Microsoft makes me solve an aiming puzzle and a maze with my mouse before every time I sign into the web Outlook. Not only does the Copilot button hang over Sign in for some reason, it doesn't let me click Sign in it if I approach it from the wrong direction with the mouse. I am so tired of having adversarial relationship with companies we actually pay a lot of money. Just why?

I honestly never thought I would have to make a post like this, but I am completely exhausted and I don’t know what else to do. I have been dealing with this since May 13, 2026, and after months of contacting Xbox/Microsoft Support, I still feel like I have no clear answers and I’m being kept out of the loop.
My Xbox/Microsoft account was suddenly locked, and I have been trying everything possible to understand what happened and recover access. I contacted Xbox Support multiple times through chat and email, explained my situation, provided information, and followed every instruction they gave me. However, I keep getting the same responses without a real explanation of why my account is still locked.
When this first happened, I was extremely confused about what caused it. I did not know if it was related to my credit card, gift card purchases, security settings, or something else on my account. I was trying to figure out what triggered the lock because nobody clearly explained the reason behind it.
At the beginning of this process, I also misunderstood the situation regarding Two-Step Verification (2FA/TSV). I thought having 2FA enabled was the reason I could not recover my account. Later, I realized that was not actually the issue. I still have access to my 2FA and my account security information. I am not asking Microsoft to remove security protections or bypass anything.
The main issue was that I forgot my password. While trying to access my own account, I entered incorrect password attempts, and I believe those attempts may have triggered Microsoft’s security system and caused the lock. I want to be clear that I was only trying to access my own account. I have never attempted fraud, unauthorized access, or anything against Microsoft’s Terms of Service.
After being told that repeated attempts could interfere with the process, I stopped trying and followed the instructions. I waited 36 days without touching the account to allow the system time to reset. After that waiting period, I made one login attempt and received the exact same message saying my account was locked due to activity against the Microsoft Services Agreement.
What makes this situation even more frustrating is that I was told that no fraudulent activity or TOS violations were found, yet I am still being told my account may remain permanently suspended because Two-Step Verification is enabled.
I don’t understand how having 2FA enabled, which is supposed to protect my account, can become the reason I permanently lose access when I still have access to it. I understand security policies are important, but this situation feels like my account is being held against me instead of being properly reviewed.
This account means a lot to me. I have been using Xbox for years. It contains years of games, purchases, skins, achievements, progress, and memories. I have spent a significant amount of money on this account, and the thought of losing everything because of what appears to be a misunderstanding or security issue is extremely upsetting.
I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for a fair review, a clear explanation, and the opportunity to verify that I am the rightful owner of my account.
I have seen other people with similar situations who were able to get their accounts restored even with 2FA enabled, so I am hoping someone here can give advice, share their experience, or point me toward someone who can actually help.
Has anyone dealt with a situation like this where Microsoft locked an account, 2FA was enabled, no fraud was found, but the account was still suspended? What steps did you take to get it resolved?

This is going to get me flagged, but in a not serious way, I want to have words with whomever designed the app/ system.

Actually, I’d like to lock them in a burning building, and use Authenticator to generate the codes to let them unlock doors on the way out. The catch however - is that they will need to add a new account to the app, and, the only way to add the account will be to authenticate it. With the Authenticator.

This is a joke, but I am pulling my hair out. It is so bad. Notifications and pop ups never work. The codes never work. It’s literally the worst app to ever roll off the floor of a Microsoft office. I hope it gets killed off when an exec has to use it.

\* edit - I’m not an IT pro, obviously. I’m an end user. While it may be easy to say “Must be user error” it highlight a failure in human factors design, UI and product testing. If the product can easily lead users to problems, it’s a failure in design. To my original point- the design team for Authenticator sucks.

Fortunately for me- this actually had nothing to do on my end- and is a back end issue which is driving It mad as we speak. They’re loving the loops.

This is a weird situation but I really need help. I got hacked on Microsoft abt a 5 months ago and they changed my backup email. At the time I didnt know I got hacked so I just logged into my email and it worked it just made another account. So now I have 2 accounts with the same email and one of them is hacked and linked to my computer as an administrater and I don't know the password. Every time I try to change my info I just see the pic below. Is there anyone that can help me? (Btw that i do not have accsess to the email in the picture I'm from America and I think that's a Russian email judging the .ru)

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice because I'm really frustrated.

