I get a few 2FA notifications from Canada daily using my hotmail.com ... how to stop?

Question

I get a few 2FA notifications from Canada daily using my hotmail.com ... how to stop?

Arian Hojat 20

I changed my password to a more complex one to no avail...
Then i went passwordless as MS Support recommended that.

There was an option to sign out of all devices. I tried that.
What else is there to do? i still get these 2FA popups on my phone that are coming from "Canada on Windows". I live in the US so i know these are hackers.

Note: the "Recent activity" page (https://account.live.com/Activity?mkt=en-US&refd=account.microsoft.com&refp=security) never lists failure logins it seems as i never see the Canada requests in there. i only see my successful logins from the US there.

Thanks!

Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T15:36:50.6566667+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

"Recent activity" page never lists failure logins

Microsoft nerfed the Recent Activity page. It's now totally useless for routine monitoring.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5515503/have-microsoft-changed-the-behaviour-of-the-see-yo

And if you do get an email notification - "unusual sign in" doesn't mean that they got into your account. Microsoft uses such ambiguous language in their notification emails that they are almost meaningless.

About all you can do is check your Recent Activity page for a "Successful Login", that wasn't you.

Answer accepted by question author

Hornblower409 14,915

Login Only Alias

You create a new "secret" alias that only you know. You use it ONLY to logon to your account. Then you remove the Sign-In privilege from your existing email alias so it can not be used to logon to your account but can still be used to send and receive email. Now, if all the Bad Guys have is your old alias, they get "We couldn't find a Microsoft account ..." at the very first step of the logon process and can not continue.

1 -- Create a new Log In Only (LIO) alias.
https://account.live.com/AddAssocId
e.g. "JohnDoe.LIO@..."
Write it down! If you forget your LIO alias you will be locked out!

(If you get an error "There's a temporary problem with the service ..." try using a Incognito/Private browser session).

2 -- Make the LIO alias your Primary Alias.
https://account.live.com/names/manage
Do NOT "Remove" anything!

3 -- Log out of your account.
Click on your Initials/Profile Picture at the top right and choose "Sign out"

4 -- Verify that you can login using the new LIO alias.
https://login.live.com/

5 -- Uncheck the Sign-in privilege from your old alias.
https://account.live.com/SignInPreferences
It's now an Email Only (EMO) alias.

6 -- Log out of your account.
Click on your Initials/Profile Picture at the top right and choose "Sign out"

7 -- Verify that you can NOT login using your old EMO alias.
https://login.live.com/
You should see "We couldn't find a Microsoft account_"

8 -- Change your default "Send From" in Outlook to your EMO alias.
https://outlook.live.com/mail/options/mail/forwarding
If you see a [Sign in] button - do it.
Email aliases -> Set default From address
Select your Email Only (EMO) alias.

Notes:

Leakage

Meeting invites you send still come "From" the Primary alias and there is no way to change it.
Meeting RSVPs (when you Accept/Decline/Tentative a meeting invite) still come "From" the Primary alias regardless of which alias the invite was sent to.

Limits

Primary Alias Changes

Microsoft limits primary alias changes to twice per week and 10 times per year to prevent security abuse. If you recently added a new alias, you may also face a mandatory 48-hour to 7-day cooldown before you can set it as your primary.

Alias Creation

Microsoft limits personal account alias creation to prevent abuse. You can only create up to 2 new aliases every 7 days. Additionally, you are restricted to a rolling annual maximum of 10 new aliases and a total of 10 active aliases on your account at any given time.

Arian Hojat 20 Reputation points

2026-02-27T16:00:57.5366667+00:00

Ill give this a shot later, right now it keeps giving me a "There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later." error
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T17:53:12.1833333+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

right now it keeps giving me a "There's a temporary problem with the service.

I just checked all the links in my Answer and they are working. If you continue to have problems please advise which link is causing problems.
Arian Hojat 20 Reputation points

2026-02-27T17:57:07.5866667+00:00

if i click on https://account.live.com/AddAssocId, and enter an alias. like myusername.alt [@outlook.com], it just gives an error after i submit with "Add username" button.
I tried past couple hours and errors.

Can you submit an alias right now?
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T18:46:32.7+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

https://account.live.com/AddAssocId ... it just gives an error

Yeah. It's down. I get the same. Sorry. I don't know any other way to create an alias.

(When I tested earlier I just made sure the page opened. I don't actually try to add an alias)
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T18:54:43.4033333+00:00

Arian Hojat said

https://account.live.com/AddAssocId ... it just gives an error

Seen this one before:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Outlook/comments/1qzz9ex/creating_a_new_email_alias_via_web_interface_is/

Try a Private/Incognito session and/or a different browser. I just used Firefox Private session and it worked.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T15:36:50.6566667+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

"Recent activity" page never lists failure logins

Microsoft nerfed the Recent Activity page. It's now totally useless for routine monitoring.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5515503/have-microsoft-changed-the-behaviour-of-the-see-yo

And if you do get an email notification - "unusual sign in" doesn't mean that they got into your account. Microsoft uses such ambiguous language in their notification emails that they are almost meaningless.

About all you can do is check your Recent Activity page for a "Successful Login", that wasn't you.
Arian Hojat 20 Reputation points

2026-02-27T16:00:57.5366667+00:00

Ill give this a shot later, right now it keeps giving me a "There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later." error
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T17:53:12.1833333+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

right now it keeps giving me a "There's a temporary problem with the service.

I just checked all the links in my Answer and they are working. If you continue to have problems please advise which link is causing problems.
Arian Hojat 20 Reputation points

2026-02-27T17:57:07.5866667+00:00

if i click on https://account.live.com/AddAssocId, and enter an alias. like myusername.alt [@outlook.com], it just gives an error after i submit with "Add username" button.
I tried past couple hours and errors.

Can you submit an alias right now?
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T18:46:32.7+00:00

@Arian Hojat said

https://account.live.com/AddAssocId ... it just gives an error

Yeah. It's down. I get the same. Sorry. I don't know any other way to create an alias.

(When I tested earlier I just made sure the page opened. I don't actually try to add an alias)
Hornblower409 14,915 Reputation points

2026-02-27T18:54:43.4033333+00:00

Arian Hojat said

https://account.live.com/AddAssocId ... it just gives an error

Seen this one before:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Outlook/comments/1qzz9ex/creating_a_new_email_alias_via_web_interface_is/

Try a Private/Incognito session and/or a different browser. I just used Firefox Private session and it worked.

Answer 1

Jeronimo Fuerte 45,760 Independent Advisor

Hi! Sorry to hear about this. Additionally, you can try changing the sign-in alias for your Microsoft account. You can manage which aliases are allowed to sign in here: https://account.live.com/SignInPreferences

If you don’t currently have another alias available, you can add a new one here: https://account.live.com/names/manage

I recommend not deleting your current alias, just add the new one and set it as the preferred sign-in. This can help improve account security, especially if your email address has been exposed publicly.

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