Messenger: Lost password or secret question
I blogged about this a couple of years ago, but I still get quite a few mails asking about resetting passwords on Live Messenger (MSN Messenger). Some people can't remember their password, some have had their account hacked, some cannot sign in. All of them can not find out how to do this from the MSN web site.
So I tried to find the links to do this myself. It took me over 30 minutes of searching till I found the correct link. (I knew what I was looking for, and had lots of old links to start me off). Imagine if you're not very familiar with computers, and need to reset your password or secret question as someone has discovered it. Almost impossible. So here's what you do...
If you can't sign in:
Go to the Customer Care centre at: http://www.msn.co.uk/customercare/default.asp you will find a section on how to fix things when you can't sign in to your account.
If you can sign in:
Go to your account at: https://account.live.com/SummaryPage.aspx and change your password. it's in the Common Tasks area on the right hand side of the screen...
So my request to the Windows Live mail team is:
Please can you can make it easier for kids to:
- Change their passwords (when they've forgotten)
- Change their secret question
- Report a compromised account.
All of these links should be accessible from the sign in page. If it took me 30 (frustrating) minutes of searching just imagine how it must be for others...