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This is Leo Notenboom for askleo.info.
I'm occasionally taken to task for what some people consider "Hotmail bashing". Folks get upset with me for repeatedly pointing out that they shouldn't rely on Hotmail.
If you've read Ask Leo! for any length of time, you know that I frequently reiterate how bad an idea it is to keep important information in only a single, free, email account. And, while I try to be generic and say "free email account", I often use Hotmail as an example, or reiterate my opinion when answering a question that was related to someone's problems with Hotmail.
There are two issues at play here.
First is that I get more questions relating to problems with Hotmail than I do with any other service, hands down. In fact I probably get twice as many Hotmail problems as the other free services - combined.
What kind of problems? Lost and hacked accounts. Accounts that suddenly lose all email or all contacts. Or scenarios where people can't login to some Hotmail accounts from some machines, but other accounts or other machines work ok.
The list goes on.
Folks, I get these every single day. 10, 20, sometimes 50 times every day. Not so for the other services.
So if you think I'm down on Hotmail ... well, I guess I sort of am. But not because I want to be. Remember, I worked at Microsoft for many years. I left on great terms, I still respect the company, and I still want Microsoft to continue to thrive.
But I can't argue with the data that shows up in my inbox. I know that many of you have used Hotmail for years without a single problem. In fact, so have I. But if you saw what I see, you'd be very, very nervous.
The second issue is simply the wisdom of leaving important information in the hands of a third party with next to no customer support. Again, every day I hear of people losing contacts, losing email, losing documents that they've saved in email - and having nowhere to turn, and as a result never, ever, being able to get any of their critical data back.
If you don't have some way to backup your important information, then leaving it all in a free service - any free service - or heck, any pay service - that doesn't have responsive and responsible customer support, is just asking for trouble.
HotMail, Yahoo, GMail ... they're all great services, when used appropriately. Using any of them as the single place to keep all your important email and contacts is not using them appropriately.
"You get what you pay for" has never been truer if you run into a problem.
I'd love to hear what you think. Visit askleo.info and enter 11200 in the go to article number box and leave me a comment. While you're there, browse over 1,000 technical questions and answers on the site.
Till next time, I'm Leo Notenboom, for askleo.info.
Article C2944 - February 24, 2007 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
June 12, 2008 3:23 PM
After having extensively used hotmail, yahoo and gmail, I can say that it is a personal preference as to which is the best. They all constantly evolve and upgrade.
As far as I am concerned, I like them for different reasons. I have my friends circle in yahoo messenger, which is by far the best messenger. But when it comes to mail, i love the simplicity, milder page colour, folder option etc of hotmail. Gmail ofcourse is very good too, but is slightly user - unfriendly. But the load speed is so fast. And also the search. Plus the attitude of constant improvement. Still, I prefer hotmail as of now. I do not believe in keeping all the mails. If someone hacks, it is the end of your life. I prefer to keep important files etc in a separate, secret email account from any of these, thats just a dump box, which i log on to once in a month or so.
July 31, 2008 11:49 AM
My parent's e-mail was shut down over 3 days ago by Hotmail and we have not heard anything from customer service despite repeatedly filling out customer service form. Is there even a customer service? No, I don't think you are being too hard on Hotmail. I myself will migrate to somewhere else. However, my parents have a lot of important e-mail and they can't get their contacts or e-mails from Hotmail as it says Account closed. Access Denied. Is there any solution to this? Please help. Thank you.
Sorry.
-Leo
August 1, 2008 7:02 AM
Kami, ms overcharged me due to some mess up internally with their ad manager, didn't tell me they were locking me out of my mail and everything while they were figuring it out, still waiting on my refund too. Here's the number for the MS Office Live at least they may be able to give you another number.
1-866-591-5483
Good Luck !
August 7, 2008 10:33 AM
I called that number that the person on the phone rudely asked me if I had a website or a paid subscription. He was so rude and unhelpful. He said that Hotmail receives so many e-mails and I will just have to wait. I have been waiting for a week and a half. They have not responded to me despite writing to them five times. How come they say on their website they will get back to us in 24 hours? How can they write that when they have not got back to me for a week and a half. I don't know what to do. Hopefully, my parent's account will get reopened.
-Leo
April 19, 2013 11:38 AM
Hello again, Leo!
No, no, you're not at all hard on Hotmail or Microsoft. I appreciate all the help and your expertise which you provide so eloquently to others here on your website. You are spot on about everything you've written about Hotmail's undependable free email service (along with a few others) that I highly recommend every one of your readers to follow your well-informed advice.
Since losing my 10-year Hotmail account almost two years ago, and having undergone Hotmail's wretched "Account Recovery" process with negative results, I was forced to switch over to my cable internet service provider's email service which truly has "live" 24-hour technical support. I can telephone my cable provider at anytime and talk to a real human being, and that's a beautiful thing! =)
As for Hotmail, I had to conclude that my old account had somehow been hijacked and stripped. And then ... I just waited. I would periodically check to see if my username might ever become available again since I made the assumption that nobody was actually using that account, and that Hotmail might someday purge it and put it back into the general pool.
Well, Leo, I am happy to report that that day arrived yesterday! My username became available again and I recreated the account. Of course, there was nothing in it as everything that had been contained in it was gone. But, more importantly, that account had been my online identity which was tied to many other internet accounts and websites which I had been connected to. Now, I can begin the process of restoring my identification by which other websites recognized me. However, I will continue entrusting my cable provider's email service for use with my most important emails and sensitive information.
Thank you again for all your help and direction! You are THE BEST!
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