Having problems with Outlook logins due to the exponential growth of Bot brute force attempts

zenparadox · 2026-04-15T13:26:55+00:00

So in the last few weeks every time I've tried to login to my @live.com main email, i get the blockout saying too many incorrect login attempts. I use very strong passwords, and as at first I could just click "send me a 2FA code to my registered phone number", punch that in and good to go, I wasn't concerned. As it has gone on for weeks now, suddenly I am getting blocked because I can't use the 2FA code to phone, it just says "this method isn't working". The link to try and retrieve your account requires you to login ffs. After some googling I've learned you can set up an alias to use as a login, and then disable using the actual email address for login attempts, which thwarts the bots. However I still need to get back into the account somehow to do that. I se cookie blockers and never leave any device logged in to the accountwhich was good practice, but has made me vulnerable to the clowns that gave us AI's shit-bots of the hackpocalypse nightmare. Does anyone have any knowledge on how to get back in reliably? I have all of my important things tied to that account, so would like to try and get in once and enable the alias thing and then I should be good. I had to download the MS authenticator app for my work account, but didn't want to tie it to my epersonal one at the time, not knowing what shenanigans were coming. Is there anyway to add my personal account to it while I can't actually log in? Key info that may affect any answers; I don't have any outlook apps installed on my phone or PC, I just use the web browser version. My PC has always been set to delet all cookies etc on closing the browser. I have one of the security keys that Ars used to give out with memberships, but never used it as I read that it's best to have two, in case you lose the one....(might be another option, still have to somehow get back int my email to enable it) Any help greatly appreciated, AI sure has a lot of downsides right now. :|

Thread starter zenparadox
Start date Apr 15, 2026

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almostinsane

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Apr 21, 2026

Apr 21, 2026

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#7

Instead of using the website to read your mail, what if you use a mail client to sync? Does the client still receive errors logging in as you do when on the outlook/live mail website?

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Having problems with Outlook logins due to the exponential growth of Bot brute force attempts

almostinsane

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