Support Manager's Blog

New/changed features in Hotmail Update

2009-08-28T10:48:00Z

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

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

2009-04-08T15:43:00Z

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.

March 09 Live Hotmail Support FAQ

2009-03-20T21:54:00Z

Hello all - Brandon filling in for Scott this month on the FAQ - the below are the top submitted questions we've had over the last several weeks. Thanks for reading! - B

Q: How do I get support for Hotmail?

A: It's easy to get support for Hotmail - to do so just follow the steps below

1.       In your Web Browser, type http://www.windowslivehelp.com into your address bar and then hit enter
2.       This will take you to the Windows Live Hotmail Solution Center - on the front page there's a place to ask questions and our top articles
3.       If you don't see the issue you're having among the top articles, type in the problem you're having into the "Ask a Question" box at the top of the page and then click "Go"
4.       You'll be shown both solution articles that Microsoft has written, as well as posts from other customers who may have similar issues.
5.       If you still can't find anything related to the issue you're having, click on "Community" in the upper right corner
6.       Once taken to a new page, click on the orange button near the middle of the page that says "Write a Post"
7.       Click on the topic that your issue is most closely related to
8.       Describe the issue you're having in as much detail as possible, and then click "Post"

For more information about Windows Live Hotmail solution center, please see http://windowslivehelp.com/help.aspx

Q: What is Quick add for?

A: Quick add (a feature that shows up on the right side of the screen when you're composing an email) is a new feature designed to make it easy to add content users have told us they email about, to their messages - things like Maps, Restaurant locations, Movie Times, or even videos. Rather than launch a new browser window to do your web search, simply do your search within Quick Add, and then click the "insert" link to add what you find to your email message.

Q: Can the new ad or Quick Add be removed?

A: The only way to remove the advertisements is to upgrade to Windows Live Hotmail Plus. You can upgrade by going to this page. There is no way to remove the Quick Add feature at this time.

Q: Can I go back to the old Hotmail?

A: Unfortunately no - the old version is no longer available.

Q: Why do we change Hotmail so much?

A: Believe it or not, all the changes that have been made have been based on user feedback and using extensive usability testing. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the experience for as many users as possible. We appreciate any and all feedback about the changes to the interface.

Q: How do I submit feedback on the changes

A: It's easy to submit feedback, just follow the below steps

1.       Log into your Windows Live Hotmail account by going to http://mail.live.com
2.       Once logged in, click on the ? in the upper right corner
3.       On the drop down that appears, click "Feedback"
4.       Fill out the feedback form and then click "Submit"

Saying "No!" to spam

2009-02-02T21:28:00Z

Spam is something that affects each and every one of us who have email. Spam is thought to have its beginnings in 1996 when Dave Rhodes is attributed as being the first user to send an unsolicited mail to a large group of users. Rhodes created an email that marketed a pyramid scheme and then sent to every newsgroup on USENET. Thousands of users were hit with a message titled "MAKE MONEY FAST". There is still contention that Rhodes ever existed as his reputed university has no record. The first spoofed, unsolicited mail had just made its mark on the coming virtual age and it wasn't long until others followed suit.

The contribution of Microsoft in this area is one of our core fundamentals. Microsoft led the charge against Robert Soloway, the Seattle "Spam King" which led to his arrest and subsequent conviction on July 22, 2008. Soloway plead guilty to felony mail fraud, fraud in connection with email, and failure to file a tax return resulting in a 47 month sentence and a fine of $700,000. We continue this work with groups such as the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), the Global Infrastructure Alliance for Internet Safety (GIAIS), and the Microsoft Security Response Alliance (MSRA).

Every day, spammers attempt to send unsolicited mail to users both into and from our servers. This lends to a very complex and holistic approach for how we combat these attempts and try to keep your inbox clean. Since spamming is a multi-million dollar industry, their motivation to change tactics is as high as ours for blocking their latest attempts.

The scale of this work is staggering. On a single day, we block billions of spam messages from hitting Hotmail® inboxes; but this is just the beginning. Blocking incoming messages is just one facet of what is a comprehensive system of inputs and decisions. In addition to blocking messages with spam characteristics, our systems learn from our users mailing habits and are able to make determinations that they are a spammer; for instance a user that sends the same mail every day to large distribution lists is a prime candidate for closure.

Another facet of protecting our users is to shut off the spam at the source. This means determining where that spam is coming from and then shutting down that path. This is done by finding the IP address which is sending spam to our customers. To date, we have blocked almost 557 million unique IP addresses known to be sending spam. We also offer a different email sending experience for IPs based on their historical reputation with Hotmail. In short, an IP that has no history of sending spam is more likely to deliver emails to Hotmail customers than an IP that has sent spam. Once we determine a reputation for the IP address, we then determine if we allow emails to the inbox, send to junk folders, or block entirely. We also work closely with legitimate email senders, through our postmaster services, so that they can reach Hotmail® customers.

The final piece of the protection is articles such as this. We try to bring to you the most current security information and how to protect yourself as is available. Through continued education, partnership of the user community and service providers, and continuing legislative paths; spam is something that can be managed successfully.

Take Our Survey! - Tell us how YOU think we are doing in the fight against spam.

