Microsoft Tightens Security and Strangles the Customer

After 45 years of doing computer security, I thought I knew a little about it, but Microsoft has done some things to convince me otherwise.

I got a new X-box, not because I wanted one, but because my original burned up last week.  I like the design better, and it is is wireless, making it easy to connect to the Internet.  This was probably the first mistake, of many, that I was about to make.

I signed in using my account name and password, the same one I had used for the previous couple of years, but the error message said I had the password wrong.  Unlike almost everyone I know, I write down my passwords, so it took awhile to find the old one.  My password book goes back 4 years and has a lot of them in it.  Finding the most current, with the right user name, was easy enough.  I had it right, but Microsoft insisted it was wrong.

There is a reference to an X-box webpage, so, I logged into my Microsoft account and went to it on a regular PC.  The account logged me in and took me to the correct site and logged me in there too.  It came up with my old X-box user name, which is the same one I was using on the new box.  So, in desperation, and I mean that sincerely, since I generally won't do help desks, I chatted with a nice guy somewhere in the world of English-speaking help.  He went through my entire account and matched it up with the x-box, only to find that I was using the right password all along.  By some imaginative looking around, he discovered the password and user name were associated with the old X-box and not the new one, so we deleted references to the X-box altogether.  When I rebooted the X-box, it worked fine.

The next day, it didn't.  Since I am a Mac user, I didn't even blink when it failed to log in.  I put in the user name and password from the previous day and nothing.  The behavior was not the same as yesterday, and it just kept sending me around in circles, reentering each over and over.  Anyone who tries this without a keyboard understands the frustration of it.

So, for another attempt at help desk international, I went back on the PC.  This time, a new person took me though an entirely different routine which ended in 2-factor authentication, not something I am fond of after my experience with it and Google, but it was "different than Google", which could be good or bad.  When we were all finished with the process, I had an 18-letter password, which Microsoft generated for me.  Not being very intuitive, I asked, "What's this?"

"Abagail", who was smiling when she said it, said "This is your new password."  I could log in with this password and just set the "log me in" setting on the X-box and would not have to enter it again.  I know what this means, and so does anyone new to security.  I won't be changing my password - ever.

Not thinking this was such a good idea, I asked her about how this was going to be changed.  Go back to the PC and log in to the X-box site, and follow the same procedure for new 18-letter password that takes a few days to enter on an X-box without a keyboard.  Since Microsoft sent me a code on my cell to confirm I was changing my password, it passes for 2-factor authentication.  I still am not sure what happened to my original password and user name two days ago, but by now, I wasn't thinking clearly.

I bought a card for X-Box Live and thought I would see what is new on the X-box since my old one died.  Quite a bit was promised.

I scraped off the number on the back and entered it where X-box says to "redeem code".  I do this all the time with Amazon, so I know how this part is done.  As it turns out, Microsoft and Amazon don't have their cards made in the same place, and the Microsoft card is so secure it takes a jackhammer to remove the frangible cover sheet, the part that keeps the code from being read in the store.  I tried that number 5 or 6 times before calling another help desk person who was not very helpful.  You are obviously not reading the number right or not entering all the numbers.  There should be 25.  Mine has 21.  The jackhammer removed the first 4.  Can you give me the first 4? No, return it to the store and get a refund.

So in two days, I find that since my first X-box, Microsoft has revolutionized security.  They have done what they always do and insure they protect their business interests first, and the customer can sit quietly and color.  There is not an ounce of documentation on any of this that is sold with the device or the card.  You have to get help and that help is pushing you through areas of darkness that are complicated and necessary to keep some little kid in Nebraska from using an X-box on his Mother's home network, when he is only allowed to use his Father's.  They should never have divorced anyway.

I still remember those long codes on the back of Microsoft software.  They worked most of the time.  Now, you don't get the codes, the software, or any rights to anything you buy.  It is not hard to figure out why the popularity of these products is so low on Amazon.  People who use Amazon's system find Microsoft's annoying.