Recently I’ve helped a few clients recover their lost/forgotten/mistaken passwords preventing them from logging into Windows. One of the problems came when a client linked their windows account to their microsoft account when trying to setup email, this is a common problem on windows 10. Microsoft likes to link user profiles to their Microsoft profiles but you can avoid this if you know where to look in windows.
When you go to setup your email account in Microsoft Mail on windows 10 it will try to connect your account causing you to need to enter your Microsoft password every time. Look out for the “switch to a local account instead” text almost hidden under the user profiles.
Along with this there are two methods to recover your account if you no longer know the password in Windows 10 or Windows 8 (also Windows 7), one method uses the command prompt and ‘net user’ commands and another method uses a boot cd found here; https://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
Getting lost keeping track of alot of passwords?
You can manage your passwords with a program like http://www.lastpass.com – this gives you the advantage of using ‘2 factor’ authentication which usually means you log in via your computer and confirm with your phone to get into your password vault. This makes it easier to use different passwords for different sites and they are managed for you in a secure space without needing a password file on your desktop or for you to find a special note pad.
If you aren’t sure how secure your passwords are or if someone might have it, I recommend checking if your email address has been compromised at some point, you can put your email address into this website and see if your account details may have been hacked somewhere https://haveibeenpwned.com/