Am I Too Hard on Hotmail?

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>used Hotmail for years with a single problem.
used Hotmail for years withOUT a single problem.

Fixed. Thank you.

Hi Leo,

In responce to your "bashing hotmail accounts" I would like to say...

You mention that it is never safe to keep "important information in only a single, free, email account".

Well if people do then why don't they incorporate the uses of Outlook Express and the newer Outlook as in:

Outlook Express/Tools/Accounts and the same sort of thing for the newer Outlook Express, using these programmes to download and send all their emails by making the necessary accounts via HTTP etc and having all messages brought to their hard drive which in turn they can then back up as a PTT file to a safe place.

Please don't think I'm being rude as I have learnt so much from your web site and you have probably (without my knowledge) talked about this somewhere already? Just thought it was a valid contribution to the subject...? Let me know if ok.

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Unfortunately Microsoft is phasing out the ability to download Hotmail
into Outlook Express.
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_use_outlook_express_or_outlook_to_access_my_hotmail_account.html

AND I don't believe that technique downloads your address book. A number
of people I've heard from have lost all their contacts, so this approach
would not have helped them.

IF it works, it's a partial step, but it's not a complete solution.
Unfortunately.

Leo
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I saved all my wife's contacts off hotmail by the simple expedient of opening the contacts list, and copy+paste into a Word document. At least that got the basics off, even if she did need to then re-enter them into her new Yahoo account...

I wholeheartedly agree with all your comments on free e-mail providers in general and Hotmail in particular. My concern has always been the little or no checks made by Hotmail before allowing any man, woman or his/her dog to open an account. From my experience Hotmail users are among the largest proliferators of UCE.

Keep up the excellent work, Leo.

Kind regards
Bill

Hotmail- a great email account. I have used it as my main email account for at least three years, and it has never failed me. I like the way it deals with unsolicited spam, allows me group mail, and is stable. Could it be the way it is used- or misused?
Yes, I have another alternative email, just in case. I use them both, successfully.
And, previously, I have had 3 other accounts, each of which eventually failed.
Thank-you hotmail.

As you see, I have other email accounts besides Hotmail, which has served as my primary email for at least 10 years or so. Maybe occasionally it has failed me, but so infrequently that it is not noticable I guess. Anyway, it seems that your and others main hangup with free emails is the possible loss of stored email messages. This is something that boggles my mind. While being a frequent computer user, I have never found ANY reason to retain ANY emails once opened, answered or deleted. Why would anyone keep the hundreds/thousands of emails coming in to clutter their computers?? An email is handy for a quickie, but emails can make you slaves to much meaningless tacky correspondence. Seems most emailers really need to get a life! PS Your articles most of the time are right on target, but once I have read, saved or sent (always with credit)one of your helpful articles, then it is promptly deleted.

Leo. just made a comment for the page, and as I have noticed in others entries in the past, the postings are often missing lines of print once they are sent on to the page. Can that be corrected? Art

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I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. Everything looks fine
to me. (If I saw a problem, you bet I'd fix it :-). I'd need more
information to understand what it is you're seeing.

Thanks,

Leo
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