Until the next time...
-s

Fraud Mail - FW: FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET!!!

2009-01-05T18:18:00Z

Hello Everyone -

A new fraud mail has come to my attention. If you receive the below mail, do NOT email the listed account. You can forward these to abuse@hotmail.com or abuse@live.com, whichever is appropriate based on the @<domain> of the account.

Here is an example of this mailing:

From: ROBERT SWAN MUELLER <<offending_account>@<hotmail/live>.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:11:42 AM
Subject: RE: FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET!!!
Welcome To Federal Bureau of Investigation.

ROBERT MUELLER III
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC.
Email:<offending_account>@<hotmail/live>.com

FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION SEEKING TO WIRETAP THE INTERNET.

Attn: -

WE BELIEVE THAT THIS NOTIFICATION MEETS YOU IN A VERY GOOD PRESENT STATE OF MIND AND HEALTH. WE THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) IN CONJUNCTION WITH SOME OTHER RELEVANT INVESTIGATION AGENCIES HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAVE RECENTLY BEEN INFORMED THROUGH OUR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE MONITORING NETWORK THAT YOU PRESENTLY HAVE A TRANSACTION GOING ON WITH THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT (NBE) AS REGARDS TO YOUR OVER-DUE CONTRACT PAYMENT WHICH WAS FULLY ENDORSED IN YOUR FAVOR ACCORDINGLY.

IT MIGHT INTEREST YOU TO KNOW THAT WE HAVE TAKEN OUT TIME IN SCREENING THROUGH THIS PROJECT AS STIPULATED ON OUR PROTOCOL OF OPERATION AND HAVE FINALLY CONFIRMED THAT YOUR CONTRACT PAYMENT IS 100% GENUINE AND HITCH FREE FROM ALL FACT WHICH YOU HAVE THE LAWFUL RIGHT TO CLAIM YOUR FUND WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY. HAVING SAID ALL THIS, WE WILL FURTHER ADVISE THAT YOU GO AHEAD TO DEAL WITH NATIONAL BANK OFFICE ACCORDINGLY AS WE WILL BE MONITORING ALL THEIR SERVICES WITH YOU AS WELL AS YOUR CORRESPONDENCE AT ALL LEVEL.

IN ADDENDUM, ALSO BE INFORMED THAT WE RECENTLY HAD A MEETING WITH THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT IN THE PERSON OF MR. AHMED NASIR ABIDINE ALONG WITH SOME TOP OFFICIALS OF THE MINISTRY REGARDING YOUR FUND AND THEY MADE US TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR FILE HAVE BEEN HELD IN A BASE DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU PERSONALLY COME FOR THE CLAIM. THEY ALSO TOLD US THAT THE ONLY PROBLEM THEY ARE FACING RIGHT NOW IS THAT SOME UNSCRUPULOUS ELEMENTS ARE USING THIS PROJECT AS AN AVENUE TO SCAM INNOCENT PEOPLE OFF THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY BY IMPERSONATING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND THE NATIONAL BANK OFFICE.

WE WERE ALSO MADE TO UNDERSTAND THAT A LADY BY NAME MRS. DOREEN WHITE FROM CHICAGO HAS ALREADY CONTACTED THEM AND ALSO PRESENTED TO THEM ALL THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTATIONS EVIDENCING YOUR CLAIM PURPORTED TO HAVE BEEN SIGNED PERSONALLY BY YOU PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF YOUR CONTRACT FUND VALUED AT ABOUT US$10,000,000.00(TEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) BUT THE NATIONAL BANK OFFICE DID THE WISE THING BY INSISTING ON HEARING FROM YOU PERSONALLY BEFORE THEY GO AHEAD ON WIRING YOUR FUND TO THE BANK INFORMATION WHICH WAS FORWARDED TO THEM BY THE ABOVE NAMED LADY, THIS WAS THE REASON THEY CONTACTED US SO AS TO ASSIST THEM IN MAKING THE INVESTIGATIONS.

THEY FURTHER INFORMED US THAT WE SHOULD WARN OUR DEAR CITIZENS WHO MUST HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE CONTRACT PAYMENT, WHICH WAS AWARDED TO THEM FROM THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT TO BE VERY CAREFUL PRIOR TO THESE IRREGULARITIES SO THAT THEY DON'T FALL VICTIM TO THIS UGLY CIRCUMSTANCE. IF YOU ARE ALREADY DEALING WITH ANYBODY OR OFFICE CLAIMING TO BE FROM THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT. YOU ARE FURTHER ADVISED TO STOP FURTHER CONTACT WITH THEM IN YOUR BEST INTEREST AND CONTACT IMMEDIATELY THE REAL OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT (NBE) ONLY WITH THE BELOW INFORMATION'S ACCORDINGLY:

NAME: MR. AHMED NASIR ABIDINE

OFFICE ADDRESS: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY
SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT
SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT
ON FINANCIAL MATTERS
TAHRIR SQUARE,
CAIRO EGYPT.

