Windows Live Help

Windows Live Hotmail Data Loss Event on 11/3

MSFT Brandon M — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:20:00 GMT

Unfortunately, on November 3^rd, 2009, Hotmail suffered an outage that has affected a fraction of one percent of all of our customers. The affected accounts are working and receiving mail normally now, but email stored, received, or saved in those inboxes prior to November 3^rd has been lost. The Hotmail team worked very hard to try to recover this mail, but in the end we weren't able to do so. While this outage affected only a small number of our customers, we recognize that doesn't change what happened to them individually.

We deeply regret this situation and sincerely apologize.

To help avoid losses like this, Hotmail, like other webmail services, keeps multiple copies of customers' mail stored securely across multiple computer servers. That way, if one server fails, there are back-up copies available on the other servers. Hotmail is designed to recover gracefully from machine failures - even multiple machine failures. Incidents that can lead to data loss are extremely rare. In fact, the specific incident that occurred on November 3rd was the first of its kind in the history of Hotmail. We've carefully reviewed the events that led to the mail loss and have concluded that it was a result of a number of independent and random hardware failures, the sequence of which was such that this situation occurred.

We are working to further understand how to prevent similar incidents in the future, regardless of how rare.

We have sent notifications to those people whose accounts were affected.

If you have any questions that we can help you with, please post them to us at our Lost or Deleted Emails Forum.

Sincerely,

The Hotmail Team

Recent Phishing Scheme - Your Microsoft Payment Method could not be authorized

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:00 GMT

This solution article talks about an email that was sent out to MSN/hotmail customers stating that they need to update their payment information for their Windows Live Hotmail Plus service.

Please note that this email is not authentic. Customers are requested to report these emails as spam and do not click on the links or provide any information.

Copy of Email:

----- Original Message -----
From: Windows Live Billing.
To: User_name@msn.com
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 8:53 AM
Subject: Your Microsoft Payment Method could not be authorized
Windows Live Hotmail Member Services
Billing and Account Management

Dear Windows Live Hotmail Plus member,

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, our billing department was unable to authorize your current payment method information.

This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information (i.e. change of address, phone number, credit card)
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial Sign Up or upgrade process.
3. An inability to accurately verify your selected payment method information due to an internal error within our processors.

Please use the following link to update your payment method information :

http://billing.microsoft.com/login.srf

NOTE! If your account information is not updated within 48 hours then your ability to use your Windows Live Hotmail account will become restricted.

Thank you for using MSN !

Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this is an unmonitored alias.

2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

"The connection to the server has failed" error in Outlook Express

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:37:00 GMT

This article provides resolution to the error "The connection to the server has failed" reported by users who can't send or receive e-mails when using an e-mail client especially Outlook Express.

Error:

The connection to the server has failed. Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'smtp.live.com', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10051, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

-Or-

The connection to the server has failed. Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'pop3.live.com', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

Resolution:

This one will appear if SSL is unchecked. If you've already enabled SSL and you still can't send e-mails, your ISP might be blocking the port that you are using for the outgoing server. If this is the case, try 25 or 587.

Error:

The connection to the server has failed. Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'smpt.live.com', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 587, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

-Or-

The connection to the server has failed. Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'ppp3.live.com', Protocol: POP3, Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

Resolution:

An invalid server name is causing the error. It should be pop3.live.com for the incoming server while smtp.live.com for outgoing.

Please note that the settings in the screenshot below are incorrect to depict the cause of the error mentioned above.

"User not authenticated" error in Outlook Express

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:27:00 GMT

This article provides resolution to the error "User not authenticated" reported by users who can't send or receive e-mails when using an e-mail client especially Outlook Express.

Error:

The message could not be sent because the server rejected the sender's e-mail address. The sender's e-mail address was 'xxxxxxx@hotmail.com'. Subject 'xxxxx', Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'smtp.live.com', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 5.7.3 Requested action aborted; user not authenticated', Port: 587, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC78

Resolution:

Make sure that the "My server requires authentication" option is enabled.

"Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication" error in Outlook Express

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:19:00 GMT

This article provides resolution to the error "Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication" reported by users who can't send or receive e-mails when using an e-mail client especially Outlook Express.

Error:

Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication. Account: 'Hotmail', Server: 'pop3.live.com', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR command not implemented', Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC18

Resolution:

Remove the checkmark on the "Log on using Secure Password Authentication" checkbox.

Redirected to Bing when trying to navigate to Windows Live Hotmail

MSFT Brandon M — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:08:00 GMT

This solution article will give you information about the problem few customers are encountering with Hotmail site redirecting to the Bing search results page.

Symptoms:

Customers may encounter an issue that when they attempt to navigate to http://www.hotmail.com or http://mail.live.com they are instead directed to a Bing search results page for Windows Live Hotmail.

What does this mean?

We are currently investigating what is causing this issue, but this appears to be a networking related issue between Windows Live Hotmail and your computer.

