Confusion over Login Credentials – Microsoft Account

I read an online article on 14.6.26 that suggested that if there was a problem with a software download or other computer glitch you may need to login to your Microsoft account to move forward and that many people will have setup a Microsoft account login some time ago (years?) to be able to initially set up their computer. However faced with the immediate error you may not have kept a record of the Microsoft login details or may be lost and so you are faced with difficulty. I had recorded my Username and password when I set up my account some years ago so decided to just test it out. I was confronted by a login screen which asked for my username but a passkey, not a password and no option to enter a password. I have never been notified of this change by Microsoft so have never setup a passkey. There was an option to verify my account and change login credentials by entering my username (an email address) and a verification code would be sent to the email to allow the reset. The username was confirmed as existing and a code sent which I picked up and entered into the request box to reset credentials. However the response then asked me to enter a passkey again not a password. Taken aback by this I then wondered if I had once setup a 4 digit code which I hadn’t recorded, so I entered a code as a guess and it was rejected but took me to a screen where I could enter a password (!!). I tried to enter the recorded password as a test but it said ‘this is a previous password’ so I devised another one and it was accepted and I was able to login to the Microsoft account. I then logged out and decided to test I could access again OK. But again I was confronted with the passkey issue and no password option. I entered the previous passkey I had used as a test and I was logged in (!!!). So even though I had not forwarded the 4 digit code earlier as a valid passkey it had now been accepted as a recorded passkey (!!!!). Maybe if I entered a wrong passkey it would send me again to a screen for entering a password, I havnt tested it. This whole experience is absolutely insane and not worthy of a company the extent of Microsoft and is glitchy and insecure especially to someone not tech savvy.