Sunday, May 3, 2009
Share Your Experiences
I am very interested in anyone else's experiences with Hotmail or being hacked in general. Please share your experience and where you are in the process. If it just happened to you I know you are probably asking tons of questions. If you are in the middle of getting it cleared up and need a little extra help, please ask. If you got everything straightened out, please share your experience. Feel free to leave a comment here or email me at jkotind@gmail.com
More Information
If you need to find more information, use the google search bar on the right side of the page. I have personally configured it to help you find relevant searches regarding Hotmail and password problems.
How to Contact Microsoft and Reset Your Hotmail Password After Being Hacked
I previously posted an article explaining what steps I took to get my Hotmail password back after someone had hacked into my account and used my credit card to make purchases. Since then, many people have asked more specific questions like "who do I email to get my password reset" and "how can I find out who hacked into my account". I will help answer these more specific questions and hopefully be able to provide a step by step guide on how to regain your password after your Hotmail account has been hacked into. First let me say it might be best to read my previous article that explains exactly what happened to me and how I was able to fix the problem and get my password reset in only 3 days. I talked directly to the Windows staff so the article also explains exactly what they told me to do and what information I needed to provide to them. Here is the link to that past article. I recommend reading that first article before starting into this one.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/430660/reset_your_hotmail_password_after_being.html?cat=59
Many have asked a great question: "Where do I email my complaint about not being able to access my Hotmail account because someone else has hacked into it?" I did not include this information in my last article because I did not even remember what email I contacted. However, I did find a link to where you can contact Microsoft. Looking back through my emails from when my account was hacked I noticed that I did not contact Windows or Hotmail, but I contacted Microsoft directly. The exact department that my email was then sent to was Windows Live ID Technical Support. So I now have the link for you to access and type in your question. This is not a direct email, but it gets you in touch with Microsoft so that they can route your question to the correct department and correct specialist. So step one is to go to this web page: https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1208&ws=support
You will see three sections for you to fill out. The first is your question or comment. Type in your situation which should be something like "My Hotmail account has been hacked and my password has been changed. I cannot access my account." Something along those lines. In the larger comment section go into more detail about your account. And finally you will need to enter your email. Since you are trying to regain your Hotmail email you will need to use another email address. If you already have another such as a gmail account or something else, you can use that and their response will be sent to that email. If you need to set up a gmail account keep reading this paragraph, but if you already have another email, skip to the next paragraph. To set up an email account at Google called "gmail" go to google.com and click sign in at the top right corner. Then click on "Create an Account Now". Go through the steps and create your second email. This will be used to correspond with the Microsoft help staff. After your gmail account is set up, type in your new gmail email address in the third section on the Customer Service Contact page. Then press submit.
After you have entered in your alternate email and pressed submit, the aggravating part begins. You now have to wait for them to reply back. They will probably reply with something that says "clear the computer cache and delete unnecessary cookies before you sign in again" or "go back and click on reset password and follow the instructions."
At this point you will have to email them back and say that you have tried all of that and that is not the problem. This is exactly what I typed back to the service representative. You can use it exactly or use it to help create your own response. I have put blanks where you can input our own specific information. Here is what I responded with:
"I have tried everything you suggested, however, I am still unable to log into my account. I cannot reset my password because I did not specify another email account at the time of setting up my hotmail account. Also, I believe my secret question has been changed or I simply do not remember it because it has been such a long time since I entered it. I am certain that my hotmail account has been hacked because my paypal was also hacked at the exact time I stopped being able to log into hotmail. I can provide you with all the information about my account such as folders that I had in there, specific emails in those folders and other specific information if needed.
I am unable to sign in on any other computer. And my last successful sign on was ________ (date) in the afternoon, but I was not able to sign in that night. If possible, can I have a new password so I can get into my account. As I said, I can provide you any specific information about the account that you would need. I have important information stored in my hotmail account and need to be able to log back in. Thanks again for helping me out ______(name of rep)."
