No, you’re not imagining it—Microsoft did announce sign-in changes for February. But now, the company is backtracking, claiming the reports relied on “incomplete information,” The Verge reports. The now erased information stated that you would stay signed in automatically unless private browsing was used or you signed out.
“There will be no changes to Microsoft users’ commercial (Microsoft Entra) or consumer (Microsoft account) sign in experiences in February,” said Microsoft corporate vice president of identity & network access program management Alex Simons to The Verge. “Media reports were based on incomplete information mistakenly published by a Microsoft product team. The incorrect notifications have been removed.”
Before Microsoft removed the document, the company stated it would modify how users sign into any service with their account. If the backtracking never happened, users would sign into their computers, and their browsers would remember their sign-in information. But if users were on a computer that was not theirs, it’s best to follow the steps and use private browsing windows instead.
The news of the change was in the now unavailable document, and an Outlook notification said, “Your sign-in experience is changing. You’ll stay signed in unless you use private browsing or explicitly sign out.”
Microsoft has not confirmed whether the once-announced changes have a different launch date or if they won’t happen at all. However, the backtracking only makes you wonder if the turnaround was due to the controversy the announcement caused when it was first mentioned. Nevertheless, if you forget to sign out, it would pose a huge security risk. Until Microsoft clarifies its plans, users should review nine key Windows security settings to protect their accounts.