Microsoft will change the way it’s free web based email Hotmail used to work with email clients (Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Entourage). This change was slated to happen sometime last year, but in absence of alternate solution in place, Microsoft had decided to delay the change implementation. This will now be implemented on September 1, 2009. On and after this date, users who have configured the email clients mentioned above will not be able to get access to their emails using these clients. However, Microsoft has released a list of solutions for users to continue using these email clients with Hotmail (Hotmail / Live / MSN).

For users of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003/2007

If you are using Office Outlook version 2003 or 2007, you will have to download and install free Office Outlook Connector.

For users of Microsoft Office Outlook 2002 and previous Versions

If you are using Office Outlook version 2002 or a previous version, you will have to set up a POP3 account to configure Hotmail. To set this up, follow the steps below: (How to check version?)

1. Click on “Tools” and on the pop-up menu, click on “Email Accounts”
2. On the following screen, Select the radio button next to “Add a new email account” and click on “Next” button.
3. In the “Server Type” box, select “POP3” and click on Next.
4. On the following screen, type your name and your Hotmail email address. After populating these boxes, click on the button “More Settings” on the bottom right of the screen.
5. In the “Incoming Mail Server (POP3)” field, type pop3.live.com
6. In the “Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)” field, type smtp.live.com
7. In the “User Name” field, type your email address
8. In the “Password” field, type your email password
9. On the Outgoing Server tab, select the “My outgoing Server (SMTP) requires authentication” check box.
10. On the “Advanced” tab, make the following changes:

            Under “Incoming Server (POP3)”

             i.      Select the option for “This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)” by ticking the check box

             ii.      On the “Incoming Server (POP3) field, type 995. If its already there, leave it the way it is.

             Under “Outgoing Server (POP3)”

              i.      Select the option for “This server requires and encrypted connection (SSL)” by ticking the check box

             ii.      In the “Outgoing Server (SMTP)” field, type the number 25 or 587 for the port number.

            iii.      There is an option on this screen to “leave a copy of the message on server”. This option allows you to see the email through your client and also through internet browser. If you intend to use both, check this option. If you only use Outlook, uncheck this option.

11. Now click on “Test Account Settings” button to ensure that the settings are working. If this test fails, recheck the settings mentioned above. If it passes, click on “Next” and then on “Finish” to complete the setup.

For users of Microsoft Outlook Express

Microsoft recommends users to download a free Windows Live Mail Client for people who are still using Outlook Express with Hotmail accounts. However, if you want to continue using Outlook Express, you will have to follow the following steps:

1. On the Outlook Express window, click on “Tools” and then click on “Accounts”
2. Click on “Add” and then click “Mail”
3. Type your name in the blank text box and then click on “Next”
4. Type your email address and then click on “Next”
5. On the next window, enter the following information
   1. In the “My incoming mail server is a” box, select “POP3” from the drop down menu.
   2. In the “Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP or HTTP) server” box, type “pop3.live.com”
   3. In the “Outgoing mail (SMTP) server:” box, type “smtp.live.com”
6. On the “Internet Mail Logon” window, Type your email address and password. Please check the box “Remember password” to avoid entering password every time you launch Outlook Express. Also ensure that the box “Log on using Secure Password Authentication(SPA)” is unchecked.
7. Click on “Next” and then click on “Finish”
8. In the “Internet Account” window, click on the “Email” tab, select the new account and then click on “Properties”
9. Click on the “Servers” tab and under “Outgoing Mail Services”, check the option for “My server requires authentication”
10. Click on the Settings button to the right of the “My server requires authentication” option.  You may need to turn on the “Use same settings as my incoming server” option unless you are using a special account setup requiring a different Account name and password.  Most people will need to use the default option of “Use same settings as my incoming server“.
11. Click on the “Advanced” tab and under “Server Port Numbers”, enter the following information:a.       Incoming mail (POP3): 995b.      Outgoing mail (SMTP): 25 or 587

    c. Under both Incoming Mail and Outgoing Mail, select the option “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)”

             d. Under “Delivery”, There is an option on this screen to “leave a copy of the message on server”. This option allows you to see the email through your client and also through internet browser. If you intend to use both, check this option. If you only use Outlook, uncheck this option.

  12. Click on “OK” to finish account setup.