Why am I locked out of my hotmail account?

Free email accounts are convenient and can be considered a great asset. But there are also problems that can come along with free email accounts. For example, many people get locked out of their hotmail account. Here are some of the reasons that this might be happening.

A hacked email account

It is possible that the reason a person is locked out of their hotmail account is because someone else has accessed their account. If another person has accessed the account it is possible that they have done something, like change the password, which then locks the original hotmail account owner out of their own hotmail account.

To remedy this situation a person would have to contact the MSN support staff to be able to access their account again. When a person contacts Windows Live Privacy they can explain their situation and the problems they are experiencing and will receive an answer from a member of the MSN support staff soon after.

Too many wrong passwords

If a person tries to log into a hotmail account too many times using the wrong password that hotmail account will likely lock them out. This is a safety precaution that helps ensure that only the original hotmail account user is the one trying to access the account. Of course even the actual hotmail account owner may forget their own password or continuously try typing the password with their caps lock on, etc.

Usually when this is the reason for a person being locked out of their hotmail account they are just asked to match the characters (CAPTCHA) to help the hotmail account know that it is a person trying to get into the account and not another computer trying to hack into the account.

If another person, besides the actual hotmail account user, tries over and over again to get into the hotmail account without success the hotmail account may lock beyond what filling in a CAPTCHA can solve. If this is the case, the hotmail account owner will likely need to contact MSN support staff in order to access their hotmail account once again.

Sending spam

If a person happens to use their hotmail account to send out spam that could be the reason that they are locked out of their hotmail account as well. Most people do not do this, but if someone does they are more likely to get their hotmail account suspended or locked compared to someone who does not use their hotmail account to send spam.

And even if a person is not sending spam there are other people who might be trying to get into someone else's hotmail account to use it to send spam. This could be another reason that a person is repeatedly locked out of their hotmail account.

A virus

When a person has a virus on their computer the virus can do a lot of bad things. Malware on a person's computer may try to log into a person's hotmail account and after many attempts may end up locking the hotmail account just as if a person typing the wrong password were to look the account.

It is also possible that a malicious software program on a person's computer was able to access a person's hotmail account and is now sending spam. Many times this is also the reason a person is locked out of their hotmail account too.