Again you will have to wait for another response from Microsoft. You might get a different representative if they transfer to a different department. That is what happened to me. They will now apologize that they could not help as of yet. Here is the exact reply I got from them and the instructions on what I was to do next:"I recognize the importance of this issue and I will be assisting you with your concern. I would like to help you regain access right away, but because we value our members' security and privacy, we will need your cooperation in verifying the account ownership. If you did not provide the requested information or if you have forgotten this information, you must provide more information to prove ownership of the account before we can send you an e-mail containing the link that will allow you to reset the password of your Windows Live ID.Please send us the following information:
1. Your Windows Live ID
2. Your first name and your last name
3. Your date of birth (month/date/year)
4. Your country
5. Your state (if applicable)
6. Your postal code
7. Your IP address List the IP addresses from each computer that you use to access your account. To determine your IP address, visit the following Web site:
http://www.whatismyip.com
The numbers that appear at the top of this Web page is your IP address.
8. The answer to your secret question
9. The "alternate e-mail address" that is on file for the account
10. Your Internet service provider. An ISP is a company that provides an end user with a connection to the Internet and other similar services, such as e-mail. Examples include MSNIA, EarthLink, and Comcast.
11. The last date and time when you successfully signed in
12. The names of any folders that you created in addition to the default folders
13. Names of contacts in your address book (please include the e-mail address)
14. Subjects of any old mail that is in your Inbox or mail folders
Your patience and cooperation on this matter are greatly appreciated. We look forward to your reply."
Once you send them that information you will have to wait again. Remember all this email correspondence is through your alternate email or the new gmail email that you set up. Once they have verified that you are the rightful owner of the account they will send you an email with the link to reset your email password. In that email they give you very detailed information and you should follow it exactly. One of the important things to note is that the link they give you can only be opened 3 times and will expire after 3 days.
If you follow this guide you should be able to get your password reset. The main thing is to keep good contact with Microsoft and to refrain from yelling or being impatient in your emails. This will make it much easier and possible make it go quicker. It took me 3 days to go through this process and this was done on a weekend. They really do work 24/7. If you do this during the weekday it might even take less time.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/430660/reset_your_hotmail_password_after_being.html?cat=59
Many have asked a great question: "Where do I email my complaint about not being able to access my Hotmail account because someone else has hacked into it?" I did not include this information in my last article because I did not even remember what email I contacted. However, I did find a link to where you can contact Microsoft. Looking back through my emails from when my account was hacked I noticed that I did not contact Windows or Hotmail, but I contacted Microsoft directly. The exact department that my email was then sent to was Windows Live ID Technical Support. So I now have the link for you to access and type in your question. This is not a direct email, but it gets you in touch with Microsoft so that they can route your question to the correct department and correct specialist. So step one is to go to this web page: https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1208&ws=support
You will see three sections for you to fill out. The first is your question or comment. Type in your situation which should be something like "My Hotmail account has been hacked and my password has been changed. I cannot access my account." Something along those lines. In the larger comment section go into more detail about your account. And finally you will need to enter your email. Since you are trying to regain your Hotmail email you will need to use another email address. If you already have another such as a gmail account or something else, you can use that and their response will be sent to that email. If you need to set up a gmail account keep reading this paragraph, but if you already have another email, skip to the next paragraph. To set up an email account at Google called "gmail" go to google.com and click sign in at the top right corner. Then click on "Create an Account Now". Go through the steps and create your second email. This will be used to correspond with the Microsoft help staff. After your gmail account is set up, type in your new gmail email address in the third section on the Customer Service Contact page. Then press submit.
After you have entered in your alternate email and pressed submit, the aggravating part begins. You now have to wait for them to reply back. They will probably reply with something that says "clear the computer cache and delete unnecessary cookies before you sign in again" or "go back and click on reset password and follow the instructions."
At this point you will have to email them back and say that you have tried all of that and that is not the problem. This is exactly what I typed back to the service representative. You can use it exactly or use it to help create your own response. I have put blanks where you can input our own specific information. Here is what I responded with:
"I have tried everything you suggested, however, I am still unable to log into my account. I cannot reset my password because I did not specify another email account at the time of setting up my hotmail account. Also, I believe my secret question has been changed or I simply do not remember it because it has been such a long time since I entered it. I am certain that my hotmail account has been hacked because my paypal was also hacked at the exact time I stopped being able to log into hotmail. I can provide you with all the information about my account such as folders that I had in there, specific emails in those folders and other specific information if needed.
