Hotmail/Outlook unusual activity from Ireland is most likely just Gmail

 

It's 2023 and I still keep my Hotmail email address around, mainly to use when I need to create an account for some app or web site. I have my Gmail account set up to sync the emails - Google's spam filters are far better than any other free email service I've used. 

Recently, I've gotten emails with the subject line "Microsoft account unusual sign-in activity".  The links in the email do go to account.microsoft.com so I looked into it.  Each time, it shows the location of the activity as coming from Ireland (I assure you, I'm nowhere near Ireland!).  After I clicked "This wasn't me" on several occasions, I realized Gmail was no longer syncing my Hotmail emails.  When I went to Gmail's "Accounts and Import" section, it displayed a warning that emails couldn't sync for that account.

In that section, I had to re-enter my Hotmail credentials and then go to https://account.live.com/activity to click "This was me" to get the sync working again.  I doubt all Gmail servers will appear to be coming from Ireland, but in case you're reading this, you'll know it's most likely just Gmail trying to access your Hotmail or Outlook account.



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