What should you do?

For most users, this is a temporary situation that resolves itself on your own. We could use your help to help permanently resolve this issue, if you're willing to provide some information about your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and by taking a network trace.

If you're currently experiencing the issue described above, follow the below steps to install a network tracing program called Wireshark:

1. Go to http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

2. Click on "Windows Installer"

3. Click "Run" - (confirm any download prompts that occur here) this will download and install Wireshark and WinPCap. Once the installer starts, click "Next"

5. Click "I Agree"

6. Click "Next"

7. Click "Next"

8. Click "Next"

9. Click "Install"

10. Click "Next"

11. Click "Next"

12. Click "I Agree"

13. Click "Finish"

14. Click "Next"

15. Check "Run Wireshark 1.2.2"

16. Click "Finish"

17. Wireshark will now start - to start capturing go to: Capture -> Options

18. Click "Start"

19. Attempt to go to www.hotmail.com or mail.live.com in your web browser

20. After it loads the page, or fails, go back Wireshark and go to: Capture -> Stop

21. Save the File by going to File -> Save

22. Name the file and put it in a location you'll be able to find again, and click Save

Once you've completed the network trace, post here on our community thread so one of our moderators can let you know how to send us the trace file. Any additional details you can provide (your ISP, how long this has been occurring, what general area you live in) will help us in fixing this issue.

Differences between Windows Live Web Messenger (WebIM) and Windows Live Messenger

MSFT Roopa S — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:08:00 GMT

This solution article describes the differences between the Windows Live Web Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

Windos Live Web Messenger (WebIM) is a limited version of Windows Live Messenger. The following Windows Live Messenger features are NOT available in Windows Live Web Messenger:

Conversations:

# Group conversations

# Audio conversations

# Webcam conversations

# Video conferencing conversations

# Make a phone call

Messages:

# Change font, text color and size

# Save and view Message History

# Offline Instant Message settings

# Display (paste/insert) pictures

# Voice clips

# Winks

# Nudges

# Handwriting

Files:

# Transfer and receive files or photos

# Publish files online

Activities:

# Remote assistance

# Application sharing

# Whiteboard

# Games

More

# Choices of status/presence as you sign in

# Turning off alerts

# Sounds settings

WebIM shows Offline but contact is actually Online

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:28:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about the delay in updating presence on WebIM or Messenger contacts in people page.

Symptoms:

- Customer signs in to Messenger, but shows as offline for friends.

- Customer signs in to Messenger and some friends also sign in, but the friends still show offline.

What should you do?

Please note this happens in both Windows Live Messenger client as well as in WebIM (Windows Live Web Messenger) because it may take some time to complete signing-in and get the latest presence information from the server. If you see this issue, please try to sign out and sign in back again.

New keyboard shortcuts introduced with Hotmail Wave4 M1 release

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:02:00 GMT

This solution article provides information aboue the new keyboard shortcuts introduced with Hotmail Wave4 M1 release.

Lots of keyboard shortcuts, including shortcuts to match both Yahoo and Gmail have been added in the new Hotmail Wave4 M1 release. A new page in Options has been added to choose what type of shortcuts you'd like to use.

To choose the mode of keyboard shortcuts or to turn off keyboard shortcuts, follow these steps:

1. Go to Options.

2. Click More Options.

3. Under Customize your mail, choose Change keyboard shortcuts.

4. Select which mode you'd like to use:

Turn off keyboard shortcuts
Hotmail and Outlook Web Access (OWA)
Yahoo! Mail
Gmail

Note: The Yahoo! Mail and Gmail modes support many of the shortcuts from those services.

5. Click Save.

Here's a full list of the keyboard shortcuts available:

New/changed features in Hotmail Update

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:48:00 GMT

This solution article gives you information on the new features that are added and the features that have changed with the Hotmail update which starts on August 31st 2009.

Please Note: Since we rollout in a staggered approach not all users will see the change on the same day. The update will happen over a few weeks and should be site wide by end of September.

Here is a list of changes:

Auto Refresh of Inbox

If a user is logged into WebIM, their inbox will automatically refresh. Currently this is set to 60 seconds.

Please note that customers currently will not have an option to change the refresh interval or turn off this option.

Auto save Drafts

Emails are now automatically saved to the drafts folder while a user is composing them. This is currently set to 3 minutes.

Please note that customers currently will not have an option to change the save interval or turn off this option.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Lots of keyboard shortcuts, including shortcuts to match both Yahoo and Gmail. A new page in Options to choose what type of shortcuts you'd like to use. Click here for the full list.

Contact Picker Improvements

Users can now edit contacts in compose, recently e-mailed data used in auto-complete and contact picker, copy/paste enabled for IE, verify recipients enabled

Verify recipients: When the user types in an email address, upon completion of the email address, Hotmail verifies if the email address is "valid". If the recipient is bad, it is flagged "Red" and the user can edit the entry. When the user hovers over the email address, we will show a tooltip that explains the email address is bad.

