Q: I sometimes get this warning message on my Windows 10 laptop: "Microsoft account problem. We need to fix your Microsoft account (most likely your password changed). Select here to fix it in Shared Experiences settings." To be safe, I close the message box without taking any action. My wife never sees this message on her Windows 7 PC. What's wrong? And are your earlier columns available online?
Stan Burnett, Winter Haven, Fla.
A: There's really nothing wrong. The message is being displayed because of a technical glitch in Windows 10. That's why your wife doesn't see it on her Windows 7 PC.
The message supposedly signifies that your PC isn't syncing correctly with your online Microsoft account because of a password change. It refers you to the "Shared Experiences" settings that use your Microsoft account to share data between your PC and other devices, such as a smartphone.
Note that you can get this erroneous warning even if you haven't changed your Microsoft account password, don't have any problems logging in to your account and don't share PC data with other gadgets.
One way to get rid of the error message is to turn off Shared Experiences, which stops Windows 10 from trying to sync itself with your Microsoft account (see tinyurl.com/yclrvkfd).
If you want to try fixing the problem, follow Microsoft's instructions (see tinyurl.com/y9okmatp and scroll down to "Method 1.")
To find my recent columns, go to startribune.com and search for "Steve Alexander." The columns are in the resulting list, beginning with the most recent. New columns appear there on Tuesdays.
