern.
Chances are you'll be able to log right back in once you get home.
So what do you do?
Well if you find yourself in this
situation while you're traveling, it's too late.
It just is.
There's nothing you can do other than maybe phone home and have somebody take
some additional steps with your account on your behalf.
But there's really nothing you can do remotely.
Once your Microsoft account has entered this state you will not be able to log
in from the remote location you are in until or unless you can provide
the additional codes that Microsoft has sent to your alternate means of contact.
However, if you haven't left yet, prepare.
That's the bottom line here.
The thing to do is to make sure a you have alternate phone numbers and alternate
email addresses associated with your account and that you can use those
alternate email addresses or phone numbers while you travel.
As long as you can get a message via
the phone number or a message via the alternate email address, you're fine.
You'll be able to get into your Microsoft account.
So use an alternate email address
that maybe doesn't necessarily kick in this extra layer of security because
they're not such a huge hacking target that Microsoft accounts happen to be.
I happen to use ProtonMail. I've heard GMX.
There are others that can do this and do this the right way.
So I mentioned that it didn't happen to me.
So of course I prepared.
Great.
Never got asked.
When I hit the Netherlands and I fired up my laptop and I signed into my account.
I just signed into my account.
I can't guarantee that this is the reason.
But I have a theory.
My theory is this.
I logged into that machine, a Windows Ten machine using the very
Microsoft account that I wanted to log into to send and receive email.
The fact that my machine was also now located in the Netherlands with me.
In other words, I was logging in using
a familiar device that itself had already authenticated the Microsoft account.
Maybe that was enough to alleviate the concern.
Maybe that was enough to say, okay fine, he's got his machine with them.
It's probably him. Don't know.
I honestly don't know if that's an additional criteria that factors in.
Kind of makes sense that it might be.
Don't count on it.
If you take away only one thing from this video and this message.
It's this prepare make sure you've got an alternate email address that works,
that you can access and that you can access while you travel.
And if you can, make sure you also set up alternate phone numbers or contact phone
numbers on which you can get these codes, hopefully also while you travel.
For updates, for comments, for related links and more, visit askleo.com/23616.
I'm Leo Notenboom and this is askleo.com, thanks for watching.