A great Mother’s Day gift idea: help your mom guard against viruses , fraud , and identity theft . Unless she's a super geek or an IT professional (or both), we know she’ll appreciate it. Make sure that your mother: Has antivirus software from a trusted source and knows how to keep...

Microsoft has long believed that you should get to decide what information you share online and what you keep private. That’s why we've made privacy settings for our products a priority. Learn how Microsoft can help you protect your online privacy . Privacy in Internet Explorer 10 Internet...

Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail ) is the newest version of free webmail from Microsoft. More than 60 million people have signed up for it since we released the beta version last summer. Whether you make the transition from Hotmail to Outlook.com now or wait to be automatically upgraded, you can keep...

It’s tax season in the United States, which means it’s time for us to remind you about tax scams—especially email messages that appear to come from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or another legitimate organization. These seemingly valid offers are designed to trick you into turning...

If you use Outlook.com or Hotmail and think your account has been hacked , you should act right away to help protect your Microsoft account . If you can still access your Microsoft account, sign in and immediately change your password. For Outlook.com, go to the Password and Security section; for...

A Microsoft account (formerly known as a Windows Live ID) is a single email address and password you use to sign in to various Microsoft products and services. If you have a device that runs Windows 8 or Windows RT or you use a service like Hotmail, Outlook.com, or Xbox LIVE, you probably already have...

Perhaps you're making wise plans to lose weight, exercise more, or quit smoking in 2013? While you’re at it, you can follow our resolution recommendations to help protect your privacy and safety online. Make sure all your passwords are strong , and change them regularly. Use long phrases...

Holiday shopping is in full swing and so are the scams. The following tips can help you stay safe when you shop online. Use a modern browser. Internet Explorer 9 and Internet Explorer 10 (available with Windows 8) include the SmartScreen filter. SmartScreen helps protect you from fraudulent shopping...

You will now find it easier to manage privacy settings in Internet Explorer, Xbox, and other selected Microsoft products. You can also review Microsoft privacy statements , view and edit your personal data dashboard , and learn about privacy features . Control your privacy settings.

Several high-profile companies recently reported that user passwords had been stolen from their sites. If you use these sites you should login and change your password. Even if you don’t use these sites, it’s a good idea to regularly change your passwords. Here are more ways to protect...

A reader named Karen asks: “I received a message in my Hotmail inbox that said that I’d been hacked and I should change my password. How do I do this?” If you think your Hotmail account has been hacked, go to the Reset your password page. Karen didn’t say whether the...

Maybe she wants flowers, but a more practical gift this mother’s day might be to make sure your mom knows some basic rules about keeping your computer updated and creating strong passwords . Read our six basic online safety tips . You can also download the tips in an easy-to-print card for...

Seniors in Los Angeles are getting into the social gaming craze. The new “Exergamers Wellness Club” combines exercise, health education, and overall health tracking. Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 serves as the exercise platform and HealthVault helps the seniors store and track their health...

Did you get a new computer or gaming system for the holidays and you want to get rid of your old one? Make sure you clear all the old files from your old PC before you recycle it. That way, if it falls into the wrong hands, a criminal won’t be able to access your personal information. If you want...

Whether your family is getting a new Xbox this holiday season or you want to upgrade the security on your current Xbox, here are our top tips. Password protect your Xbox LIVE profile. Use a strong password to protect your profile. This is especially important if you or your family plan to download...

For the third and last installment in our series on how to stay safer when you shop online this holiday season, we have a few tips on what to do if you think you might already be a victim of a shopping scam . Check your statements. If you think you might have given away personal or financial information...

Whether you start your holiday shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or right now, here are three tips to help you avoid scams and fraudulent websites when you buy gifts online. This is part one in a three part series. Read part two and part three . And if we missed something, let us know in our...

Last week a member of our team shared a phishing scam that she’d received in her personal email account. The bogus email claims to come from Microsoft and asks the recipient to respond to the email with their user name and password to avoid permanent cancellation of their account. This is a...

You probably already know how to help keep your personal information safe on the Internet . But what about everything that’s stored on your smart phone ? If your Windows Phone is stolen or if you lose it, you can make your phone ring, you can lock it, erase the contents, or show your phone on...

You might have heard that Microsoft is in the process of buying Skype , the popular Internet video and voice communications company. We thought this would be a good time to show you how to be more secure and help protect your privacy when you use Skype. Here are our top tips: Adjust your privacy...

We recently received this email: “My Hotmail account was hacked and taken over by the classic ‘I'm in London and I’ve been mugged’ scam . It appears that the hacker has changed the basic verification information on the account and every attempt to reset the password throws...

Last month, we told you how to recycle an old PC more safely. We suggested that you use an authorized refurbisher or disk-cleaning software to make sure that all of your personal information was removed from your computer before you gave it away. Since we posted that information, we’ve received...

The official Twitter account for the Microsoft Privacy team has relaunched at twitter.com/MSFTPrivacy. @MSFTPrivacy was launched for us to engage in real-time with our privacy community. We will use this channel to talk about privacy issues, while raising awareness of Microsoft’s approach to...

I recently received two email messages from people who had been the victims of cybercrime. These people weren’t just readers of our blog—they work on our team. That means that they spend almost every day thinking about viruses , online fraud , security updates , and other issues of computer...

These days almost everything online requires a password. You already know that you should use complicated passwords and that you shouldn't use the same password for every account. Here are more tips on how to create stronger passwords and how to test your password strength . If you want to know why...