What\u2019s your most valuable online account, the one most deserving of protection? If you use a Microsoft account to sign in to a Windows PC, that account and its associated email address should be the one you guard most jealously. That\u2019s especially true if you use that Microsoft account for OneDrive storage and Office 365 documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, I list seven steps you can take to help you lock that account down so it\u2019s safe from online attacks. As always, there\u2019s a balancing act between convenience and security, so I\u2019ve divided the steps into three groups, based on how tightly you want to lock down your Microsoft account. (It\u2019s worth noting that this article is about consumer Microsoft accounts used with Home and Personal editions of Office 365, Microsoft 365, and OneDrive. Security settings for business and enterprise Microsoft 365 accounts are managed by domain administrators through Azure Active Directory, using a completely different set of tools.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This level is sufficient for most ordinary PC users, especially those who don\u2019t use their Microsoft email address as a primary factor for signing in to other sites. If you\u2019re helping a friend or relative who\u2019s technically unsophisticated and intimidated by passwords, this is a good option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a minimum, you should create a strong password for your Microsoft account, one that\u2019s not used by any other account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n