Microsoft: 85 percent of Windows 10 users do not log in with password – Computer – News

According to Microsoft, almost 85 percent of Windows 10 consumers log in not with a password but with the alternative methods of Hello, probably mostly with a PIN. Microsoft eventually wants to phase out passwords for its products and services.

The 84.7 percent of Hello users on Windows 10 is up from 2019, when 69.4 percent of consumers used login methods other than a password. reported Microsoft. Windows Hello allows users to log in with a PIN code, face recognition or fingerprint recognition. Microsoft makes no distinction in the use of these three components. It is therefore not possible to say which part of the users log in with which method.

In practice, most of them will log in with a pin code. Microsoft recommends this during the installation of Windows 10 and in the login settings of the OS. Face recognition with Hello requires a camera with infrared support and only a limited number of new laptops and separate webcams have this. The presence of a fingerprint scanner is also limited: about 29 percent of the laptops in the Pricewatch has this, for example, and these are usually business models.

Microsoft is promoting Windows Hello as an alternative to passwords because they are said to be clumsy and insecure. A PIN is according to the company more secure because it is tied to the device, unlike a Microsoft account password. Also, to protect the PIN, the trusted platform module and the disk encryption of business Windows 10 versions, BitLocker, can be linked to the pin code.

Microsoft also reports that the use of ‘passwordless login’ in Azure Active Directory has increased by 50 percent. This includes logging in with Windows Hello for Business, Microsoft Authenticator on smartphones and hardware security keys with FIDO2 authentication. Collectively, a total of 150 million Microsoft business users and consumers would now log in without a password.

Microsoft will add a registration feature to the next year My Apps-pagina, which allows users to manage their login methods other than passwords. The My Apps portal provides an overview of apps from organizations for users with a work or school account on Azure Active Directory.

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