help with microsoft

hi, I have got myself into rather a lot of bother, and don't know how to get out. I was searching through old e mails and found one from microsoft store, about my account and I clicked on "visit my account" which i thought was to do with their shop. I then got a message about my e mail account needing to be activated again. I could have just got out at this point, but stupidly carried on. Now I am getting e mails from microsoft security, demanding each time that they don't have enough info and they will close my e mail account if I don't submit another form. I have submitted two forms and each time they say I don't provide enough info, submit another form. Obviously I don't want my e mail account closed as there is nothing wrong with it, but there is no space on the form to tell them what happened. My e mail account is working. It's a long shot but could anyone help with what I can do. This isn't that I have got involved with spam, it was a genuine microsoft e mail that I found and I wish I had not tried to look at my microsoft account, I thought it was to do with the microsoft shop. If it helps I am a pensioner, and am worried sick. I wonder if there is a way I can get a message to them, at the bottom of the form it says do not e mail as this e mail address is not monitored.

thanks for your reply Spunk; the situation is I opened an old e mail from ms, tried to go to "my account", typed in the only password I could find that was associated with microsoft (which was obviously wrong) and the whole thing rolled on from there. The messages I am getting come from filling in their security form and getting e mails back from them saying I am not sending enough info - I haven't got any more to send them. But I worry that they will close my e mail account, which is what they seem to think I need access to when I never lost access. I see what you mean about phishing scams, but I managed to start the whole thing! I think I need to change the e mail address I use for all the companies i do business with b4 they shut me out, which will take ages. But once again thanks so much for your reply.

Are you actually using a MS email address? To avoid telling us the address, just tell us what the part is after the @ symbol. It is possible that it is your MS account that is hosed, and if you don't use it for email you may consider switching to a local account. An MS account is (for many people) a complete waste of time and effort. I gave up on it after a series of similar warnings about compromised security, and switched to a local account (purely for logging in to my PC). But if you do use the features an MS account offers, then you will have to satisfy the security issues, whatever they may be.

Thanks for your reply: after the @ is outlook.com. I don't really understand what you say about an ms account or local account.

You are using MS for emails, so everything I wrote about local accounts etc is irrelevant.

So by what method are you submitting the forms that MS is not happy about?

hi, thanks for the reply.
They send an e mail, in which they tell me to "submit a form", I click on the link and there is no box to tell them I have made a mistake, just loads of other boxes to fill in. I have very little information I can put in the boxes, so I then get an e mail saying I did not give enough information and submit the form again. I submitted a second form, but cannot keep filling in the same form with the same info and getting told again to resubmit. It's like i am trapped in a nightmare.
So, if they decide to close my account, would you know what is closed? Is it just the e mail account, or would I lose access to the internet. This is driving me mad because I am a carer, we need access to the internet.
Thanks for being patient with me.

I have no idea what may be asked for on the form, so cannot help there. But you said you tried to login online as spunk suggested, and that failed - presumably you saw something on screen like this:

and if you click on 'forgot pw' you should see something like this:

In my case they can send a confirmation email to another email address I use, or text me on that (landline) number. Do you get offered either of those options, and if not what do you get?

yes, I did go to that page but the thing is, I have no problem with my outlook e mail. What I found, and what I thought the old email was about, was a note I had scribbled about a Windows Live account and a password for it. I have no other details for a reset password, eg security questions and their answers so would have nothing to put in the box on that page. Should I sign in with the details of my outlook e mail account? In fact thinking about it, I don't think I have a password for the outlook e mail account, when I bought the computer it was just there on the desktop and I opened it and used it.

So you are using an outlook.com email, but don't know the password to log in on the web link spunk provided? In that case, how are you accessing your emails - what program (W10 Mail, browser, whatever) are you running? Whatever it is clearly knows your password, and you need to get it to reveal its secrets - having an email that 'just works' without knowing the pw is asking for future problems.

However, in general, a mail program (as opposed to a browser) won't reveal its stored pw for security reasons (or someone who visits your PC could quickly look it up) - so it is incumbent on you to remember it (or write it down somewhere safe).

If you didn't create the email account, you need to speak to the person who did.