Download all attachments

If there are multiple attachments on an email, they can now be downloaded together as one zip file.

WebIM Contact List

Buddy list of online friends now available from the WebIM Dropdown

Mobile browser improvements

A number of backend changes to improve performance on mobile devices/browsers

Action Bar at bottom of page

Reply/Forward/Delete is now available from both the top and bottom of an email

Error when you try to send an e-mail: Our junk filters identified something suspicious in your message. Please edit it and try again.

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:55:00 GMT

This solution article will give information to users who are experiencing an error message indicating their message is blocked as our junk filters found something suspicious.

Symptoms:

Users will experience the following message when sending a mail:

"Our junk filters identified something suspicious in your message. Please edit it and try again. Learn more".

What do these messages mean?
We use systems to help detect spammers on Windows Live Hotmail. These systems place a variety of restrictions on accounts, one of which is blocking the sending of suspicious messages. Messages get blocked when the content of the message looks spam-like. The message you are sending has been flagged as spam by our anti-spam systems.

What should you do?
Occasionally, legitimate mails can get marked as spam. To be able to continue sending this message, do one of the following:

* Change contents of message to make it look less suspicious and try again

* Upgrade to a paid account, click here to know more.

* Contact Customer Support - Please create a post here and provide your account name and the error message received and one of our moderators will help you.

You can also learn more about good mailing habits at http://postmaster.live.com.

Email clients showing Incorrect Hotmail Storage size

MSFT Roopa S — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:13:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about the incorrect storage limit shown for your Windows Live Hotmail client in email clients.

Symptoms:

Customers who have configured their Hotmail account in email clients see that their storage limit is 500 GB. This information is incorrect and will be fixed in future releases.

- OLC Client

In Outlook 2003 and 2007 with Outlook Connector, the 500 GB size is displayed in the OLC status bar

In Outlook 2010 with OLC, the 500 GB size is displayed in the Outlook BackStage under the MailBox cleanup section:

- MSN Explorer

In MSN Explorer, 512000MB is displayed when you point your mouse cursor on the storage bar in Mail & More.

What should you do?

Please note that Hotmail offers ever growing storage and not 500GB. Any user using Outlook Connector and MSN Explorer v9.6 will see 500 GB, not because they have that much, but because of the way we display the upper limit. We plan on fixing this in the next version.

About Quick Add feature in Hotmail

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT

This solution articles provides information about the 'Quick Add' feature in Windows Live Hotmail.

Quick Add is a feature available in Windows Live Hotmail that allows users to look for and insert content such as maps, movie show times, images, and even videos into a message. The user simply needs to click "insert" in order to introduce the element into the e-mail.

Quick Add is powered with the Bing search engine.

Please note that there is currently no option to turn off 'Quick Add' feature that pops up on the right hand side of the window when you are composing a new email.

Things to do before granting access to your account to support agents

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:22:00 GMT

This solution articles provides information to customers on updating their account information before granting access to login to their account to support agents.

There would be instances where the support agent working on your issue might request permission to login to your account to reproduce the problem.

NOTE: This request will only come from support agents who have the "MSFT" or "Windows Live" in their display names and an avatar under their username. Only support resources and fulltime Microsoft employees will have an avatar associated to their profile.

How this affects you?

If you use a domain that is provided by Microsoft, such as @hotmail and @msn, please be aware of the following information:

While we are trying to fix the problem, you cannot use any services that require your e-mail address to sign in. Before we sign in to your account, make sure that you have your secret question and answer ready so that you can reset your password and access your account again. You should also have an alternative e-mail address available so that we can contact you if we experience any problems when we try to access your account.

To give us your permission to access your Windows Live ID, reply to the request from the support agent and include the following text in your message:

"I grant you my permission to access my Windows Live ID. "

Do not give us your current password.

Note: You can reset your password at any time by clicking Forgot your password? on the Windows Live ID sign-in page.

To verify the secret question and to answer it or to verify your alternative e-mail address that you must have to reset your password, follow these steps:

1. Visit the following Web site: http://account.live.com

2. Sign in by using your Windows Live ID.

If you see "MSN Account Services" in the upper-left corner, follow these steps:

a. Click Credentials.

b. Click Change your question and secret answer.

c. Type your password, select a question, and then fill in the answer.

d. Click Continue, and then click ‘Done'.

e. Click Add or change your alternate e-mail address.

f. Type your password, enter your "alternate" address, and then enter it again.

g. Click Continue, and then click ‘Done'.

If you see "Windows Live Account" in the upper-left corner, follow these steps:

a. Click Account Summary.

b. Click Registered Information.

c. Type your address information to complete the "Home location" section.

d. Click Save.

e. Under Password reset information and next to Question, click the Change link to change your secret question and answer. After you set your secret question and answer, click Save.

f. Next to Alternate E-mail Address, click Change or click Add to set an alternate e-mail address.

