Windows 10 "Microsoft account problem" and "Outlook account out-of-date" notifications

[OsakaWebbie]

I am so tired of this. At random moments over the last several months, I get the following notification: "Microsoft account problem: We need to fix your Microsoft account (most likely your password changed). Select here to fix it in Shared Experiences." If I go to Shared Experiences and click the "Fix now" button and then enter my Microsoft account password (which I have not changed in years), it becomes happy, but only temporarily.


At times (less often) I have also gotten another one: "Your Outlook settings are out-of-date." I don't know if they are related or not.


Supposed solutions I have found on the web (most notably here including the comments and here) include:

• Turn off Shared Experiences ("Nearby sharing" and "Share across devices"): This was the first thing I tried, months ago, but the notifications still happen.
• Log into your PC using your MS account rather than local: I have always done that.
• Log in with your password instead of a PIN: Surely that isn't necessary! PIN is one of the recommended sign-in methods - I should be able to use it.
  
• Check your account settings: I don't even want to sync any email/calendar/contacts - I use Thunderbird Portable to handle all my email, and do everything else like calendar and such in my browser (Firefox Portable). So I don't know what accounts to "check".
  
• Switch to a different sign-in method (and supposedly you can later switch back and it will still work): I switched to Picture Password, rebooted and logged in, and then switched back to PIN - for awhile I thought it was fixed, but eventually the notification appeared again.
• Go to Email & Accounts and remove accounts you don't use: Today I noticed an Outlook account in the list and thought perhaps removing it would at least eliminate the Outlook complaint. But when I removed it, only a few seconds later I got the "Outlook settings out-of-date" notification. Sigh!
• Try removing the Microsoft account from account settings: That sounds too scary - I don't know what might break.

I have no interest in Shared Experiences, nor do I even have an Outlook account, as far as I know. The OS has absolutely nothing to do with how I handle email, calendar, contacts, etc. I have several email addresses, but they are only on hosted domains and Gmail, and I handle them all exclusively via Thunderbird Portable (and have done so for over a decade). For a calendar I only use Google Calendar (and not via the OS-provided app). [Basic info: Windows 10 Home 1903, build 10.0.18362.900. The PC was bought in Japan and the OS is fundamentally the Japanese version, but I changed the interface language to English.]

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