This is another question I get often about HotMail. All I can figure is that HotMail's own documentation on your Secret Question must be lacking somehow.
Whatever the case, let me walk you through it:
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First, you must be able to log in. If you cannot login to HotMail, you cannot change your secret question. Period. See the links to related articles for some help if you cannot login.
Once you've logged in to MSN HotMail, in the upper right hand corner is a link labeled Options:
Click that.
On the resulting page, you'll find a link labeled Secret Question:
Clicking that will take you to the "Change your question and secret answer" page:
You'll need to enter your password, select one of the secret questions that HotMail provides, and enter your secret answer, and press continue. That's all there is to it:
IMPORTANT: do not forget your secret question and answer. If you do forget it, AND you forget your password, you may loose your account, and all email and contacts within it.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - I've forgotten the answer to my MSN HotMail secret question, *and* my password, what do I do?
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Ask Leo! - How do I change my MSN HotMail password if I forgot it?
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Ask Leo! - I've lost my HotMail password, can you help get it back?
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Ask Leo! - Are free email services worth it?
Article C2389 - July 21, 2005
plz help me my friends ghange my password or i didnt know what did he do but when i try to sigin evrey day i should change my password on the secret answer and also some time the ghange dose not avliabel coz he try al lot of times so i should wait 2 days to try again waht can i do and plz tell me what he do to let me cant sigin
Posted by: alaa aboughoush at December 7, 2008 5:20 AMHi there. For the past week, whenever i try to log into hotmail, i got a message
- Lockout "You've tried to sign in too many times with an incorrect e-mail address or password, or someone else is trying to sign in to the account."
Posted by: alaa aboughoush at December 7, 2008 5:25 AMI have changed my password several times, but the problems continues. I dont know how to fix this. Same thing with my msn messenger. When i try to log in, it says "We cant log you in because there is something wrong with your net passport." But sometimes it works. I can log into msn after a long time but i still cant get into email. Please let me know if there is any way to fix this. I have changed the password several times but problem persists. Please let me know if there is any security flaw or any ways to fix this. THis is very frustating. thanks.
hi leo
Posted by: sabir at January 5, 2009 12:08 AMhow do i remove the question and secret answer?i dont want it pls help me
My personal options wont load.. How can I fix it?
Posted by: Dale.. at January 5, 2009 1:23 PMHi Leo,
i have this problem my friend signed in onto hotmail on my computer now everytime i go in to check emails his comes up with his password. i do not want to tell him incase she thinks ive been trying to read her mail. is there anyway i could block signing into her account without telling her to change it?
thank you
Posted by: John at February 6, 2009 11:33 AMirfanpajaziti
Posted by: irfan at March 27, 2009 12:59 PMWhen you change your secret question & answer.. i have this friend who's question is: "food i've always liked" but when i choose a question - his one wasnt there! is there a way were i can make up my own question or choose different ones?
Posted by: i have got a problem (uk) at June 30, 2009 10:37 AMif i clicked on reset password when i actually remember the password will i still be able to use it
Posted by: maria at September 18, 2009 4:42 PMChanged password OK after today's scare in the press - except now I can't get access. Tried the reset route leading to the secret question, which is annotated 'my wife'. But - what is the question? I don't know what to put in the box. Do you have the list of questions to help decide? Please send response alternative email above, as Hotmail account is now not accessible.
Posted by: Pierre Miles at October 6, 2009 3:47 PMReference my question dated 6 October 2009: I managed to contact the MS Customer Service people who were extremely helpful. They asked me a number of questions so that they could ensure that I was the rightful owner of the account and then provided a temporary link to the account to enable me to re-establish control of it. It all worked perfectly. New password and new secret question - all working.
Posted by: Pierre Miles at October 23, 2009 6:07 AMSo, full marks to Microsoft for excellent service.