Secure Your Microsoft Account

Windows 11 includes deeply integrated security features that help protect your PC and the personal data that it contains from digital and physical attacks. But before we discuss any of that, it's important to tackle a thorny, related issue, the security of the Microsoft account that most of us use when we sign in to Windows. If your Microsoft account isn't properly secured, then the PCs you use it with can't be fully secured either.

In an ideal world, your Microsoft account is already properly secured. But we're all human, and whether it's by error or ignorance, it's possible or even likely that you've neglected your Microsoft account over the years. This chapter will help correct that problem. Or, if you've already done things correctly, it will simply confirm what you already know and have correctly configured.

But what does it mean to have a correctly configured Microsoft account? Three things. A correctly configured Microsoft account ...

Has has up-to-date and complete profile and account information
Has multiple additional sign-in and verification methods
Is configured to require two-step verification

If any of those terms are confusing or unfamiliar, no worries: We explain each of these things and how you can configure them in this chapter. And once you meet all three of the qualifications noted above, you can optionally remove the password from your Microsoft account as well. We explain how to do that in this chapter too.
Get started with Microsoft account configuration
The Windows 11 Settings app includes a top-level Accounts interface you use to configure the sign-in accounts and other accounts you use in Windows on a PC. What Windows 11 lacks, however, is a way to configure the underlying Microsoft account that most of us used to sign in to Windows. And that means we need to turn elsewhere, in this case to the Microsoft account website. So fire up your favorite web browser, sign in and authenticate as required, and take the time to examine how your account is configured and make the recommended changes if required.

This website is organized into several top-level functional areas like Your info, Privacy, Security, Payment & billing, Services & subscriptions, and Devices. This chapter deals exclusively with the first three of those functional areas, and only with those settings that directly impact the security of your account. But it's worth reviewing the settings exposed throughout this site from time to time, especially those related to billing, subscriptions and auto-renewals, and the PCs and other devices that are connected to your account.
Configure your profile information
When you first created your Microsoft account, you were asked to specify a new outlook.com email address and an associated password.
If you've been around as long as we have, you may have been prompted to create a hotmail.com or live.com email address instead. They all work identically, and you can actually still create...