Summary: If you try to login to your Hotmail account and the password won't work and your secret questions are all different, it's pretty clear what's happened.
HI, MY PASSWORD HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS AND SUDDENLY I GET A MESSAGE THAT SAYS PASSWORD INCORRECT,WHAT THE HELL? AFTER A FEW ATTEMPTS IT BLOCKED ALL ATTEMPTS AND THE QUESTION IT ASKS IS NOT WHAT I FILLED IN WHEN I SIGHNED UP.IT ASKS ME FOR MY FIRST DOGS NAME AND I KNOW THAT I DID NOT FILL THAT IN, I DO KNOW WHAT SECRET QUESTION I AM SUPPOSED TO BE ASKED. WHAT DO I DO OR DO I JUST GO TO G MAIL AS MOST OF MY FRIENDS DID WHEN HOTMAIL STARTED WITH THEIR NONSENSE?!?!?
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I get this often enough that I want to use this question as an example and provide a summary article for the situation.
This has nothing to do with Hotmail's "nonsense" at all.
It's pretty clear what's happened here, so I'll point you to a number of my previous articles that all might apply in your situation.
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Your account has been hacked, plain and simple.
Someone guessed or got your password, went in and changed your password and all the other information associated with your account.
The fact that you had the same password for 10 years didn't help. That often makes it easier for the hacker to get your passwords. If you use that same password on other accounts, now might be a good time to change it everywhere.
I'll point you to these articles for things to do if there's any hope of recovering your account, and perhaps more importantly, some lessons to learn since I really don't expect your account to be recoverable.
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Would you please recover my password? My account has been hacked or I've forgotten it. The steps to take when your account has been hacked.
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How do I contact Windows Live Hotmail customer service? There is a help forum with official support from Microsoft. I have no idea whether or not they can help in your situation, but they're the ultimate reference point.
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Someone's sending email that looks like it's from me to my contacts, what can I do? A very common result of having your account hacked.
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Is changing my password enough? In a word: no. Not even close. If you do get your account back, or if you suspect you've been hacked, you need to do much more than change a password.
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How do I keep from getting my account hacked? Perhaps the most definitive guide to preventing this in the first place.
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Internet Safety: How do I keep my computer safe on the internet? All aspects of computer security actually come into play to protect your email account. Make sure you're safe when you connect to the internet.
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Are free email services worth it? Remember, you get what you pay for.
And finally, I'd recommend you consider reading this article as well: WHY IS EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET SO GRUMPY?
Having your email account hacked is a pain and can result in quite a bit of inconvenience and data loss. Make sure that you do what you need to protect yourself.
And when it happens, if you must place blame, place it appropriately.
This was not Hotmail's fault.
ShareArticle C4086 - January 12, 2010
I'm with Jim - have had to retype the 'good' (same) password, second time always works, 1st time never. I'm on Vista, had the issue when I was on XP, and am NOT going to Win7 in the near future. It isn't (doesn't seem to be) a hacking issue. Hotmail just requires that second password entry. Nuisance!
Posted by: John B. Moss at January 20, 2010 9:33 AMSometimes I get that message and then if I try again it works.
Posted by: June Dushaw at January 23, 2010 8:19 AMI have the same problem that a few have mentioned, it's the reason why I ended up here. I have auto-complete turned on so IE always remembers my hotmail username and password, yet about 3/4 of the time when i click 'sign in' it tells me the username of password is incorrect. I generally have to type it in 2 or 3 times before it accepts. Does anybody know why this is, or how to get around it?
Posted by: Gugliemo at January 24, 2010 3:36 AMsomething is wrong with my email............and i am 100 percent sure with my password........so i need a contact phone number for customer service
12-Mar-2010
Posted by: cammy at March 12, 2010 4:24 AM
I tried logging in to my msn mail account that has been free for many years on Thursday 7/3/2010 and it said thatI had logged in too many times with an incorrect password. Now note that I only logged in twice because I thought I may have hit the wronk key. I could not send a complaint to msn because I could not access my account. Every time now when I ty to logon it automatically takes me to hotmail.com NOT msn.com. I set up another email account using hotmail and used my my original ID & PW and it allowed. I tried to set up a new account under a link I found for msn.com mail and it said my account was in use when trying to set up with same ID & PW. On Thurs there was a message from MSN saying that some users may not be able to access their mail accounts due to problems they were having. After 5 days, no fix????? What is going on as I have work and personal items that I desperately need to access. I have had this account for years!! Please help.
Posted by: Phyllis Zolko at July 6, 2010 10:34 AM