3. Make sure that your Postal/Zip code is correct and up to date.

a. Click Change Registered information.

b. Make sure that you have an up to date Postal/Zip code available.

After we diagnose the problem, we will use your alternative e-mail address to notify you of our findings and to send you a password reset message.

Follow the steps that appear in the e-mail that you received to your alternate e-mail address to reset your password.

Thank you.

Frequently Asked Questions - Accessing Hotmail on mail programs

MSFT Irene L — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:29:00 GMT

ABOUT MAIL PROGRAMS

Q: How do I know which program I am currently using to view my Hotmail?
A: On the tool bar, click on Help and click on the About option. This will provide the details about the program you are using (e.g. Microsoft Office Outlook, Outlook Express, or Entourage).

Q: What is Windows Live Mail?
A: Windows Live Mail is a free mail program that allows customers to access e-mail accounts like Windows Live Hotmail. It has similar functionality to Outlook Express in that it syncs your e-mail when you’re connected to the internet, yet allows you to access your downloaded e-mail when you’re not online. It provides junk mail filtering and a built-in calendar that works with your Windows Live Calendar.

ABOUT SETTING UP HOTMAIL ON YOUR MAIL PROGRAM

Q: How do I set up Outlook to access Hotmail?
A: For a step-by-step guide, please see this article.

Q: I currently use Outlook Express, how can I access Hotmail?
A: Other than accessing Hotmail on the web, you can choose to set up Outlook to use the POP3 protocol, choose to download Windows Live Mail. Learn more about your options in this article.

Q: How do I set up Entourage on my Mac to access Hotmail?
A: For a step-by-step guide, please see this article.

Q: What is POP3?
A: POP3 is one of the most common mail protocols that allows mail programs to communicate with e-mail services like Hotmail to display e-mail.

ABOUT RETIRING THE DAV PROTOCOL

Q: What is DAV?
A: The DAV protocol is a communications method that mail programs use to communicate in order to display your e-mail. Outlook, Outlook Express, and Entourage can use the DAV protocol to display your Hotmail.

Q: Why is DAV being disabled?
A: DAV is a legacy protocol that is not optimally suited for clients to access large inboxes. Over time, as we've provided more e-mail storage to our users, DAV has become an inefficient solution for syncing your e-mail.

Q: You said you were going to discontinue DAV last year, and you changed that. Do you really mean it this time?
A: Yes. Last year, we postponed plans to retire the DAV protocol until more options were available (e.g. until the POP3 protocol was live). Now that these options are available, the DAV protocol will end on September 1, 2009.

Q: I'm an Outlook user, how does this affect me?
A: To see if you are affected, on the Tools menu in Outlook, click Account Settings, then click the E-mail tab. If your Hotmail account type is 'HTTP', you're using the DAV protocol and need to select an alternative solution. Unless you take action now, after September 1, 2009 you will no longer receive new e-mail in your Outlook inbox because the communications method that your Outlook uses to access Hotmail will no longer work. To continue to receive new email, you can download Office Outlook Connector to continue accessing your Windows Live Hotmail within Outlook 2003 or 2007. If you're using Outlook 2002 you will need to change the settings on your program (to use another communications method, known as the POP3 protocol) to access your Hotmail. Click here to learn more.

Q: I'm an Outlook Express user, how does this affect me?
A: Unless you take action now, after September 1, 2009 you will no long receive new e-mail in your Outlook Express inbox because the communications method that your Outlook Express uses to access Hotmail will no longer work. To ensure that you continue to receive new email, you can choose to download Windows Live Mail (recommended) or change the settings on your program (to use another communications method, known as the POP3 protocol) to access your Hotmail. Click here to learn more about your options.

Q: I'm an Entourage user, how does this affect me?
A: Unless you take action now, after September 1, 2009 you will no longer receive new e-mail in your Entourage inbox because the communications method that your Entourage uses to access Hotmail will no longer work. To ensure that you continue to receive new e-mail, you can change the settings in your program (to use another communications method known as the POP3 protocol) to access your Hotmail. Click here to learn more about setting up POP3 for Entourage.

Q: My default mail client is set up as Outlook Express. If I change to Windows Live Mail, what will my experience be like?
A: Windows Live Mail will work similarly to Outlook Express and can access messages from your Hotmail account, including older messages that you've read previously and new messages as they are received. Windows Live Mail is optimized to work with Windows Live Hotmail and also integrates well with other Windows Live services. It offers:

Offline mail
Send/receive mail from multiple accounts in one place - Hotmail accounts or POP and IMAP mail accounts (like Gmail or Yahoo! Plus)
Rich photo-sharing capabilities
Integration with Desktop Search
Safety tools (anti-phishing, anti-spam features)
Integration with Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces
RSS feed aggregation
Built-in calendar view that can access your Windows Live Calendar

Q: What happens to all my data in Outlook Express if I switch to Windows Live Mail?
A: You will still be able to open and view e-mails previously downloaded to your Outlook Express program. However, after September 1, 2009, Outlook Express will no longer be able to access Hotmail and receive new e-mail. Instead, your Hotmail will be viewable via Windows Live Mail. In addition, you can continue to access Hotmail on the web.

