Microsoft account on phone?

When I got my shiny new Windows phone last week the chap at Carphone Warehouse installed my Hotmail account and I tapped in my password. I imagined that I would be able to erase the password field later as I didn't want a thief to access my email account as well as my phone. I can't erase the password field though - I'd like it to prompt me to enter it each time I choose to look at my Hotmail, so is there a way to do this? My only alternative is to change my password completely on the Microsoft site but I don't really want to do that. The Carphone bloke said that Windows phones work much better with a Microsoft account installed - why? I have got SIM and screen passwords set, of course.

Set a password on the phone and you are fine (as you have done_, there is no way to get it to prompt you for a password each time, that would make no sense as it is constantly polling for new email so it would be asking you for the password every 5 seconds or whatever. The Microsoft account on your phone is tied directly to your outlook.com/hotmail account so they are the same thing.

So basically, set a passcode on the phone that is secure, this is your only way to security.

Thanks for that. Just how secure are SIM and screen unlock passwords then? I know that my SIM is locked after three unsuccessful attempts but in London and abroad I often see 'phone unlock' adverts.

if the device is out of your hands for a couple of hours all bets are off about security. The "unlocking" adverts are mainly removing SIM locks so you can use a different provider on a locked phone, not cracking the security of your PIN - although the tools are probably the same.

Don't know about SIM security but the phone PIN/pass-code security is very secure.

A SIM Card PIN is secure. Its very similar to you bank card PIN. The only way to have it bypassed is by using a PUK which your service provider knows. The algorithm used on the chip on a SIM has never been broken hence why banks use similar chips on their bank cards. Unless of course that the default PIN for the SIM is used ie 0000 for O2 or you tell someone the PIN!

A handset lock is unique to the user and only the user knows the code. There are ways to bypass this by using flasher boxes or other pieces of software out there.

As has been done a PIN for the SIM and a handset lock on the device is the best way forward rather than just having one or the other.