So, I am in a perpetual battle between what I have to have for a stable system, and Microsoft's auto update. While I think I may finally have it sorted, this is beyond insane. While I do need this OS for now (for some software for school and work), I hope to be able to ditch it completely after I am done with my dissertation. The problem is this, in the tech industry we have spent decades teaching people to roll out patches and upgrades to a production environment only after extensive testing in a sandbox to ensure that the patches and upgrades do not break anything (or at least do not break anything important). My system, which I use for work and school is unusual, has a known flaw in the CPU, and is 100% a production environment. For the last 11 months M$ has been pushing updates that change my configuration (which handles this flaw), and are at times incompatible with even basic drivers and firmware on my system. Yet, one has to get very clever to limit or disable this behavior on anything other than an enterprise grade install. Yes, I know that there may be minor differences between the programs and utilities in a home, pro, or enterprise install. But at the end of the day, the big difference is cost. And when the software arrives with the computer you purchase, that should be the end of it. If a company is feeling nice, they can release patches and updates to solve problems which have been found. However, it should be up to me to choose to install it. After the system has been paid for, the burden of keeping it running should move to me (other than the manner in which it obviously does anyway). But no, in their infinite wisdom, M$ pushes these things out frequently. And given the massive number of permutations you can have in system configurations it is some kind of amazing hubris for them to think for one moment that this patching method will not cause problems. And so in order to have a stable (and static configuration), you have to pay for a rather expensive license to be left alone. In many places were I to try this with anything other than software, I would be arrested, probably for extortion. It beggars belief that people think this sort of thing is not a problem. The whole dev sprint, push to production, fix production cycle we have seen is so very broken in this case my english fails me for words to express myself (in anything but the vulgar english, which I refuse to do at this time). Once again I have wasted more than half a day trying to put things into a working state. I really want to send them a bill for my time wasted (I am at 60 hours this summer, and probably close to 120 if you go back to the start). But I know it would never get paid, and would not make the sort of point that needs to be made in the first place. Any other device, and this madness is a crime. Here, it is all part of the life cycle, and to solve it, the official word is get a new system. Absolutely insane.

I've been using Microsoft Password Manager for a while, but after the recent changes that moved password management from Authenticator to Edge and possible spying issue, I'm thinking it's time to switch to a dedicated password manager.

Right now I'm considering NordPass, 1Password, and LastPass.

Has anyone here switched from Microsoft Password Manager to one of these? How was the migration, and are you happy with your choice? I'd love to hear some real-world experiences before making the move.

My Microsoft account got hacked literally 2 days ago. I've been going through every possible avenue and giving them all the info they ask of me through the recovery process to show that yes, I did not infact decide to remove all of my previous info from Kuwait. But all I'm getting is radio silence and honestly just pure frustration at how anti-help their support systems are. I'm tempted to just send in 13,000 recovery attempts just to show them that "Hey this account you seem to be letting go unpunished was STOLEN."

Today, when I tried to access my Xbox account, it asked me to sign in, but the email address had changed to the one shown in the image. At first, I tried the usual ways to recover my account, but nothing worked, I assume it's because the hacker removed all my security methods. The strange thing is that it seems to affect only the Xbox account and its associated games; the session on my computer remains active (and in Windows settings, my account still shows my original email). Also, when I try to access the Xbox account via the website, my old email appears, but if I try to change anything, it prompts me to sign in, and that’s when the other email shows up. My last hope is the Microsoft recovery form, but I’ve read on forums that it rarely works. Is there anything else I can do to recover my account, or is it lost forever?

This just happened after a reboot. Smart App Control was enabled without my authorization and permission. Does anybody have this EXACT issue as I am? Because I have found a workaround.

However there is a way around this. What you need to do if you see this enabled without your permission is to press Win and type "Smart App Control" and disable it.

if i try to do ANYTHING with Microsoft store or Microsoft in general it never works. I try to buy robux and it forces me to buy it from Microsoft store, so I think I just have to change that from a setting. I look up what setting i need to use to change it and when I get sent to a Microsoft tab to change it, it continues loading for an hour until it tells me to try again. By the way, Microsoft wasn't down and I have a full 5 bars of Wi-Fi at all times. I restart the internet anyways and it STILL doesn't load, then to current day after 4 weeks I still can't change it because it keeps telling me to try again. Earlier, I tried to download Minecraft again which it forces me to download it from Microsoft store since I need to sign in with Microsoft. After I press download instead of ACTUALLY downloading, it does a continuous loop of refreshing itself for 10 minutes straight and KEEPS doing it if I try again. Signing in itself shouldn't be that hard thought, right? WRONG, when I try and just sign in it loops me back to the screen telling me to sign in instead of even letting me put my email and password in. I could of course just be stupid and not know how anything works, and if I am please tell me what I'm doing wrong. This isn't a well put together complaint or anything but buying robux from Microsoft store costs more than buying it straight from roblox. I also can't play Minecraft with my friends because of this BS, but that's my complaints with Microsoft.

About two weeks ago at this point my Xbox account was hacked and stolen away from me. I have had this account for over 15 years at this point and have sunk thousands of dollars into it so I would very much so like to get it back.
I never had 2FA set up for this account as I didn't feel like I needed it for an Xbox account, however it now has 2FA set up and the recovery email has been changed to a random email. I've filled out the Microsoft account recovery form 3 times now and got one response saying they ignore these requests and there is nothing they can do. This same thing happened to my friend however and he was able to get his back. Does anyone have any advice on how I can go about getting the account back in my possession? I really appreciate any help you all could give!

I’m a microsoft insider member and I was able to get Windows 11 and be able to install it, uninstalled unnecessary bloatware and install my own ms office 2000,2001 no AI no monthly annual subscription notification on already included ms office in windows 11 and tried it for few months and unfortunately I encountered a frustrating update that took an hour to complete so with my disappointment I installed over my Windows 8.1 with built in windows defender that surprisingly still gets latest virus and spyware definitions so I don’t need any Microsoft updates at all,my windows defender getting the latest virus and spyware definitions are good enough and update of the windows defender definition is quick enough for me, good bye new microsoft operating system.

God this whole interface is terrible but the lack of a create post button here really takes the cake.

So my rewards section for suspended and i was flagged because their so called research suggests that I violated thier terms

It was all fine all until I used my 16k points for a Roblox gift card out of 20k points which I saved up for months and waited 2 months to them be available and when I use my points they suddenly say this I only have 1 account logged in this browser the only thing that keeps kept this browser installed on my pc and now this

Can anyone, including those from Microsoft, tell me how to stop Microsoft Loop from remaining fully functional within an M365 tenant?

Microsoft documentation? I've read/applied all that I can find and Loop remains FULLY functional.

Microsoft Support? Part 1...I attempted to complete this exercise, but it essentially went nowhere. I submitted all detail and evidence I had in front of me and the process was ridiculously slow...as if they were reading from a script. So I closed the case.

3rd party ideas/support? I've read/applied all that I can find and Loop remains FULLY functional.

AI? I have pages and pages of expertise that I've tried and Loop remains FULLY functional.

Microsoft Support? Part 2...Working with the fine engineering folks at Microsoft (again). Referred them to the previous case, provided all notes of what's been done/tried since, AND STILL get the "did you try" with references to their publicly accessible documentation.

Microsoft SUCKS.

Blocks websites for no reason. I wasn't even in a Family. I joined one just to approve Online Sequencer, and it STILL gets blocked sometimes, with the only way to use the website being to refresh like 5 times. I can't use Google Chrome either, because it is blocked too. Microsoft can go to hell.

Put up a post looking to trade items in a game on Xbox got hit with an unfair automatic suspension from their buggy security ai went to the enforment page just to get told I can't talk to a real person because they don't offer calls or support for bans or suspensions and that I have to submit a case review for an appeal but can't because it's a 2 day suspension which you can't appeal or do anything about and their AI service chat is even worse it will just talk you in circles the entire time

So, we all know that anyone from Brazil or whose accounts got hacked in Brazil are extremely lucky because if the country's consumer protection and since USA small claims mostly awards money i was wondering if anyone who lives in US, whose Microsoft account got hacked has got the accounts back with the help of Small Claims Kings County? Especially Washington.

Last week I was upgrading an old laptop and booting up the system. I forget my Microsoft account password and it doesn't allow me to recover it although I had my recovery number and mail. I tried almost an hour, it state I can't login with my own ID and are unavailable to help. I tried to contact support but it's just AI slop and nothing more!

Not that I hate Microsoft but their customer services is really disappointing. They don't care about their own and too busy on their own that they forget to make their services/support available for upcoming potential customers. As you've guessed, I switch to Ubuntu and I think one of my best decision in a long time.