I am unable to sign in on any other computer. And my last successful sign on was ________ (date) in the afternoon, but I was not able to sign in that night. If possible, can I have a new password so I can get into my account. As I said, I can provide you any specific information about the account that you would need. I have important information stored in my hotmail account and need to be able to log back in. Thanks again for helping me out ______(name of rep)."
Again you will have to wait for another response from Microsoft. You might get a different representative if they transfer to a different department. That is what happened to me. They will now apologize that they could not help as of yet. Here is the exact reply I got from them and the instructions on what I was to do next:"I recognize the importance of this issue and I will be assisting you with your concern. I would like to help you regain access right away, but because we value our members' security and privacy, we will need your cooperation in verifying the account ownership. If you did not provide the requested information or if you have forgotten this information, you must provide more information to prove ownership of the account before we can send you an e-mail containing the link that will allow you to reset the password of your Windows Live ID.Please send us the following information:
1. Your Windows Live ID
2. Your first name and your last name
3. Your date of birth (month/date/year)
4. Your country
5. Your state (if applicable)
6. Your postal code
7. Your IP address List the IP addresses from each computer that you use to access your account. To determine your IP address, visit the following Web site:
http://www.whatismyip.com
The numbers that appear at the top of this Web page is your IP address.
8. The answer to your secret question
9. The "alternate e-mail address" that is on file for the account
10. Your Internet service provider. An ISP is a company that provides an end user with a connection to the Internet and other similar services, such as e-mail. Examples include MSNIA, EarthLink, and Comcast.
11. The last date and time when you successfully signed in
12. The names of any folders that you created in addition to the default folders
13. Names of contacts in your address book (please include the e-mail address)
14. Subjects of any old mail that is in your Inbox or mail folders
Your patience and cooperation on this matter are greatly appreciated. We look forward to your reply."
Once you send them that information you will have to wait again. Remember all this email correspondence is through your alternate email or the new gmail email that you set up. Once they have verified that you are the rightful owner of the account they will send you an email with the link to reset your email password. In that email they give you very detailed information and you should follow it exactly. One of the important things to note is that the link they give you can only be opened 3 times and will expire after 3 days.
If you follow this guide you should be able to get your password reset. The main thing is to keep good contact with Microsoft and to refrain from yelling or being impatient in your emails. This will make it much easier and possible make it go quicker. It took me 3 days to go through this process and this was done on a weekend. They really do work 24/7. If you do this during the weekday it might even take less time.
How To Reset Your Hotmail Password After Being Hacked
This past week someone got into my Hotmail email account and reset my password, then logged into my Paypal account and began to make purchases under my account. Here's what exactly happened:
On Thursday the 25th I tried to log into my Hotmail account, but it said my "login information" was incorrect. This was strange because I saved my password and username. I tried to log into my Windows Messenger which usually automatically logs in when I startup my computer, but it also would not log me into my account because of "incorrect login information".
So I clicked on forgot my password and had the option of either having a reset link sent to my alternate email or providing location information and the answer to my secret question. As far as sending a reset link to my alternate email, that was not possible because I did not specify a different email when I first signed up with Hotmail. I highly recommend registering an alternate email when you first sign up because it will make resetting your password much easier and quicker.
Since I could not use an alternate email I entered in my location information and the answer to my secret question. This did not work, however, because it said my answer to the question was incorrect. This means that whoever hacked into the account changed the answer to the question or I just did not remember it correctly since it had been 4 years since I entered the answer.
