I have been doing Google searches for info on Windows features, such as the new Windows 10. For a few months I have been getting the following greeting when I try to go to one of those pages:
Why is Microsoft making me login for info that is publicly available? I’m not trying to access anything that is specific to my account.
What are some of the actual links?
No idea, but it’s a giant PITA, and surprising after most of their moves lately I’ve approved of. Most irritating of all when you’re working on a colleague’s PC trying to fix it and you get that prompt. :mad:
I get no login prompt on those links. And I’ve got zero connection these days to MS or to Win10.
I suspect some issue local on your machine.
That was interesting.
I deleted all the Microsoft cookies on my browser and no longer get the login prompt here. This make me like Microsoft just a little bit less.
Many Microsoft pages allow you to log in with your MSA (Microsoft Account), and that will be carried forward via cookies to other pages. The “signed-in-ness” is what it’s considering private information (even if the page itself isn’t displaying anything account related), and as noted, clearing your cookies (or force signing out) will get rid of it.
Why is this happening more often? Same reason it’s happening on Apple devices and sites: the iCloud Celebrity Nudes “hack.” It wasn’t a technical “hack” at all, of course, just a bunch of celebs with easily guessed passwords and/or “forgotten password security questions” using information easily looked up in Facebook or other sites. But Apple got a ton of bad press over it by moronic tech journalists for iCloud being “insecure,” to the point where it affected their share price.
So they, and everybody else (Microsoft in this case, but you’ll be seeing it everywhere over the next few months) are tightening the strings. If there’s the merest chance that any personal information will be accessed, expect more and more of these “two-factor” authentication things: calls to your phone, text messaged codes, email “confirmations” or whatever. The ultimate goal is to be reliant always on at least one security measure that (unlike passwords) the user never gets to choose for him/herself, because:
a) users aren’t choosing strong enough passwords
b) users aren’t choosing strong enough password reset protection options
c) users are re-using passwords across sites of varying security, despite stories virtually every day about them getting stolen.
d) “hackers” are assholes, and
e) people being victimized (even if because of “a,” “b,” and “c”) makes for good “human interest” stories (almost always incorrectly reported) with very real consequences for companies, and hence make good shareholder and/or government lawsuit fodder.