Q: If I setup POP3, what will my experience be like?
A: With this option, your experience with your e-mail will be different to what it was in your program (Outlook, Outlook Express, or Entourage) with DAV, particularly if you access your email both in a web browser (i.e. www.hotmail.com) and in your program. All emails will initially download as being unread. If you delete or read an email in your program and then log into www.hotmail.com, your changes will not be reflected there. Also, if you have set up filtering rules on www.hotmail.com that move messages directly into a folder, those messages will not be downloaded to your program. Only messages arriving in your Inbox on the web will be downloaded to your program.

Q: I have more questions, how can I get more answers?
A: Visit the community forum.

Alternatives to DAV for accessing Hotmail on Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage, or MSN Client

MSFT Irene L — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:19:00 GMT

In June 2009, Microsoft announced a change to the way Outlook, Outlook Express, and Entourage programs access Hotmail which may require customers to take action.

To continue to receive e-mail from your Hotmail account, please select one of the alternative solutions below before September 1, 2009. After this day, new e-mail can only be delivered to your mail programs through the following alternative solutions. However you can continue to view your e-mail via the web.

If you use Microsoft Office Outlook to view Hotmail, you can download free Office Outlook Connector to continue accessing your Windows Live Hotmail within Outlook 2003 or 2007. If you’re using Outlook 2002, you will need to change the settings on your program to access your Hotmail. Click here to learn more.

If you use Outlook Express to view Hotmail, you can choose to download free Windows Live Mail (recommended) or change the settings on your program to access your Hotmail within Outlook Express. Click here to learn more about your options.

If you use Entourage to view Hotmail, you can change the settings in your program to view your e-mail. Click here to learn more.

If you use MSN Client to view Hotmail, the MSN team has an FAQ to answer your questions. Click here to learn more.

Don’t know what you’re using to view Hotmail? Have more questions? View the FAQ page or visit the Community Forum.

Why did this change happen? Outlook, Outlook Express, and Entourage use a legacy communications method (known as the DAV protocol) to access Hotmail. Because the DAV protocol is not optimally suited for programs to access large inboxes such as Hotmail which now provides users ever-growing storage*, new alternatives have been built. Last year, customers asked us to postpone plans to retire the DAV protocol until more options were available. Now that these options (including the POP3 protocol) are available, we are ready to retire the DAV protocol.

Thank you for using Windows Live Hotmail.

*Assumes a reasonable growth rate

Recent reports of Account hijacks

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:03:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about the increase in reports that we have received about accounts been hijacked and spam mails been sent to customer's contact list without customer's knowledge.

Hotmail is seeing instances of accounts being "hijacked" by spammers who send emails out advertising an electronics website. The spam mails usually have subjects like "Good shopping good mood" and may go to your contact list in addition to a random list of emails. Indications that this is happening to you may include you being required to match the characters in the picture (to verify that you're a person and not an automated program) to send mails when you reach your limits.

Note that you will still be able to login, and are in fact, "sharing" your account with the spammer. Hotmail believes that this may be due to a virus on a computer that you have used to login to Hotmail at some point in the past.

If you login and see in your "sent items" folder mails that you haven't sent, or receive Non Delivery reports (NDRs) in your inbox, we recommend that you scan your computer for viruses and malware using a reliable Antivirus product (click here to go to Microsoft's anti-virus page). Once your computer has been cleaned, immediately change your current password to a "strong" password. Click here to know how to create a strong password.

The worm/virus sends various messages that entice users to click on a malicious link that leads to a Web site. Clicking on the said link downloads a copy of the worm onto message recipients' computers. Upon download, it then gathers e-mail addresses saved on the recipient's computer and sends itself out to all of those addresses.

There are a number of ways you can protect your computer against these viruses:

- Obtain the most recent virus definitions. You can visit your anti-virus company's website or call them to get more information.

- Be cautious about opening messages that contain links to websites.

- Be cautious when opening embedded links. Point your mouse cursor on the link and look at the underlying URL that displays in your browser status bar at the bottom and ensure that the URL makes sense for what the link states. Never login from one of these links. If a link directs you to login to a service that you use, instead go to that service by accessing the services website directly from your browser and not use the embedded link.

- Do not open attachments unless you are expecting them.

