For reference.
Somehow the missus managed to get locked out of her MSN and Hotmail account.
Hotmail has a forgot password link - fine, but after filling in your Hotmail user account (your Hotmail address) the system sends a new password mail to your Hotmail account - for which you can't login.....
So, she hadn't set up an alternative email address or secret question - stuffed or what?
Not quite. Google found an about.com link to MSoft form where you can fill in your account details, recent mail info and touching wood they'll believe you.
Well they did and now all accessible again.
So the message for webmail accounts?
1. Make sure you have an alternative email registered
2. Use a secret question
3. Wonder why MSoft faq doesn't reference the emergency form and leaves it to the user and a Google search to save the day (I guess some users wouldn't have got this far and given up)