How to Resolve Hotmail Email Issues

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Hotmail Customer Support
We are keep getting people issue, they having
problem connecting to, logging into,
reading Hotmail emails. But there is one thing
that's consistent in most all of the
reports Malware- Scan and Scan Again We'll
start with the obvious stuff, that I hope you're
doing already. Accessing Hotmail, as well as many
other sites, can definitely be affected in many
different ways by both viruses and spyware. Thus
it's important that you run an up to date virus
scan and spyware scan. Check hosts One of the
common targets of malware is the "hosts" file.
Normally found in C\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc,
open it in notepad. Internet Explorer- Though
many might argue the point, IE itself isn't a
problem. However various readers have reported a
couple of things that helped in some cases.
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Reinstall or repair Internet Explorer On Windows
XP, you can try running the System File Checker.
Even on Windows XP, and on all other versions of
Windows, the best "repair" is really a reinstall.
Just visit Microsoft's Internet Explorer site and
download the latest version.Switch to a
different browser Several people have reported
that switching to Firefox or Netscape resolved
their issues accessing Hotmail.Lower Security
While I can't say that I really recommend it,
some users have reported that reducing the
security on their internet zone in Internet
Explorer to medium-low resolves some
issues.HTTP Version Some folks have reported
that altering the version of HTML that IE uses
helps resolve their issue. In IE Tools, Internet
Options, Advanced, locate the entry HTTP 1.1
settings and uncheck Use HTTP 1.1. You may have
to exit and reload IE for the change to take
effect.
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Cookies Make sure that Cookies are enabled
Hotmail apparently requires that cookies be
enabled in order to get past the "match the
picture" security check. So1. In IE, go to
Tools, Internet Options Privacy, and press
Default.2. Clear your cookies, in case an
existing cookie is causing problems. In IE, go to
Tools, Internet Options General, and press Delete
Cookies.3. Clear your cache, in case a cached
page is not being properly refreshed. In IE, go
to Tools, Internet Options General, and press
Delete Files, and be sure to check Delete all
offline content prior to clicking OK.Open the
firewall It's also important that your firewall
not block cookies, and some do. You'll have to
refer to the documentation for your firewall, but
several people have reported that resolving this
allows them to progress past the "match the
picture" stage. Note that this probably does not
apply if you're using a router for your firewall,
or if you are using the Windows XP embedded
firewall. The Network-Sometimes networks and
networking can get confused, and block, or
misroute, access to sites.
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Reboot and Reboot I'll assume you already have
rebooted your PC, but make sure to reboot your
modem (power off and back on again), and your
router, if you have either. I know I have gotten
my own router into a state where its behavior was
erratic, and a quick reboot resolved several
issues.Flush DNS A reboot does this as well,
but a quicker way to make sure that your computer
is using the most current DNS information is to
open a command shell, and enter the following
commandipconfig /flushdns This command might
not be available on all versions of Windows, so
you still may want to do that reboot.Fiddle
with Network Settings I've seen this in a number
of discussion groups. It involves altering an
obscure network setting called "MTU" or "MaxMTU".
Normally that requires a dive deep into the
registry, but fortunately there are utilities out
there that make this setting a little easier to
tweak.
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I've used TCP Optimizer from SpeedGuide.net.
Using that utility, these changes are reported to
help1. click on the appropriate connection
type (Dialup, DSL, DSL (PPPoE), or Cable
Modem)2. Click on Custom Settings3. Change
MaxMTU to 12204. Change MTU Discovery from Yes
to Default5. Click on Apply Changes, and then
Exit Hotmail- Try again later Sometimes
Hotmail itself is the problem. We've definitely
seen periods of time where Hotmail was simply not
working. While Hotmail's notification of such
events is quite lacking (as in, pretty much
non-existent), because of its high usage any
widespread outages are evident to them quite
quickly, and you can be certain that they are
working on the issue(s) even though you might not
hear about it. How long to wait? I'd typically
give it a day. Play with the numbers When
issues aren't wide spread, things get a little
trickier. Exactly how Hotmail's load is
distributed across the hundreds, if not
thousands, of servers they use, is a mystery. If
you're able to log in to Hotmail, you'll see
addresses like this in your address bar
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Outlook Express- If you're used to using
your free Hotmail account in Outlook Express,
that might be the entire problem. Hotmail support
in Outlook Express is being phased out. Your
Machine- Check your clock make sure that the
date and time on your computer are correct.
Several aspects of your connection to secure
sites like Hotmail rely on your clock being
accurate. Theft- Finally, there are two
scenarios we need to touch on as well, that can
lead to your not being able to log into your own
Hotmail account phishing and theft. Phishing
If you've received an email purportedly from
Hotmail asking you to visit a certain web site
and asking you to "re-verify" your account by
re-entering all your personal data, you may have
fallen victim to a phishing scam. Theft Is
your password easy to guess? Did you "loan" your
account to a friend? Did you access your Hotmail
in an internet cafe or other public venue? Then
it's quite possible that your account has simply
been hijacked or stolen. Someone got or guessed
your password, and then went off and changed it.
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