Tips for MSN Hotmail

Stretch Your Storage
If you use Hotmail as your primary e-mail account, you will be surprised how quickly you reach its 1GB storage limit. Make sure you have room for new messages by dragging old ones into a Local Folder in Outlook Express. This lets you archive past e-mail on your hard drive, leaving plenty of room on the server for new mail.


Watch for Spoofs
An e-mail may have a legit-looking originating address in the message header, but it could be a fraudulent e-mail replicating an authentic "From" line (a scam known as "spoofing"). But Hotmail lets you see the entire message header, including the real originating e-mail address. Simply click on Options (in the upper right of the Hotmail window), then select Mail > Mail Display Settings. Next to Message Headers, click Full.


Manage Your Safe List
Hotmail tries to anticipate what is junk mail and what isn't, but sometimes correspondence you want (such as newsletters) winds up being blocked. To make sure mail from a particular person or domain makes it to your in-box, add the sender to your Safe List. Click on Options > Mail > Junk E-Mail Protection. Select Safe List, type in the address or domain to allow, and click Add.


We Prefer Outlook, Too
If you have Outlook 2003 loaded on your PC, you can use it to send, receive, and categorize your Hotmail e-mail. In Outlook, select E-mail Accounts from the Tools menu. Click on "Add a new e-mail account," and click on Next. Select HTTP and click Next, then fill in your Hotmail username and password, and select Hotmail as the HTTP Mail Service Provider. (Make sure the "Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" check box is unselected.) Click Next, then Finish.


Receive Hotmail Alerts on the Go
You can have Hotmail notify you of new messages via a range of supported mobile devices if you also have an MSN Mobile account. (Sign up at mobile.msn.com.) In Hotmail, click on Options and select Mail. Click on Mobile Alerts, and choose your preferences.