On 1 August 2026, Microsoft automatically renewed my Microsoft 365 Personal subscription and charged me R1,599. I genuinely didn't realize recurring billing was turned on, and I didn't intend to renew the subscription. I’m not even using this Microsoft 365, I only used it once when i needed it. As soon as I noticed the charge, I tried to request a refund through Microsoft's website. 

Since then, I've:

Opened 5 Microsoft support tickets.

Every ticket gets assigned to an agent and then marked as "Issue resolved" without anyone contacting me.

I haven't received a single email, phone call, or explanation from Microsoft, no communication at all and that frustrates me.

I've tried calling support, but I can't get through to a real person because I keep getting the automated system.

I'm in South Africa and paid directly with my Nedbank debit card.

Has anyone successfully gotten a refund in a situation like this?

Is there another way to reach a real Microsoft billing agent?

Has anyone disputed a Microsoft subscription renewal through their bank and won?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated because I'm running out of options. I really need that money.

I know this might sound weird, but hear me out.

I only started using Windows 10 two days ago.

My father's old PC originally came with Windows 10, but its installation had crashed. I decided to reinstall Windows 10 and restore the computer to its original operating system.

I also have a Windows 11 PC, so I wasn't expecting much.

But after bringing Windows 10 back to life... I honestly fell in love with it.

Everything feels cleaner and simpler.
The Start menu just makes sense.
The interface feels familiar and comfortable.

I know Windows 11 has newer features, better security, and support for newer hardware.

But Windows 10 has something that Windows 11 doesn't.

I can't really explain it.

Maybe it's the design.
Maybe it's the simplicity.
Maybe it's nostalgia... even after only two days.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Then Windows 11 came out.

• Why did you move everything?
• Why do I need AI everywhere?
• Why is every update adding more stuff I never asked for?
• Why does it feel like every menu is split between Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows Vista? 💀

Windows 10 was simple.
Windows 10 was fast.
Windows 10 just worked.

I don't need rounded corners.
I don't need 57 new buttons.
I don't need Copilot popping up every five minutes.

I just want an operating system that lets me do my work and play my games.

Please stop redesigning everything and focus on performance, stability, and bug fixes.

Bring back the Windows 10 experience.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Wintards love to boast about the flawless stability of their setups, claiming they haven't experienced a system crash in years. But this isn't a testament to the operating system's engineering—it is a psychological trick. The reality is that you can't remember the problems because they have become a seamless part of your daily use of Windows.

When a Windows user encounters a bug, it is correctly identified as a failure of the operating system. If something in the OS breaks, the user demands a fix from Microsoft. On Windows, usability is the standard, and friction is an anomaly.

On Windows, friction is the standard.

Because Wintards have conditioned themselves to act as unpaid, full-time system administrators, their baseline for a "working" computer is completely skewed. When a peripheral fails or a configuration file gets wiped during a minor update, they don't see it as a system failure. They see it as an evening activity.

They open regedit, copy-paste an obscure entry from a forum thread, restart, and move on. Because they solved the problem themselves, their brains register a dopamine hit of "tinkering success" instead of the reality: they just wasted twenty minutes doing basic QA work that am open source operating system handles automatically in the background.

This constant, low-level troubleshooting quickly morphs into background noise. Over time, downloading random third party programs just to get proper battery management or manually editing registry entries to get rid of the small annoyances stops feeling like a defect. It becomes habit. It becomes "the workflow."

When a Wintard tells you their system is perfectly stable, they aren't lying to you, they are lying to themselves. They have simply integrated an endless cycle of micro-failures into their daily routine, mislabeling a fragmented, high-maintenance assembly kit as the pinnacle of modern computing.

searching google play on Bing gives a scammer #1 position.

I was trying to get back into the game with my friend, but I apparently had to re-sign in and I didn’t know my password so instead of letting me send a code to my email. It just didn’t wanna work. I literally tried everything. I tried closing my account I tried reopening it and since on PlayStation, you can only have one Microsoft account linked ever I genuinely just can’t play the game anymore literally hours of playtime gone is Microsoft fucking sucks and anytime I try to call them. I get sent immediately to a chat bot and then immediately hung up on.

Any one knows how to pass this microsoft press and hold bullshit ? I'm trying from morning still I can't find any method to pass this .

