Managing personal Outlook.com account settings, security, and privacy
This pattern strongly indicates the account was compromised. The key signs are unknown rules, mail not reaching the Inbox, and the language being changed.
Do these steps in Outlook.com in a desktop browser:
- Go to Settings > Mail > Rules.
- Review every rule and delete all rules that were not created intentionally.
- If a rule cannot be edited or shows “This rule can't be edited or viewed”, create a new supported rule if needed and remove suspicious ones that can be removed. Outlook.com does not support client-side rules migrated from classic Outlook.
- In Settings > Mail > Rules, use the rule list to make sure no unwanted rule is still enabled. If needed, use the toggle to disable rules temporarily.
- If legitimate rules are needed later, recreate them directly in Outlook.com.
Because mail is still not arriving after deleting rules, also check for other mailbox changes commonly made after compromise:
- Check Forwarding in Outlook.com settings and make sure nothing is forwarding mail elsewhere.
- Check for suspicious aliases and sign-in details in the Microsoft account security/sign-in settings, and remove anything unrecognized.
- Change the password again if needed and enable two-step verification.
- Change the Outlook language back under Settings > General > Language and time.
Important rule behavior to check if mail starts returning but still goes to the wrong place:
- Rules run in the order shown in the list; the top rule runs first.
- In Outlook.com, if Stop processing more rules is selected, only the first matching rule is applied.
- Reorder rules with the Up and Down arrows if needed.
If the bad rules keep reappearing after deletion, that usually means the account is still not fully secured, so checking aliases, forwarding, and sign-in/security settings is essential before recreating any rules.
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