How do I change my MSN Hotmail Alternate E-mail Address?

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Summary: Your Alternate E-mail Address is a second email address used to recover your hacked or lost Hotmail account. You must change your Alternate E-mail Address if you lose access to that second account, or you risk not being able to recover your Hotmail account should you lose the password or get hacked.

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You didn't find it because ... well, because it's not there. Apparently that would be too easy.

Can you tell I find that frustrating? Yep. Me and thousands of others, I might add. It's simple once you find it, but finding it? Aye, there's the rub.

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To the point - go here: MSN Account Services. You'll need to log in, of course, but once you do, you'll be able to change all sorts of things about your MSN Account, including your Alternate E-mail Address.

"MSN account?" you ask, "But this is my Hotmail account".

Yes, I know. There's a bit of an identity crisis going on. MSN (An acronym for MicroSoft Network) provides a number of services, Hotmail being only one of them. When you sign up for a Hotmail account, you are actually creating an account with MSN that can be used on any of the free MSN services including MSN Messenger, My MSN and more.

But wait. There's still more confusion, and identity crisis to be had...

As you navigate your MSN account settings, or even when you sign on to MSN services like Hotmail, you'll see references to something called "Passport". A Passport is that single account that you create that lets you log into all the different MSN services. In fact, Passport was originally created with the goal of being the one login for all websites from many different vendors besides Microsoft. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening, and even MSN seems to be shying away from the term "Passport" - but you'll still see it in various places.

So in a nutshell, to change your Hotmail account Alternate E-mail Address, visit MSN Account Services and you'll be all set.

Important: If it's your actual email address you want to change (not your alternate), then you need to read this article: How do I change my Hotmail name or address?.

Related:

• How do I change my MSN Hotmail password? Change your MSN Hotmail password with step-by-step instructions. Changing your Hotmail password is easy, and you should do it regularly.

• How do I change my Hotmail name or address? Changing your Hotmail address is not possible, but you can set up a new account.

• How do I delete my Hotmail account? Delete your MSN Hotmail account with these step-by-step instructions. Deleting your MSN Hotmail account isn't neccessary, but it's easy to do.

• How do I resolve my MSN Hotmail sign in problems? We look at a variety of potential problems with MSN Hotmail.

• Microsoft - MSN Account Services

Article C2448 - October 29, 2005

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