EMAIL:

<offending_account>@<hotmail/live>.com

TEL: +20116618850

FAX: +20116618851

NOTE:
IN YOUR BEST INTEREST, ANY MESSAGE THAT DOESN'T COME FROM THE ABOVE OFFICIAL EMAIL ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBERS SHOULD NOT BE REPLIED TO AND SHOULD BE DISREGARDED ACCORDINGLY FOR SECURITY REASONS. MEANWHILE, WE WILL ADVISE THAT YOU CONTACT THE NATIONAL BANK OFFICE IMMEDIATELY WITH THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS AND REQUEST THAT THEY ATTEND TO YOUR PAYMENT FILE AS DIRECTED SO AS TO ENABLE YOU RECEIVE YOUR CONTRACT FUND ACCORDINGLY.

ENSURE YOU FOLLOW ALL THEIR PROCEDURES AS MAY BE REQUIRED BY THEM, IT WILL FURTHER HELP HASTEN THE PROCEDURES AS REGARDS TO THE RELEASE OF YOUR FUND TO YOU AS DESIGNATED. HAVE IN MIND THAT THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT EQUALLY HAS THEIR OWN PROTOCOL OF OPERATION AS STIPULATED ON THERE BANKING TERMS, SO DELAY COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS. ONCE AGAIN, WE WILL ADVISE THAT YOU CONTACT THEM WITH THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS AND MAKE SURE YOU FORWARD TO THEM ALL THE NECESSARY INFORMATION'S WHICH THEY MAY REQUIRE FROM YOU PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF YOUR FUND TO YOU ACCORDINGLY.

ALL MODALITIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN WORKED OUT EVEN BEFORE YOU WERE CONTACTED AND NOTE THAT WE WILL BE MONITORING ALL YOUR DEALINGS WITH THEM AS YOU PROCEED SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. ALL WE REQUIRE FROM YOU HENCEFORTH IS AN UPDATE SO AS TO ENABLE US BE ON TRACK WITH YOU AND THE NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT. WITHOUT WASTING MUCH TIME, WE WANT YOU TO CONTACT THEM IMMEDIATELY WITH THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS SO AS TO ENABLE THEM ATTEND TO YOUR CASE ACCORDINGLY WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY AS TIME IS ALREADY RUNNING OUT.

IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF ANY MORE INFORMATION'S IN REGARDS TO THIS NOTIFICATION, FEEL FREE TO GET BACK TO US SO THAT WE CAN BRIEF YOU MORE AS WE ARE HERE TO GUIDE YOU DURING AND AFTER THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY PERFECTED AND YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR CONTRACT FUND AS STATED. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ANTICIPATED CO-OPERATION IN ADVANCE AS WE EARNESTLY AWAIT YOUR URGENT RESPONSE ON THIS MATTER.

BEST REGARDS

Robert S. Mueller III
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW Washington, D.C.
20535-0001, USA

Email:<offending_account>@<hotmail/live>.com

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: THIS COMMUNICATION AND ITS ATTACHMENTS MAY CONTAIN NON-PUBLIC, CONFIDENTIAL OR LEGALLY PRIVILEGED INFORMATION. THE UNLAWFUL INTERCEPTION, USE OR DISCLOSURE OF SUCH INFORMATION IS PROHIBITED. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE NOTIFY THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY BY REPLYING TO THIS EMAIL AND DELETE ALL COPIES OF THIS COMMUNICATION AND ATTACHMENTS WITHOUT READING OR SAVING THEM.
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Welcome to the Windows Live Hotmail Online Solutions Center

2008-10-26T20:05:00Z

Hello and welcome to the new Windows Live Hotmail Online Solutions Center. The Solutions Center combines the expertise of the Windows Live Hotmail support team, the knowledge and helpfulness of our Hotmail customers, and articles and tips that help make Windows Live Hotmail work for you.

In order to make this a great experience, I would like to show you around a bit. First, the most important thing of the solution center is the fact that you will now have closer access to our support team than ever before.

Our support team is made up of people who work for Microsoft and also our Windows Live support agents. When you are reading our articles or topics in the community you can see our posts by the “MSFT” or “Windows Live” in our display names.

My name is Scott Hammer and I work in assuring the overall health and wellbeing of Windows Live Hotmail’s support experience. I am accountable for the quality of support given and for bringing your voice back to the Windows Live Hotmail product team. I will be writing in the Support Manager’s Blog to you about important topics and also user suggested topics.

You will find the latest information on emerging issues, troubleshooting, and known fixes on Brandon M. Service Manager's Blog. Matt A. will bring you the latest information and tips to help protect your personal information and email accounts in his Safety and Security Blog.

An important role in the solution center is the Ambassador. Ambassadors are here to make your experience the best possible every time you visit us. They will be browsing all the areas of the solution center looking for people posting inappropriate messages or people who seem to be lost.

If you have a general question on the Solutions Center, first check out the FAQ section. If you aren’t able to find the answer there, try doing a search. If both of those fail, create a new post in the new visitors section. Ambassadors will be able to help you in finding your answers.

For specific questions, you can browse all our communities and solution categories. Other customers and our support agents will work with you to provide the correct solution.

In the upcoming weeks, keep an eye out for announcements, chat night, and 20 question interviews.

Regards,

-s