Email Clients Tutorials
Hotmail Tutorial
The New Hotmail: "Windows Live Hotmail"
Throughout 2007, Microsoft has progressively migrated its Hotmail users' accounts from the classic Hotmail service to the new, Windows Live Hotmail service. While many of us still regret the webmail system we have gotten accustomed to over the past 10 years or so, the new Hotmail ("Windows Live Hotmail") brings many features to the old Hotmail experience.
This series of tutorials will help you make the most of the new Hotmail, and hopefully help you grow to like it as much as the old one! Learn more about Hotmail.com…
Clearing Some Confusion: Windows Mail vs. Windows Live Mail vs. Windows Live Hotmail vs. Hotmail vs. Windows Live Hotmail Plus
Let us start by clarifying the differences between closely-named, email-related services currently offered on- and offline by Microsoft.
Windows Mail - Windows Mail is the desktop email program that ships with Windows Vista; it is the successor of Outlook Express, and is only available to Windows Vista users (and presumably bundled in future versions of Windows.) You can use Windows Mail with standard email accounts (POP3 or IMAP), but not with the Windows Live Hotmail service.
Windows Live Mail - Part of Microsoft's "Windows Live" initiative, Windows Live Mail is a downloadable, desktop email program. Like Vista's Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail is free; but it is available to both Windows Vista and Windows XP users. Windows Live Mail does let you setup your Hotmail accounts; it also supports "RSS feeds", unlike Windows Mail or Outlook Express.
Windows Live Hotmail - Like Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail is part of Microsoft's Windows Live offerings. Windows Live Hotmail is the web-based email service ("webmail"), successor to Hotmail. These tutorials will cover Windows Live Hotmail, or "Hotmail", as most people will keep calling it.
Hotmail - Hotmail is the old name of Microsoft's webmail service; it is now called Windows Live Hotmail. At the risk of irritating Microsoft's branding department, we will call "Hotmail" the new Windows Live Hotmail service, for shortness.
Windows Live Hotmail Plus - Windows Live Hotmail Plus is the paid version of Windows Live Hotmail, which we'll cover in a later tutorial. Hotmail Plus, as we'll call it, includes more storage space, no account expiration (even if you never check its emails), no ads, and the capacity for larger email attachments. Because flashing banners are so distracting, and add so much download time for every email checked, Hotmail Plus is well worth the $20 per year it currently costs.
Using the New Hotmail
Much more than the old, the new Hotmail heavy relies on the JavaScript web scripting language (that power features like menus, drag-and-drop functionality, etc.) JavaScript is enabled by default in modern browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera.