Microsoft to make Windows 10 password-free by 2020: Report

Microsoft has been making efforts to rid Windows of passwords for quite some time. The company now wants to push biometric sign-in and PIN code-based sign-in.

Microsoft to replace passwords with Windows Hello face authentication, fingerprints, or a PIN code. (Sophos)

Microsoft is planning to make computers running Windows 10 operating system password-less and replace it with Windows Hello face authentication, fingerprints, or a PIN code.

While the company has been working on removing passwords from Windows 10 and its Microsoft Accounts for a several months now, the next major update to Windows 10 in 2020 would go one step further, The Verge reported on Thursday.

The software giant believes that a PIN code is far more secure than a password, even if it seems more simple to use a four-digit code with far less risks of it being leaked online.

For an individual user, Windows 10 stores a private key on a device with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is a secure chip that keeps a PIN local to the user's device only and while servers can be compromised and passwords stolen, a Windows Hello PIN would not be affected, the report said.

In addition, Microsoft's decision of making Windows 10 powerless would also extend to business users through Azure Active Directory, allowing businesses to go fully password-less with security keys, the authenticator app, or Windows Hello.

If the feature is finally rolled-out next year and it works as intended, the password option would simply disappear from the login screen, if users decide to opt in to this new "make your device password-less" option.