Outlook.com Security

Screenshot ?

Also the QR code is just a graphical representation of a number. Usually that is shown somewhere to be pasted into a textbox in case you haven't the necessary tools.

If you capture the text code when you link the devices and save it, you can setup another device as authenticator.

In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Jeff Gaines snipped-for-privacy@outlook.com writes

I can't remember why, but I also had to scan a QR code on my screen relatively recently. An online search found a program called "QR Code Scanner" which worked, although I think I had to bodge it a bit (screen shot, paste into Paint, then feed the graphics file into the program).

Adrian

There seems to be a QR code on the bottom of this Lenovo. On another unit, it seemed to be on the top surface.

My W11 Snippingtool, when presented with a Lenovo QR code, the OCR text scanner will convert the QR code for you. Apparently the agent is called QRAPP, whatever the hell that is. It's some plugin inside the Snippingtool text-actions button. That's how I got this sample from a Reddit post that exposed their QR.

One web page offers:

"You can find your serial number via:

Dashboard or Device in the Vantage app Serial-number label of your computer (shown as below illustration) "

You don't really want the Vantage App, as the controls do not "listen" to the user setting and the App just does whatever it feels like. You know, like they were Microsoft or something.

Do your best to handcraft a URL, using that pencil and paper :-) You have the skills Obiwan.

Paul

I rather think Microsoft is expecting me to read the QR code in its email, not the bar code on my laptop :-)

I received an I response from MSFT:

"A laptop cannot practically scan a QR code that is displayed on its own screen."

No s*it, Sherlock.

I think a USB webcam might accomplish that?

The kind of thing you have for PCs or to go on top of your large screen monitor if you are using that with your laptop.

For a simple search for a very cheap option.

If the constant refresh of the screen image is an issue, then perhaps print it out on paper?

Cheers

Dave R

I am really not interested in buying a web cam just to read one QR code when user name/password is usually regarded as adequate for an email account. They can add 2FA via SMS if they like but it seems overkill.

The problem is that its not just for e-mail. Your outlook.com account is linked to many facilities in the Microsoft infrastructure including your OneDrive which you have even though you don't use it. I assume the QR code is for a One Time Password authenticator application. I have this plug-in in my browser:-

Dave

I'd rather have that *off* my PC. Otherwise it's just your browser marking it's own homework.

I feel its 1.5 factor as it shows you have your PC and you know the password. Anyone who steals your password can't get in without stealing your pc....

Dave

I don't use any facilities in the MSFT infrastructure and un-install OneDrive after a fresh install.

If my banks is happy with SMS 2FA then I don't see why MSFT needs more.

Recent history suggests UK banks are not a credible source of IT expertise. Whjich is fair enough. They struggle with banking.

I cant agree enough.

Their websites appear to be sub contracted to firms of 'creatives' with just one PFY who can write a bit of JSON and PHP.

While the back end code in Oracle or COBOL hasn't changed in a generation/ And as for support? who needs it? problem customers will go somewhere else and its just as bad there...

I have seen a couple of videos by the NYC mayor recently. Bearing in mind how he was praised for having a real good handle on media and messaging, I am intrigued that his output is slick, punchy, but devoid of any TikkyTokky type bollocks. Almost staid.

It's almost as if Gen-Z are maturing.

Quite where that leaves last years models of far right "influencers" with their yout obsession I am unclear.

If a QR code is displayed on the screen of a W11 laptop for example,try this. You can use the "Pin to Taskbar" when this appears, so you won't lose it. Every W10/W11 install in the room, has this pinned to Taskbar.

start : run : snippingtool.exe

When the dialog appears, set the capture to "whole screen". This is the equivalent of "Print Screen" in the old days.

Once you have done a capture, extra icons appear at the top of the dialog. In the center top of Snippingtool, there are eight icons. The two rotate icons are on the right of the eight icons. Holding your mouse over the icon next to that, the balloon displayed says "Scan Text".

That is the OCR function.

However, if it recognizes the presence of a QR code, it will convert that to the text string. That would be this text string as I posted.

To avoid confusion and anarchy, a user selects "Rectangular Select" rather than "Whole Screen" when doing conversions. I draw a rectangle around a few sentences, if I want them OCRed. If I am working with a QR code, I draw the selection rectangle around the QR so the alignment corners are captured and so on. You can deface around 25% of a QR code, and there is sufficient dot-redundancy to recover the encoded info.

I didn't know for sure, when I tested this, that the QR converter was hiding in there. But if a company puts Tesseract in there with some AI/NN backup for sentence structure, then for sure I going to throw in a QR converter at no extra cost. And it worked. It's probably not as good as a Smart Phone converter (capable of correcting for three dimensions of rotation or off-axis capture), but in this case the array of dots was close enough to square that it worked.

The OCR is amazingly good. If it recognizes the sentence you have captured, it gets it 100% right. However, when it does not recognize the thing you're capturing, it relies on Tesseract-quality conversion, and 0/o/O get mixed up just as they normally would be with vanilla Tesseract.

Summary: If a QR code appears on the LCD screen, you can capture it. In addition, you can open a JPG file with snippingtool and all the power of snippingtool can be applied. There are crude edit tools for cropping the picture down to the QR section. I prefer to get the selection right during capture, instead. You can open a JPG in "Photos", then snippingtool-capture it and convert it.

This is how I take text from a protected PDF and put it in a USENET post. OCR.

Paul

No thank you!

If MSFT can't use sensible processes I'm out as they say.