Greetings all,

I received an email in my inbox (not junk mail folder) "supposedly" from Microsoft saying they will no longer allow Hotmail to be used through Outlook Express from June 30. As an alternative they are offering a similar email client called Windows Live and give a link to download it. Has anyone else received such an email and know anything more about this?

I checked Snopes and it's not listed there as at all.

I use Hotmail through Outlook Express as my main email but I HATE going through the website as it takes so long for all the pages to load. Going through Outlook Express I can write my emails offline and send them when I want them. I can also refer to all my mail offline anytime I want to so I would like to continue using a similar program if not Outlook Express.

My other question is will I still be able to use my current Hotmail email address through this Windows Live because I do NOT want to change my main email address as I've had this one for years. I would like to keep my Hotmail email address but still use a desktop offline program to send and receive my emails through.

I HATE it when Microsoft does stuff like this. Just when I have all the bugs worked out they change the system.

Hello Outback Annie,

Here is a link that explains just what is going to happen with Outlook Express.

John seems to explain the answers to your question well I think.

Post back and tell us how you get on with Windows Live Mail if you decide to go with it.

Thanks tallin,

I think it's not a matter of IF but WHEN I go with it. I might download it then and start getting used to it. My only other option if I want to keep the same Hotmail address is to go through the website online. I'm not going to pay to upgrade Hotmail. FREE always works for me.


My main concern was that this is real and not some scam and by the looks of things it's legitimate.


I'll let you know what I think of it after I download it and use it for a while.

I downloaded the Windows Live program and it is very similar to Outlook Express with almost all the same features. The only feature that is different is when you "Insert" a photo from OE it's on the page at the size it is but when inserted on the page from Windows Live it's inserted as a thumbnail. This can only be viewed on the receiving end in full size if it's viewed through a slide show. This is no show stopper really because I can of course always attach the photos instead of embedding them into the email and they show as regular size.

Other than that the only issue I'm having so far is that I have another email server working through OE and now also Windows Live and it won't receive emails through Windows Live although it does send through there.

I have a satellite internet system and only one person has the email address used through that system because she can't receive my hotmail emails for whatever reason. Now I don't know if I will receive any emails from her or if she will receive them from me. I've sent test emails with read receipts to see what works if anything from the Wildblue satellite server email address. This isn't an issue with Windows Live so much as Wildblue satellite system because I've had this problem before with Wildblue.

I just got all the bugs out of it and all working great through Outlook Express after Wildblue merged with Google and changed the system and now the Wildblue side of it is all buggy again. I think Wildblue wants to be top honcho and set as default but I won't do that as there is only one recipient who uses that address but I'd still like to have it working through Windows Live so I don't have to go through web sites.

Oh well back to the Wildblue drawing board I guess.



Bottom line is that the new Windows Live is in fact almost identical to Outlook Express. The changeover/import from OE to Windows Live was automatic and very fast with everything from OE going over to Windows Live very smoothly. That's a good thing.

Thanks for the update Annie,

I also downloaded Windows Live and found it almost identical to OE.

Cheers and good luck with your new email software...........

When I first got on the internet over a dozen years ago, I went to Bigfoot and got a "Bigfoot for Life" email address. It's still my primary address, and I've never had to change an address with my recipients. I've change ISPs many times over the years, but all that is required to 'fix' that is changing the forwarding address at bigfoot to my primary ISP email address. It's been great!

Also, it means that the laptop is set up to receive the mail from anywhere, but I do have to use the webmail to send, unless I'm on a known account that I can set up to send (which I usually am, at the folk's place). It keeps things simple!

Hi Jim,

Do you pay for this Bigfoot? (not to be confused with hotfoot of course )

Where can I go check it out? Do you have a link I can look at please?

Sounds good as long as it's free.

The free service has a 50 mail per day, 3 mb. filesize limitation. I have the 9.95/quarter service since my mail volume is rather large, with large attachments on occasion.

Bigfoot Mail

They also provide a webmail service with any of the pay accounts. With forwarding, it's not needed, unless you need a means of sending mail when not on your ISP.

Thanks Jim, I wouldn't have a need for a pay email as mine is just a few personal emails each day sometimes with photos but for the most part smaller sized emails. Some are larger than 3 MB but I usually delete those as I hate large files bogging down my system. I'm on a satellite system and it's not as high speed as they like to think they are. Large files take forever to download. I'll check out the link you sent.

Thanks again.