- Download the latest Microsoft updates frequently. To download the latest updates for Microsoft software, please visit the following links:

http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/
http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates

If you feel that a virus has already infected your computer, you can get online support (or toll-free telephone support in the U.S. and Canada) for security-related issues such as viruses and security updates from the Microsoft Security Help and Support Team. Please click on the link below:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/gp/securityhome

For more information on how you can protect your computer, please click on the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx

In addition, to ensure the security of your Hotmail account, we highly recommend that you change your Hotmail password and Secret Question. To do this, please follow the steps below:

To change your Hotmail password, click here.

To change your Secret Question, click here.

Please ensure that you have updated your passport profile information as much complete as possible including your alternate email address. The more complete and more recent this information is, the better chance we have of assisting you in the event your account gets compromised.

We want to assure you that your security and protection online is our top priority and we are dedicated to help you obtain support for security-related issues such as viruses and security updates.

Start Using Hotmail with Entourage

Scott H — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:55:00 GMT

Important

Windows Live Hotmail accounts, including free accounts, can now be set up in Entourage using the POP3 protocol, a common Internet-based protocol. Examples of sources that use this protocol are Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. After you add a POP account to Entourage, messages from the account appear in the folder list under On My Computer in the inbox.

Step 1: Add the account

NOTE: If you are moving from DAV to POP3, there are a few important differences. With POP3, there is no synchronizing. For example, if you read an e-mail message in Entourage the message will be unread if you view your Hotmail account on the web. Also, only messages in your Hotmail Inbox will display in Entourage. Other folders, and any messages in them, will not be displayed.

1. Before you use the POP3 protocol for the first time, you must sign in to your Windows Live Hotmail using a web browser such as Safari at http://mail.live.com. After you sign in successfully, you can sign out.

2. In Entourage, on the Entourage menu, click Account Settings.

3. Click the arrow next to New , and then click Mail. If you see the Account Setup Assistant, click Configure Account Manually.

4. In the Account type pop-up menu, click POP, and then click OK.

5. On the Account Settings tab, in the Account name box, type the name that you want to use to refer to this account in Entourage.

6. Under Personal Information, type the name and the e-mail address that you want to use.

Note: The name that you type appears in the "From" field of mail messages that you send from the account.

7. Under Receiving mail, enter the following information:

* Account ID - Enter you email address into this field.

* POP Server - Enter pop3.live.com

* Password - Enter your password.

Note: If you do not see the POP server box, click Cancel, and then go back to step 3.

8. Click Click here for advanced receiving options, and then select the This POP service requires a secure connection (SSL) check box.

The completed Receiving mail settings should resemble this:

9. Under Sending mail, in the SMTP server box, enter smtp.live.com.

10. Click Click here for advanced sending options, and then select the SMTP service requires secure connection (SSL) check box. Also select the options for SMTP server requires authentication and Use same settings as receiving mail server.

The completed Sending mail settings should resemble this:

11. Under Account Settings, clear the Include this account in my “Send & Receive All” schedule check box.

12. Click the Options tab, and then under Server options, select the Leave a copy of each message on the server check box. Also select the Delete messages from the server after they are deleted from this computer check box.

The completed Server options settings should resemble this:

13. Click OK.

The Windows Live Hotmail account now appears in the Accounts window.

Step 2: Create a schedule to send and receive messages

Important

A Windows Live Hotmail account should not be set up to send and receive messages more frequently than every 20 minutes. Otherwise, duplicate copies of messages might appear.

1. On the Tools menu, click Schedules, and then click New.

2. In the Name box, enter a name for the schedule, such as Hotmail Send and Receive.

3. Under When, click the Manually pop-up menu, and then click Repeating Schedule.

4. In the Every box, enter a value of 20 or larger.

5. Under Action, on the pop-up menu on the left, click Receive Mail, and then in the from pop-up menu, click your Windows Live Hotmail account.

6. Click Add Action.

7. In the new row, click the Receive Mail pop-up menu, and then click Send All.

The completed schedule should resemble this:

8. Click OK.

The schedule that you created appears in the Schedules dialog box.

Step 3: Use your account in Entourage and on the Web

Messages from your Windows Live Hotmail Inbox folder will appear in Entourage in the folder list (The pane of the Entourage window that contains folders for messages, contacts, and other items). If the folder list is not visible, on the View menu, click Show Folder List. If you are working in Calendar view, Show Folder List is available from the Calendar menu under On My Computer.

Messages in folders other than the Inbox will be available only on the Windows Live Hotmail Web site.

Entourage will not receive messages from your Windows Live Hotmail Junk folder. We recommend that you sign in to your Windows Live Hotmail account in a Web browser periodically (at least once a month) to see whether any important messages were directed to the Junk folder.

How to add or delete a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail?

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:59:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about how to add or delete a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail.

To add or invite your friend to the Messenger contact list in Windows Live Hotmail, please try the following steps:

1. On the Action bar, on the Messenger status menu, click View Messenger contacts.

2. On the toolbar, click New.

3. Enter the contact information you want to add, and click Save. If you enter the Personal e-mail, invitation e-mail will be sent to the friend.

