Did not receive the Microsoft Account Verification Code

So here's what I think. Microsoft has attempted to create some security around its systems and come up with a poor solution and implemented it badly. I had an email from Microsoft (that I found in the junk mail folder that Microsoft has defined so poorly that it marks apparently important emails from itself as being junk whilst never doing the same for the junk emails it sends from Bling) telling me - not for the first time - that I'm in London which I'm not. Unlike its competitors, it does not tell me which device it saw in London. Indeed it finds that a login apparently occurs in London from time to time for no apparent reason.

The problem is that I have so little faith in Microsoft that I don't believe this message. Why? Because if I use Microsoft services I am informed that I am in London when I am not. If I believed Microsoft I would be changing my password every 5 minutes.

Microsoft asked me a long time ago to set up additional security by asking me to associate a second email address on my account. I did this and applied a second Hotmail account. Guess what? Yup, when I'm away and Microsoft decides I should be locked out of my account because it thinks I do not have the right to access my mail on holiday, it locks me out of both accounts so I can't use the security. Pretty dumb huh? Just change your second email account I hear you say. Of course I could or... Microsoft could create more intelligent solutions.

Microsoft tells me that it doesn't like me being on holiday and so it says it has locked me out of my mail, my calendar and other stuff. You know, my data. The data I need access to. Microsoft thinks it has the right to do this because Outlook is their system and they'll do what they want with it - like making sure it doesn't work properly and never ever EVER fixing problems with it. You'd think someone would have worked out how to stop sending winmail.dat or stopping the bland and pointless 'There was a problem' message when you try to send a message to a group of people. But no, they don't seem to care about this at all. Instead, they say it's our problem, that we have to work around Microsoft's bugs because they ain't interested in doing anything about them. I think they think it's our fault for using their systems. Maybe they are right.

So, back to the pseudo-security that Microsoft pretends to have implemented. Day after day after day I get nagged by Microsoft to confirm my accounts whilst on holiday. It says I'm locked out of my account whilst allowing it to be dwonloaded - albeit it erratically - to my smart devices. In other words, if someone had stolen my iPhone and hacked into it, they could still read my mail and access my calendar so the weird claims Microsoft has that it has protected my data by telling me it has denied me access to it DOES NOT WORK.

I decided to get a code. Microsoft doesn't give much in the way of clues about how to set this up so that's why you shouldn't expect it to work. I put my mobile phone number in and it sent me a code. This code didn't work. Why not? I assume because it doesn't know if the phone is associated with my account. Mind you, at this point I'm not sure it matters. If someone has stolen my iPhone, chances are the thief can get on to the rather insecure Live system (or whatever the current account service Microsoft has decided to half-implement and install on the web) to confirm she is me. So it really doesn't stop thieves from doing what they want. Indeed once they have waded through Microsoft's security system, they can do what they want.

So, I was on holiday and yet again Microsoft was sending me a barrage of emails telling me it won't let me use my account(s) whilst I'm on holiday and I think maybe someone HAS hacked my account so I change my password and guess what? Microsoft says that it will take A MONTH to implement the change. And during the time that I'm waiting for the password to change, my access to the page I need to use to verify security whilst I'm on holiday is made unavailable to me. Genius.

I look at Apple security or Gmail and it says that it notices I have used a new device or I'm in a new location and says I don't need to do anything if this is me. That's how it works with pretty much every system or device I use except for Microsoft's. They looked at what other companies are doing RIGHT and they AVOIDED doing this so that they could implement something that is ineffective and really difficult for uses to manage. That's the Microsoft way.

So, the security doesn't work, you don’t get your code because the system doesn't work and doesn't make it clear what you need to do to get your code.

Microsoft does not act upon any feedback it gets in this thread. It doesn't care about this issue as long as there's the thinnest of veneers that makes it look like Microsoft cares about security which it doesn't. It never has. That's why its mail systems are so vulnerable. Just like a whole load of other Microsoft systems.

When you put an entry in this thread that says 'I didn't get my code' or 'I can't access my account' or 'My Xbox doesn't work' you won't get a fix. You won't even get a Microsoft person advising you what you need to do. It’s too trivial and Microsoft has no interest in helping you.

I don't know what the answer is. Well, sorry, I DO know what the answer is - Microsoft needs to sit down and take a long hard look at itself and ask what the hell is it doing to its users and for what purpose. What is the benefit of location services that don't identify where you are properly? What's the point of claiming it's locked you out of your account when it clearly hasn't? Why does it think its current answer to 'unusual activities' on an account like using it whilst on holiday has any value?

Wouldn't it be great if just once we all felt listened to? If just once we got a clear response that said Microsoft realises it's not done a good job and instead of ignoring the problem, it’s going to sit down and work out a way to do this stuff properly. I could do it. You probably could too. A simple email from Microsoft that - based upon RELIABLE location services - told you your account was being used in a new location. That you don't need to do anything about it if that's you. I could write the email for them and I wouldn't even ask for a consultancy fee.

How hard has Microsoft made such a simple issue?

Still dont have my code

thank you .

I received a code

Thank you for letting this support group know. I think we will all sleep a little easier knowing that this process can - and indeed has - worked on at least one occasion. I will put Microsoft forward for an award as a result of this magnificent contribution to furthering the endeavours of the whole of humankind.

caned not find the download or code new Microsoft office