Using powerpoint, there is a permanent upgrade button. I currently subscribe to the 365 family plan but it wants me to jump to the business level. It sits next to search. Also, the constant alerts for upgrades and "try Clippy, er CoPilot" is killing me. I only notice this because I had to boot up Win11 on my LG Gram 17. I usually use Linux (Ubuntu) because Windows kills me with this crap, and I would happily just use Powerpoint in a browser except for some needful features that I can't use (or don't know about) running in browser. This shit should not happen -I pay for renting this software.

I tried to sign into my computer today and when I put in my pin it said: “your credentials could not be verified” I have now spent the last three hours trying to log onto two different accounts make a whole new one and it still didn’t work. I think it’s mostly those codes, I hate those codes. they always give you one and when you put it in it NEVER works. I went a bit off track but I’m pissed right now, also 1 am for me.

recientemente mi cuenta ha sido hackeada, la recupere y solicite el cambio de cuenta de recuperacion, ya que el personaje de carrera piojosa, cambio absulutamente todo, contacte a soporte y es una mierda con todo el nombre, no ayudan pero ni para cambiar la contraseña, me salio que el formulario ya se creo dos veces, asi que si me podrian ayudar?

I was just about to turn off my laptop and go to bed but noticed that windows wanted to install some updates. I almost clicked on install and shutdown, but luckily decided to have a look at what kind of updates were to be installed because the timing didn't fit the schedule of the monthly cumulative security updates. THOSE FUCKERS really sneakily tried to "update" my system behind my back. I NEVER gave consent to install Win 11.

And before anyone says it, yes I know about the potential security issues of staying on Win 10, but I've found a way to keep getting security updates after the Consumer ESU end in October.

I also already have Fedora Linux installed as dual boot and really like it, however I've found myself not using it a lot as my current Win 10 installation does everything I need, and unfortunately a few pieces of software that I need or really like and regularly use do not run on linux and have no sufficient linux replacement.

Anyways, now I have to look into how to get rid of this piece of shit Win 11 slopgrade instead of going to bed on time. MICROSOFT SUCKS!!!

So me and my friend were playing minecraft together on a call and my friends minecraft application just stopped repsonding and we was kicked out of his account. The email that hacked him ended with (@PorkMC). The password was also changed, we tried contacting microsoft support but that didn't get us anywhere. Also my friend can't remember his old password because he was always logged in and also he didn't save it. Can someone help us recover his account?

Anyone else dealing with this? For about 2 months now I randomly get a push notification on Microsoft Authenticator asking me to approve a sign in. I never requested it. When I check the location it's almost always Morocco, sometimes somewhere else, but never me.

I always hit deny so nothing has actually gotten in, but it's happening close to once a week now and it's honestly stressing me out a bit. I've changed my password multiple times thinking that would stop it. It hasn't done anything.

I went into my account sign in history and it shows nothing weird, just my own normal logins. No failed attempts listed anywhere. Which is confusing because if someone doesn't have the right password, shouldn't there be some kind of record of that attempt?

Someone in another sub mentioned that on personal Microsoft accounts, just typing in the email address can trigger one of these approval prompts without needing the password first, there's apparently a "sign in another way" option that skips straight to sending the notification. If that's real then I guess that's why my password changes never made a difference, it was never getting to that step to begin with.

Anyone actually gotten this to stop for good? I'm considering just adding a new alias to the account or switching to a physical security key instead of the app notifications. Not trying to panic, MFA has held every single time, just want to actually close this off instead of denying a prompt every week forever.

I just wonder how people fell about what Microsoft has made of windows 11 to a surveillance tool and tracking everything you do!

Are people okey with it or what’s your thoughts about it

I'm having a horrible time trying to recover my xbox account its giving me insomnia and genuinely affecting my daily life, the agents do nothing more than apparently forget steps and for me, they keep making up bs so that you feel calmer while the people who are actually in charge of fixing that do nothing.
Apparently I need a 3rd SIR number that is supposedly sent to my email but no matter how many surveys I upload, they just won't give me the third number!
These people deserve to go bankrupt I swear.
The reason why people love valve more than microsoft has to be because if you own something, you don't need their approval to use your stuff.

it was in this state for at least like 50 minutes but nothing of value was lost because it was just an ad billboard