This left one last option. I sent an email directly to the Hotmail help staff from my Gmail account asking for any help. Surprisingly they responded within 24 hours. In the first reply they gave me the standard response that I should try several things with my computer first such as clear the computers cookies and cache and remove stored passwords from WindowsXP. I replied saying this did not help and that I know the problem is from my account being hacked. I again received a quick response and was told my password could be reset as long as I provided sufficient information about my account. The information they asked for was:
1. Your Windows Live ID
2. Your first name and your last name
3. Your date of birth (month/date/year)
4. Your country
5. Your state (if applicable)
6. Your postal code
7. Your IP address List the IP addresses from each computer that you use to access your account.
8. The answer to your secret question
9. The "alternate e-mail address" that is on file for the account
10. Your Internet service provider.
11. The last date and time when you successfully signed in
12. The names of any folders that you created in addition to the default folders
13. Names of contacts in your address book (please include the e-mail address)
14. Subjects of any old mail that is in your Inbox or mail folders
I provided all of this information (except of course my secret question answer and alternate email on file) in my reply email.
I waited and just 12 hours later I was sent an email from Microsoft saying that the information I provided was enough to verify that I was indeed the rightful owner of the account. They provided a link in the email that allowed me to reset my password, reset my secret question, and update an alternate email address.
The entire process of getting my password reset after having my Hotmail account hacked took just 2 and a half days. And the amazing thing is this was done over the weekend and not during the regular work week. I was surprisingly impressed with Microsoft support. It is now Sunday afternoon and I am able to log into my Hotmail account with no problems. When I logged into my email this morning I found a lot of mail from the hacker and from people he or she was talking to. I also saw a lot of emails from Paypal about all the purchases this person made while in control of my account.
I'm just glad to have my account back and now I'm looking through all my email to check for changes.
On Thursday the 25th I tried to log into my Hotmail account, but it said my "login information" was incorrect. This was strange because I saved my password and username. I tried to log into my Windows Messenger which usually automatically logs in when I startup my computer, but it also would not log me into my account because of "incorrect login information".
So I clicked on forgot my password and had the option of either having a reset link sent to my alternate email or providing location information and the answer to my secret question. As far as sending a reset link to my alternate email, that was not possible because I did not specify a different email when I first signed up with Hotmail. I highly recommend registering an alternate email when you first sign up because it will make resetting your password much easier and quicker.
Since I could not use an alternate email I entered in my location information and the answer to my secret question. This did not work, however, because it said my answer to the question was incorrect. This means that whoever hacked into the account changed the answer to the question or I just did not remember it correctly since it had been 4 years since I entered the answer.
This left one last option. I sent an email directly to the Hotmail help staff from my Gmail account asking for any help. Surprisingly they responded within 24 hours. In the first reply they gave me the standard response that I should try several things with my computer first such as clear the computers cookies and cache and remove stored passwords from WindowsXP. I replied saying this did not help and that I know the problem is from my account being hacked. I again received a quick response and was told my password could be reset as long as I provided sufficient information about my account. The information they asked for was:
1. Your Windows Live ID
2. Your first name and your last name
3. Your date of birth (month/date/year)
4. Your country
5. Your state (if applicable)
6. Your postal code
7. Your IP address List the IP addresses from each computer that you use to access your account.
8. The answer to your secret question
9. The "alternate e-mail address" that is on file for the account
10. Your Internet service provider.
11. The last date and time when you successfully signed in
12. The names of any folders that you created in addition to the default folders
13. Names of contacts in your address book (please include the e-mail address)
14. Subjects of any old mail that is in your Inbox or mail folders
I provided all of this information (except of course my secret question answer and alternate email on file) in my reply email.
I waited and just 12 hours later I was sent an email from Microsoft saying that the information I provided was enough to verify that I was indeed the rightful owner of the account. They provided a link in the email that allowed me to reset my password, reset my secret question, and update an alternate email address.
The entire process of getting my password reset after having my Hotmail account hacked took just 2 and a half days. And the amazing thing is this was done over the weekend and not during the regular work week. I was surprisingly impressed with Microsoft support. It is now Sunday afternoon and I am able to log into my Hotmail account with no problems. When I logged into my email this morning I found a lot of mail from the hacker and from people he or she was talking to. I also saw a lot of emails from Paypal about all the purchases this person made while in control of my account.
I'm just glad to have my account back and now I'm looking through all my email to check for changes.
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