dishonest folk complicate life for the rest of us

Complicating My Life

August 23, 2026 — Pat Bertram

If everyone were honest, just think how different life would be. No need to protect yourself from theft, fraud, scams, hacking, and any number of other dishonest occupations that complicate life for the rest of us.

My brother called me to warn me that Microsoft Windows does automatic encryption when you close down your computer so that if it’s stolen, thieves can’t get into your records even if they can figure out your password. The problem is, if your computer is dropped (for example) and you get it fixed, the encryption goes into force, and you need your encryption code to get back into your own computer. Apparently, this code is about 40 characters long, so isn’t exactly memorizable by most people.

Anyway, since it took him hours and a separate computer to finally get his encryption code so he could get into his own computer, he thought he’d save me the same hassle in case I ever needed the code, and so he tried to walk me through the process of finding out what my encryption code is.

As it turned out, I couldn’t get into my Microsoft account because they wanted to send a security code to a defunct email. I was able to change the email to a current one, but meantime, they have placed a hold on the account for 30 days. I can still do things like check my email, but nothing beyond that until the end of next month.

So why was that first recovery email incorrect? I didn’t realize I’d ever given them a recovery email, so I didn’t change it when Microsoft made it near impossible for me to access that recovery email account.

And why was it impossible to access that recovery email? A year and a half ago, Microsoft informed me I would have to download an authenticator app to my phone so I could continue using that email account, the one associated with my webpage. The bizarre thing is that this particular email was never able to be downloaded to my phone, and the authenticator doesn’t work for PCs, so they were demanding something utterly unnecessary. Since I didn’t want to clutter my phone with something so ridiculous, I ended up having to go through the insanity of updating my accounts with the new email. Except, apparently, for Microsoft.

I wondered if anything had changed, so I tried to log into my webpage and check the status of the email from there. First, they wanted me to download an authenticator app, and when I passed on that, they sent a code to my phone, which I used. Then they again told me to download the authenticator app, and when again I didn’t do it, the same page came up asking for my phone so they could send me a second security code. I gave them the number again and they said, “You already used that number. We need another one.”

So, since I don’t have another phone, I still can’t access that email, and now I can’t even access my web page. You’d think I was big business rather than a solitary person with almost nothing to protect.

My webpage is paid up for five more years, and who knows what might happen. Considering that my online presence as well as my following is steadily shrinking (in fact, probably because of my recent political commentary, I’ve lost three-fourths of my readers), I might let the site go rather than go through all the foofaraw to pay for additional years. Luckily, my website was updated a couple of years ago, and nothing has changed since then, so I’m fine. And who knows — in five years I might be finished with the whole online thing. (If, in fact, in this world, anyone can be finished with it.)

So, after all that hassle, with nothing accomplished, I asked my brother what would happen if I just turned off the encryption. My computer never leaves my desk, so I’m not in danger of inadvertently losing it, and if someone breaks into my house and steals the computer, I’ll have more troubles than an encryption code could solve.

As it turns out, it is possible to turn off the encryption code, but it takes perhaps 8 hours for the computer to completely unencrypt everything. So I left everything as is until next month at least.

Why does everything have to be so complicated? Oh, right. It’s because of all those dishonest folk who are so willing to trespass on the good graces of the rest of us.