To delete a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail, please try the following steps:

1. On the Action bar, on the Messenger status menu, click View Messenger contacts.

2. Turn on the check box at left of the display picture of the contact that you want to block, and then click Delete.

How to block or unblock a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail?

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:54:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about how to block or unblock a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail.

To block a Messenger contact in Windows Live Hotmail, please click the block button in the chat window.

To unblock, please click the same button again.

Note: If you have installed Windows Live Messenger client to your PC, you can also block or unblock on the Windows Live Messenger client. For further details, please click here.

How to send an instant message to a Messenger contact from Windows Live Hotmail?

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:59:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about how to send an instant message to a Messenger contact from Windows Live Hotmail.

To send an instant message to a Messenger contact from Windows Live Hotmail, please try the following steps:

1. Sign in to Hotmail, click Messenger menu on the action bar, and click Sign in to Messenger (Web)

2. On the Action bar, on the Messenger status menu, click View Messenger contacts.

3. Click the display picture of the contact that you want to send an instant message to, and then click “Send an instant message”.

4. Type an instant message, and then click Send.

How to set or change Messenger status/presence in Windows Live Hotmail?

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:25:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about how to set or change Messenger status/presence in Windows Live Hotmail.

To set or change Messenger status/presence in Windows Live Hotmail, please try the following steps:
1. Sign in to Hotmail, click Messenger menu on the action bar, and click Sign in to Messenger (Web)
2. On the Messenger status menu, click the status that you want your Messenger contacts to see.

After you change your Messenger status, the heading for the Messenger menu changes. Instead of displaying Messenger as the heading, your current status appears as the heading.

How to sign in and sign out of Messenger from Windows Live Hotmail?

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:00:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about how to sign in and sign out of Messenger in Windows Live Hotmail without installing Windows Live Messenger client.

You can sign in to Messenger and send messages to your Messenger contacts from Windows Live Hotmail. Windows Live Messenger service is integrated into Windows Live Hotmail.

Please try the following steps to login to Messenger from Windows Live Hotmail:
1. Sign in to Hotmail, and click Messenger menu on the action bar.

2. Click Sign in to Messenger (Web).

Note: You can sign in to Messenger in only four locations at one time. If you try to sign in to a fifth location, you will automatically be signed out of one of the other locations.

To automatically sign in to Messenger when you sign in to Windows Live Hotmail, on the Messenger menu, click “Sign in automatically from this location”.

To sign out of Messenger, on the Messenger status menu, click “Sign out of Messenger (Web)”.
Note: If you're signed in to Messenger at more than one location, click “Sign out from everywhere” to sign out from all locations at the same time.

Please note that your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements:
# A monitor with a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.

# Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later or Firefox 2.0 or later. Safari is not supported.

Creating a strong password for your e-mail account: why you should and how to do it

Scott H — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:43:00 GMT

Every day you’re bombarded with requests to create free accounts, register with a web site, or sign up for more information. Through all of this, people often don't associate these requests back to the security of their personal accounts; such as banking, email, or business information. This is what scammers capitalize on, to gain access to your assets.

How do scammers gain access to your assets?

It used to be through various automated means and took shape into what's called a brute force attack. This is exactly as it sounds - automations, or "bots", send non-stop attempts against the target until a way in is finally found. This may take the form of a dictionary attack where the bot literally runs through common words found in a dictionary in an attempt to crack an account. More sophisticated attacks such as trying to send code to the site which would open back doors or trying to overflow the thinking parts of the site so that it’s security checks fail rounded out the more common scenarios.

Nowadays, laws and expectations around the protection of private information has forced institutions to dedicate much more time and resources to preventing brute-force attacks from succeeding. Since the payload for the scammer is now much harder to come by, they are moving on to the easier targets wandering from the herd. Sites that are less prominent, newsgroups, forums, and other social networking types of communication open a new horizon for the scammers. Here, they can point their highly sophisticated bots at sites that may not be so worried about intrusion protection. And why would a forum care if someone copied their member's passwords? All they could do is post as that user, right? Wrong.

Using the same password everywhere puts you at risk

Even with all the focus on consumer safety on the Internet, many people use the same password for all of their accounts. Scammers rely on the fact that most users of these sites aren't technically savvy enough to have separate passwords for "throw-away" accounts and their primary passwords list for their highest security accounts. Their bots find openings in the sites and gather these email addresses and passwords. Now, they have the key to the front door.

The first thing is they will see if that is your email account password. If it is, then a lot of trouble is to come. Now they can send mail, pretending to be you, to your contacts asking them to send you money because you’re stranded somewhere. They can read all of your personal mail, and find out your open accounts through electronic statements. From there, they circumvent all the protection of the institutions by entering the valid information of their customer. If one of those institutions is your bank account, you can imagine the consequences. There is also no way for these institutions to stop this type of attack; the scammer entered the right password!

