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How do I make my own secret question with MSN Hotmail or Windows Live Hotmail?

Question:

I know how to change my secret question. But what I would really like to
know is how can I set up my own question instead having to pick one from
Hotmail´s list? Can you please show me how?

As far as I can tell, you cannot.

But you can fake it.

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I just checked, Windows Live Hotmail gave me a choice of 6 questions to
choose from, with no option to “add your own”.

Interestingly, none of the questions in the list were my secret current
question. So not only can you not make your own, but you apparently can’t
change the answer to your current one, you must choose another.

Or perhaps the list of secret questions changes from time to time.

But there’s nothing that says your answer has to be correct. In fact, it’s
actually more secure if it’s NOT correct, just as long as you give the
same incorrect answer every time.

“Complete nonsense, but it’s your nonsense.”

Let’s say you wanted to make your secret question “What is my friend Seth’s
middle name?”, and the answer would be “Jonathan”.

We can’t change the question that Windows Live is going to ask you, so just
pick one at random. Say you pick “Grandfather’s occupation”. Now ignore that
question completely, just put in “Jonathan” as the answer.

You’ve just faked it out. And, in doing so, you’ve faked out anyone who
thinks they know your grandfather’s occupation!

Next time you need a password reset, Windows Live will ask you:

Grandfather’s occupation?

And you’ll know to answer:

Jonathan

Complete nonsense, but it’s your nonsense. It’s the answer you gave
to the question that you made up. And only you know what that question was.

Just don’t forget. If you forget the answer to your fake secret question or
even your real one, there’s almost no way to get your account information
back.

Do this

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2 comments on “How do I make my own secret question with MSN Hotmail or Windows Live Hotmail?”

  1. I’m sorry Leo, but my grandfather could’ve come up with that one ;-)

    (And yes, he knows nothing of computers. In fact, he died 20 years ago…)

    Reply

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