Windows Live Hotmail
Hotmail is a free email service provided as part of the Windows Live set of services (see http://get.live.com) by Microsoft. Hotmail allows you to "keep in touch with family and friends through e-mail, instant messages, a unified contact list, and your online calendar".
How to Get a Hotmail Address
Go to http://www.passport.net and hit the "Get started now" link under the "Sign up for a free MSN Hotmail account" heading. You'll see a sign-up form which asks a few basic questions (like your name) and allows you to choose your desired email address.
Be aware that if you want a commonly-used address (something like firstname.lastname@hotmail.com), it may well be taken already (you can check using the "Check Availability!" button), so you may need to try a few alternatives until you find one that's available.
When you create a Hotmail email address in this way, it also serves as your "Windows Live ID", which you can use to access other Windows Live services (such as Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging). More details on Windows Live can be found at: http://home.live.com.
Hotmail Features
You can see the features that Hotmail provides at: http://get.live.com/mail/features.
- While these features are subject to change, at the current time they include:
- 5GB of free storage space.
- Good protection against spam.Integrated with other Windows Live services such as instant messaging (instant messaging allows users to exchange typed messages in real-time, without the delays associated with email).
- The ability to access your email from your mobile phone.
Premium Version – Hotmail Plus
A premium version called Hotmail Plus is available, for a small annual fee (currently $19.99 per year). While the features are subject to change, this currently provides more storage space (10GB versus 5GB for the free version) a larger maximum message size (20 MB versus 10MB for the free version), plus various other benefits. Details are available at: http://get.live.com/mailplus/features.
Hotmail Mail POP/IMAP Access
Currently, Microsoft don't provide POP3 or IMAP access for their free Hotmail accounts. They do provide POP3 access if you subscribe to Hotmail Plus though.
You can download and locally-access email from free Hotmail accounts if you use the Windows Live Mail program. This is Microsoft's replacement for Outlook Express (on Windows XP) and Windows Mail (on Vista). If you don't already have Windows Live Mail, it can be downloaded free from http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview.
If you use Outlook 2003 or 2007 (the full version, not Outlook Express), you can access free Hotmail accounts from Outlook by using the Outlook Connector, which can be downloaded free from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx.
If you use a different email client (i.e. not Windows Live Mail, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007), you can still get POP3 access to free Hotmail accounts by using the free HotPOP3 application, which can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/hotpop3.
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