10 tips to protect your Microsoft account and Outlook Email

The security of accounts and personal information is always very important for computer users. However, many people are often subjective or do not know how to do this properly. If you follow the instructions in the article below, your Outlook Email account and Microsoft account may be much better security.

1. Set a strong password

This is a prerequisite and also the most important for each type of account we use. Some factors that you should sum up in your password are:

• There are between 8-12 characters.
• There are both uppercase and lowercase letters.
• There are both letters and numbers.

Do not set a password according to the habit, easy-to-guess passwords like your name, date of birth ... though long but it will not be strong enough to protect you.

You can change the password of your Outlook Email and Microsoft account by:

Log in to the account you are using, then left-click on the avatar of the account, select View account - View account.

Select Change Password - Change password and make a new password according to the suggestions above.

2. Activate two-layer security for Microsoft and Outlook accounts

This is an extremely effective protection feature. In addition to entering your password, the user will need to have an additional verification code sent to your phone or email. This means that when activated, even if the password is revealed, others cannot log into your account.

Doing:

• Log in to your account and select Security. Security basics interface appears, click on more security options at the bottom.
• In the Two-step verification - Two-step verification , click Enable two-step verification - Turn on two-step verification and click Next to continue.
• Select the method you want to receive the security code. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages, but according to experts, you should choose An app (via the application) because it is the safest.

Microsoft will naturally want you to use their authentication application, however, we can also use other alternatives. But after installing it on your phone, select your operating system from the list below, scan the QR code and save the recovery code before clicking Finish to complete.

3. Do not share your account with others

There are times when you will need to allow others to access your account or accidentally save a password on your computer without forgetting to log out. This of course will give bad guys the opportunity to be curious, to steal your information.

It is best not to let anyone have access to your account, or if so, then immediately change a different password.

4. Use your PIN to log in to Windows

It is a fact that the shorter the password, the easier it is to use and log in, the longer and more complex the opposite. The Windows operating system allows users to log in to a Microsoft account, so if a bad guy can log in to your computer, they can also know your email.

A perfect solution to this problem has been provided by Windows, which is to use a PIN , even a fingerprint (if supported by your device).

Doing:

In Settings / Accounts / Sign-in options and click Add to add the method that you want here.

5. Review the most recent activities

We can easily review the access history on our Outlook account at any time to check when we are away or not in use, has anyone logged in and used it or not?

The test is very simple, you just need to visit the security page of Microsoft and select Review Activity to review the activities on your account. You can click on each item to see details about each activity (time, location, operating system ...).

6. Check the list of trusted devices allowed to access the account

Microsoft accounts can log in on all devices as well as different operating systems. It is necessary to check the list of devices that you have used to log into your account. Because sometimes, even a little bit forgetful can bring serious consequences.

Visit the Devices page and check the list of devices once associated with your account. If you've enabled two-factor security for your accounts before, it's a good idea to delete the list of used app passwords by:

• Access to Security / more security options .
• In App passwords , click Remove existing app passwords and Remove it.

This not only ensures security, but also logout accounts directly from devices that do not support double-layer security. Finally, click Remove all the trusted devices associated with my account to force the application of two-step security for future devices.

7. Always be alert and have a sense of self-protection

Just a phishing email or a file downloaded from an unofficial source can cause you to get your account stolen or sensitive information in your account. Especially emails, letters or messages asking you to confirm your account password.

Microsoft never asks its users to do this, so all such emails are fraudulent or contain malicious code.

8. Always have account recovery information

If lost, unable to log in to your Outlook account, the phone number, email in the recovery information is always the most effective and fastest way to fix this. Have you added this information to your account? Not yet or do not know the way? See the following instructions.

Visit the Microsoft Security page again and select Update Info. You will see the necessary information related to your account. Click Remove to remove the old information, no longer used and replace new information into it.

If you haven't added this information, go to Add security info to add account recovery information, then Microsoft will send you an initial confirmation code to the device (or email). Finally click on Change alert options to make changes.

9. Password protected PST file

The computer's Outlook version stores your emails in PST files , so adding a password to protect the information in these files is absolutely necessary. Remember, however, that these passwords will not work if you have synchronized other accounts ( Microsoft Exchange accounts ).

Doing:

• On the interface of Outlook, select File / Account Settings / Account Settings .
• In Data Files, click on the PST file to be protected and select Settings .
• In the Change password field , enter the password to use (maximum 15 characters) and then OK .

10. Use "aliases" to protect your real account

This is an Outlook trick that I personally like and use. That is, instead of using the original account directly, we can create a fake email, to deceive spam and spam sent.

Other emails are still sent directly to your real mailbox, although it will be difficult to manage if you abuse this but if done well, checking your mail daily will be a lot easier.

Making:

• Visit the site of personal information ( Profile ) on Microsoft and select Manage your sign-in e-mail or phone number.
• Click on Add email and use Create a new email address and add it as an alias to create another fake email of the form " abc@outlook.com ". We can also sync these two emails (original and fake) into one.
• After doing this, you can use this new email to log in, send and receive email from anyone like your original email. If you want to manage it better, you can choose Change sign-in preferences to set up not to allow this fake account to log on to your Microsoft site.

However, it should be noted, we can only create and use up to 10 accounts of this type on a main account.

Finally, Microsoft accounts are very important for Windows users (especially Windows 10 ), so in addition to being careful, you should also protect yourself with the above suggestions to avoid unfortunate things. can happen.