# is passport/hotmail always going to just sign you in?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 19, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536 "2005-01-19T14:20:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536/1 "2005-01-19T14:20:02Z")

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I have a friend who tells me that he never has to sign into his hotmail account because it “automatically” does it. He says he hasn’t signed in in over six months. Is this true? Does passport or whatever it is really never require you to enter a password or is this BS?  
I’m a skeptic.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536/2 "2005-01-19T14:21:04Z")

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Well, if you check the “sign me in automatically” option, it will sign you in automatically.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536/3 "2005-01-19T14:26:27Z")

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Yep, that’s a big fat security hole, err, ahh, feature put in by Microsoft.

FWIW, when’s the last time you had to sign in to SDMB? If you have your own PC, you probably clicked the box that says “Keep me logged in” or something to that effect.

Another variant would be my email - my email ID and password are set up in my email client at home so that doesn’t need a password each time either.

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-passport-hotmail-always-going-to-just-sign-you-in/285536/4 "2005-01-19T14:50:50Z")

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I have the ‘sign me in automatically’ feature checked on the two computers that I usually use. Every couple of weeks I will have to re type my password, though.