How to protect yourself

So, how do you protect yourself from becoming a victim? Following a few simple guidelines, you can create a wall of security around yourself that will help add to the security of the institutions you deal with. Whenever you create a new online account, consider:

· What is the purpose of this account? Are you creating a new account for online bill pay with your bank or are you more interested in the latest celebrity gossip? The answer to this should be the determining factor for the next questions as well.

· How secure does this password need to be? Access to your financials and email account is a critical thing; therefore your passwords for these accounts should be un-guessable, even by a computer. If it is to post a response on a gamer forum, perhaps it doesn't need to be so complex.

· How do I remember the hard ones? This is the inevitable gotcha of a secure password. With all of those requirements, how does one remember? Through some creativity, you can break some of the above rules if you concentrate more on others. See below for some creative ways to do this.

· Use Throwaway passwords! This is something that can't be stressed enough. Don't use the same passwords for your virtual presence and casual accounts that you use for your most precious accounts.

· Protect ALL of the passwords from everyone. Yes, this really does mean protect it from your family and friends. These people are the ones that know your most intimate details. Friends can sometimes quickly turn to enemies. Developing a practice of maintaining confidentiality of your passwords is an important step in securing and protecting your online assets.

4 Easy tips to create a strong password

So, how do you actually create a good password that’s not easily guessable that you can also remember? Complexity is the key to security when choosing a password.

1. No reference to your life. Highly secure passwords have no reference to a person's life that could be readily found online or through friends.

2. Longer is better. They should always be at least 8 characters long

3. Combine characters. They should contain a combination of letters, numbers and special characters, like a question mark, period, @ or #.

4. Change them on a regular basis. You can setup your Windows Live ID password to expire every 72 days, and it will automatically remind you to enter a new password. You can go to https://account.live.com and login to select these settings. You can read instructions on how to do this here.

Making the above tips work for you:

1. I want to use my pet's name – You can do that, but not exactly as the name is, because your pet's name is easily guessable and could be under 8 characters. A couple of examples can show you ways to do this:

a. A friend’s cat’s name is Bella. Bella loves tuna more than anything. A simple to remember password option could be: Bella#Tuna

b. A friend’s beloved horse’s name is Sand dollar. Combing letters and numbers results in a password option of: Sand D011ar (where the “o” is a zero and the “l”s are ones)

c. My dog’s name is Lady Dog. Using a more advanced option with something called Leetspeak (L33tspeak), a way of using special characters to form letters and words, I can create her name to be: |_aDy |)oG. (Notice in the word L33t that "3" replaces "E", which are close mirror images of each other.)

2. I want to use dates I can remember - You can do that too, again with some adjustments. One technique here is to concentrate on the password length. For example, a password that has 6 letter and number characters has 531,441 (9 to the 6th power) possible combinations. When you extend the length to 8 letter and number characters, the possible combinations jump to 36 to the 8th power; simply put, that's over a trillion different combinations.

a. I want to use my daughter's graduation date (May 15, 2008), my son's birthday (July 11, 1997), and my best friend’s birthday (August 2, 1980). Here's how this could look using different date formats and adding a space then comma for additional complexity: 20080515 07111997,19800802

b. If your wedding anniversary is May 25, 1990, and you use the “1, 4, 3” code for “I Love You”, your password options could be: 14305251990, or 143May251990 or May251990@143

So, today’s a great day to change YOUR password. Even better, change your password every time you change your clock for daylight savings. Even twice a year is better than none at all.

How to setup Hotmail on iPhone?

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:19:00 GMT

This solution article provides information to customers who wish to access their Windows Live Hotmail emails on iPhone.

NOTE: With POP3, there is no synchronizing. For example, if you read an e-mail message on your iPhone the message will be unread if you view your Hotmail account on the web. Also, only messages in your Hotmail Inbox will display on your iPhone. Other folders, and any messages in them, will not be displayed.

To setup pop3 on your iPhone please try the following steps:

1. Tap Settings > Mail > Add Account > Other > Add Mail Account

2. Enter Name, Hotmail Address (Your Live ID), Hotmail Password

Note: You may get an error message saying that you will need to be a Windows Live Hotmail Plus Subscriber. If you see this message, please press "OK" to ignore the message. Pop3 service is now available for free for all Hotmail customers.

3. Click "Save"

Your account will be automatically configured at this point without further action from you.

4. Now please go to the IPhone mail client and start downloading your pop3 messages.

Note: The first download from our pop3 servers could take up to 5 minutes for the first sync.

If for some reason the phone does not auto populate the server information, please use the following server settings:

Pop3 Server: pop3.live.com (Port: 995)
SMTP Server: smtp.live.com (Port: 25)

Advanced Settings:
Incoming Uses SSL: On
Outgoing Uses SSL: On
Authentication: Password
Delete from Server: When removed from inbox