Users of Hotmail go Live

So, according to a report in The Australian the other day, “NineMSN will move more than five million Australian Hotmail users to its Windows Live mail service in the first six months of next year.” Obviously, they have been taking the opportunity to get rid of “dodgy” Hotmail users before they undertake the task. However, a little warning would have been nice!!! (See earlier posts – November 3 and 5) I can’t see how current Hotmail users that have been treated so poorly are likely to want to shift to Live, but maybe I am alone in this…

Cisco to take on Consumer Electronics market

As “scooped” by Smarthouse News (SHN), Cisco is set to take on the CE market and compete against the likes of Apple, Sony and Microsoft with the release of a home gateway product under the Linksys brand provisionally called “The Cable Bypass Box”.

Here is an excerpt from the SHN article (apologies for the typographical errors – these are in the original article – you need to write quickly when you have a scoop!):

“The box that is tipped to sell for as low as US$499 and will allow consumers to easily connect to iPTV online content while also managing home content such as music TV downloads and digital images. It could also replace the current Foxtel box in Australian homes if talks with Telstra are succesful.

SHN has been told that Cisco has already held discussions with leading Telco providers like Telstra who could not only sell the box but deliver content over an IP network.During a visit to Australia this month Linksys Vice President Michael Pocock alluded to the gateway when he admitted that Cisco was developing its own digital home operating system  which he said Cisco was considering to licence to other vendors. “

Full article can be read here: http://www.smarthousenews.com.au/Content_And_Services/IPTV?Article=/Content%20And%20Services/IPTV/P3P4G8Q6

So, the latest funny thing to happen with my original problem with MSN Hotmail is that I have been asked to complete a feedback survey with regards to the quality of the support I received on my problem. What’s so funny about that? Hotmail identified it as junk mail, which is funny, when this is the content of the email I received:

“How did we do? Do you have 3-5 minutes for feedback on the support we provided to you? Your feedback will enable the MSN Hotmail Support team to improve your future support experience. We would love to hear from you!

Please click here to give us your feedback: http://www.feedbackpage.com/msnsrvy/survlogin.asp

Sincerely,
Your MSN Support Team

_____________________

This e-mail was sent on behalf of Microsoft Corporation through Maritz, a survey vendor commissioned by Microsoft to capture feedback on your recent support experience. For information about Maritz’ relationship with Microsoft, please click here http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/marketing_research/English.asp.”

Given that Hotmail let through two emails from R0LeX_Rep|icaz and one from TheNewWaterproof <qeuigfwuirgfuw@fewifhiwuehfu.ha> you do have to laugh.

Hotmail: Automatic Sign-in Equals Inactive Account

The latest piece of absolute bollocks from MSN Hotmail Support. This was my response to the earlier email from the Support team:

“I actually don’t believe this to be the case. When this happened to me, I
rang a couple of friends to also check their hotmail accounts – they also
reported back the same situation when they logged in. One of these has had
his hotmail account for longer than me, and this has never happened to
either of us before.”

And I got this response:

“Hotmail will require you to sign in to your account manually at least once every three weeks. You need to manually enter your password in the MSN Hotmail Sign-In page in order for our system to detect that you are still actively using your account. I have checked your email account and our record shows that you have set your account to automatically sign you in when you go to www.hotmail.com.  This may have been the reason why your account was marked inactive.

Our system will not be able to detect that you are actively using your Hotmail account if you are always accessing your mailbox through the following:

1.  The automatic sign-in feature (Save my e-mail address and password) in the Hotmail sign-in page.
2.  MSN Messenger.
3.  An e-mail client (such as Outlook Express) where you do not manually enter your password,

On behalf of the Hotmail team, I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced.  Thank you for your time and continued support of MSN Hotmail.”

I am a constant user of MSN Messenger, and I use the automatic sign-in feature, and for these two reasons, I lose everything saved in my Hotmail account. You have to be kidding. Still no word on why my email account is suddenly down to 25MB…

Hotmail: Inactive Account

I had a reply back from MSN Hotmail Support. Apparently I have an inactive account, in that I have gone 30 days without accessing Hotmail. The Hotmail policy is to wipe all emails. After 60 days of inactivity, they remove all contacts, and after 120 days the email account is permanently deleted. After eight years using my Hotmail address, this is the first time I have encountered this policy – and there have definitely been times when I have gone 30 days without accessing my account (it’s called holidays).

Here is the policy, as explained by Benji from MSN Hotmail Support:

“Accounts that are not accessed through the Hotmail website (www.hotmail.com) at least once in a period of 30 days are marked as inactive. When an account becomes inactive, all e-mail messages and personal folders are deleted. If the account remains inactive for 60 more days, the Contacts list is deleted as well. If you are unable to reactivate the account for a total of 120 days, the e-mail account is permanently deleted from our system.”

Funnily enough, there was no mention of the sudden downgrading of my mailbox to 25MB…

After stating the policy to me, Benji then tried to upsell me:

“MSN Hotmail Plus package exempts Hotmail users from the account expiration policy. If you would like more information, please visit:

  http://join.msn.com

You also have the option to sign up for the Windows Live Mail Beta. The Account Inactivity Policy has been reconsidered in the new Windows Live Mail and was increased to 120 days. The Windows Live Mail is a free e-mail service improvement of MSN Hotmail and if you are interested, please visit:

  http://join.msn.com/mailbeta/features”

It’s actually quite a funny coincidence. My mother, who is a complete novice when it comes to computers, let alone the Internet, was asking me about free mail like Hotmail and Gmail. Apparently a friend of hers was urging her to get an email account. (She has to learn how to access the Internet first!) I advised her that it was not a great idea to just have an account like Hotmail or Gmail, as the provider is really under no obligation to ensure the security and retention of your emails. And, what do you know, but the next day it happens to me. Luckily, Hotmail is not my regular email account…

What has happened to Hotmail?

I have just tried to login to my Hotmail account – one I have had for about eight years, and it has suddenly started treating me as a new user. Very weird. I checked with a couple of friends – and they have the same thing happening. I still have the same Hotmail address, and all my contacts. However, all my emails have been deleted, and I have a mailbox limit back down to 25MB. I have put in a help request to Hotmail. Can’t find any mention of the problem out there on the ‘Net. Any ideas on what has happened?