Shock, horror Im not going to argue with Microsofts latest bit of nagging in Windows 11, as this pop-up is justified

Date:
Tue, 11 Mar 2025 10:41:23 +0000

Description:
Windows 11 is getting yet another pop-up, but Ill give this particular bit of nagging a pass as it could be useful.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Windows 11 has a new pop-up in testing, but this one could actually be useful It reminds those with a Microsoft account who havent set up their recovery
access that they need to do so, to help defend against hackers Also, if you dont have the recovery process sorted, you could run into thorny issues
should you forget your password

Microsoft has another new piece of nagging in testing for Windows 11,
although this particular reminder is a useful one (as opposed to the adverts that many of its recommendations really are ).

This is a change to nudge people to ensure that the recovery mechanism for their Microsoft account is in place, and its appearing in a fresh Windows 11 preview for the Dev and Beta channels ( build 26120.3380 of 24H2).

The pop-up, or toast notification as its officially known, reminds the
Windows 11 user to add a secondary email, or a phone number, to their account for recovery purposes.

This will only be presented to people who are signed into their Microsoft account on the PC, and dont have said recovery feature enabled (as you might guess). (Image credit: Getty Images) Analysis: A step to defend your account against getting hacked

Why is this a good kind of nudge, as opposed to the more annoying efforts (which border on adverts, or are actually ads, like the one for PC Game Pass )? Mainly because its genuinely important that you perform the recovery setup for your Microsoft account.

For the uninitiated, the recovery procedure comes into play when youve forgotten your password and therefore cant get into your account, to enable you to recover access. Of course, Microsoft needs to be sure that its you
and not a nefarious hacker trying to gain access to the account, and so
needs a method of verifying that which a hacker wouldnt be able to avail themselves of. Namely that secondary email address, or better still, your smartphone, which can provide a verifying factor, and then allow you to reset the forgotten password to something else.

Id argue, then, that Microsoft isnt out of line in prompting the Windows 11 user to sort this out, as it is important to do so (you could say the same about the recent prod to backup your PC , too, though thats a little
different in my book ).

Anyway, in this instance, Microsofts nag gets a pass from me, but apparently it is still possible to turn it off should you wish. As Windows Latest observes (without confirming its the case), the pop-up should be disabled by turning off all of the Additional Settings sliders under System > Notifications in the Settings app.

At any rate, its worth remembering that this is only rolling out in the early stages of testing at the moment, and it may not reach the release version of Windows 11. Id imagine its likely to make the cut and come to all Windows 11 users eventually, though. You may also like... 5 reasons why Im finally upgrading to Windows 11 Fed up with Copilot in Windows 11? Microsoft pushing
a new keyboard shortcut for the AI isnt likely to help, and it could mess
with your desktop mojo If Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2 issues continue like this, I'll fully convert to SteamOS for gaming



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/shock-horror-im-not-going-to-argue -with-microsofts-latest-bit-of-nagging-in-windows-11-as-this-pop-up-is-justifi ed


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