still having problems logging on to hotmail

[767bill]

Any help appreciated.

Have windows 95 and can still log into pprune, yahoo etc. each with secure links, however, as soon as I type my password in for hotmail things go awry, I do not get into my messages or 1 in 15 attempts I can see main page but not read messages with "error on page". This happened spontaneously a few weeks back..

I can get into my hotmail account from any other computer just not this one, though on this one I can get into everythings else I want to!!!

Have tried deleting temp internet files but no joy.

any ideas? Pleeease...

767bill

[767bill]

....no IT experts on here I take it.

[maxell]

Problem could be windows 95, are you running internet explorer 6 or lower because the encryption level may not be up to what hotmail is looking for.
Either that or you may need an upgrade of flash or java to read the emails

[BRL]

Hi Bill, I am starting to feel sorry for you now!!! Best solution I can come up with is, I have a new copy of Win98 here that is not used. I will send that to you, pop it on your pc and see if that helps. PM me your address and I will post it this afternoon. :)

[maxell]

You could just bypass the system and setup outlook express to check mail from your hotmail address on that computer

outlook express/tools/accounts/mail/ADD/mail
and follow the wizard it should auto setup as soon as it sees a hotmail address and on completion ask if you want to import your hotmail folders
only thing it will not import is your address book

Max

[767bill]

Thanks for the replies Maxwell & BRL, I shall go home now and put a cold towel around my head whilst I consider my computer's future... I am grateful for the kind offer BRL, I will PM you shortly, I think your offer sounds like the best bet.

Bill

[AH64 APACHE]

To note - Microsoft have issued a new advisory for Hotmail stating that if you have an account with them and want to access it from Outlook or Outlook Express and have not tried to do this before it will no longer work !!:(

Apparently only if you have used it before through one of the above mentioned programs will it work.

They also mention that some time in the future they will remove this ability from all Hotmail accounts unless you pay the upgrade to Hotmail Plus.:{


I guess they finally realised how many people were accessing their mail this way to avoid the pesky adverts!!

I know that's how they fund it!!

[boeingbus2002]

Bill,
do you have Adaware or Spyblaster installed?
I recently installed this and just reading the last posting about adverts rung a bell.

I have no problem accessing my main account, yet when trying to check my parents account, it always freezes.

[AH64 APACHE]

My partner's dad just e-mailed me with the same problem. He is trying to access Hotmail from a Dell new laptop and can not but can access every other website he wants to. When he tries an older Toshiba laptop it works fine.

A colleague of mine also can no longer access Hotmail through the web but is okay on Outlook.

Has Hotmail published any advisories regarding incompatibility with certain computers? Any advice for what to do - would the Dell helpline be able to help as it seems their computer is the problem??

[spekesoftly]

I wonder if some of these Hotmail issues are related to specific Internet Service Providers, rather than individual computers?

I've recently had some problems with Hotmail, using my normal ISP, but can usually connect OK using an alternative ISP on the same computer.

Using a different PC, and yet another ISP, I have no problems.

[OzPax1]

spekesoftly may be heading in the right direction. My organisation had an issue with hotmail and some other websites (all based in the US), turned out to be a peering issue for our ISP. May be worth contacting your ISP and ask them to check their peering routes for hotmail. :ok:

For those of you who want to know why ISP peering is important the following links are good guides ISP Peering (http://www.comnews.com/stories/articles/c0601bottom.htm) & another good site (http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/NMG20011102S0006)

[maxell]

Have you seen the thread by silky IE problem

[ukbiker]

Hiya, I had a similar problem with hotmail. In my case i had picked up a browser hijackand it looks like you may have one too, try downloading CWS and Spybot S&d, they should help sort things out, If all else fails, register with castlecops and post a Hijack this log, All these apps are available from zdnet.co.uk.

[MrMarlborough]

Others also experiencing problems (me included). Found this website with two useful suggestions:

all the following found on message board:-
http://networks.silicon.com/broadband/talkback.htm?PROCESS=show&ID=20022798&AT=10006452-39024661t-40000016c

- - -
Name: Anonymous
Country: Ohio
Occupation: MCDBA, MCSE
Comments: I discovered a way around this. The problem started for me after I changed my IE privacy settings to block Third Party cookies. When I removed this setting, I still couldn't log into Hotmail. So I went back to the Privacy settings, went to the web site edit list, and removed all the managed websites. Voila, Hotmail works again! Don't know which block caused the problem, I'm just glad to get back in to my Hotmail.
- - -

Name: Wayne Yu
Country: Redmond
Occupation: IT
Comments: SOLVED: "The .NET Passport service is currently unavailable"
Please see the message by Ethan Hunt at http://www.devhood.com/messages/message_view-2.aspx?thread_id=101880

(pasted below for your convenience).

NOTE: MSFT solution at
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=831401
does NOT solve it - though it almost did.

[original post by Ethan Hunt]
11/16/2003 3:30:06 PM Not rated

I had the same problem and then i saw a little eye with a white minus sign inside of a red circle at the bottom of ie right above the taskbar tray. I cliked on it and got me to a screen where i could see hotmail listed in there right clicked on it and selected always allow and that fixed it.
At some point some how it got restricted.
......................
This just worked for me. thx.

- - -

Name: Anonymous
Country: phoenix
Occupation: I.T.
Comments: Solved by going to Tools... Internet Options... Privacy... Edit and removing "www.msn.com" from the "Managed Web Sites" list. The problem also started for me when I started blocking cookies.
- - -

[E-Liam]

Hi ukbiker,

If all else fails, register with castlecops and post a Hijack this log,

Or have one of the Castlecops chaps come over here instead.. :)

Me.. :ok: :)

Cheers

Liam
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A member of the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals (http://asap.maddoktor2.com/) since January 2004.

[ukbiker]

Hi Liam

ooops, sorry. I should have thought of that lol.
Jock

[spekesoftly]

767bill,

Hopefully, by now, you will have solved your Hotmail problems.

If not, the following may be of some help. As you can see from my previous post, I've recently had similar issues with Hotmail, but I suspected that the problem might be ISP related.

When I contacted my ISP, they first suggested the usual (delete cookies/ temp files etc), which I had already tried without success. Next, I was told to set the Security level to LOW, (previously Medium) and to 'restore defaults' on the Advanced tab.

With the LOW Security setting, I can once again access my Hotmail Account, via my usual ISP.

I can't explain why the change is necessary. Until recently, I was happily accessing Hotmail with the Medium security setting, and it's still works for all other websites. As previously mentioned, if I connect via an alternative ISP, I don't require the LOW setting to access Hotmail, or any other websites.

However, you might like to give it a try.


OzPax1,

Many thanks for your reply and suggestions.

[767bill]

spekesoftly,

Thanks for that, though it hasn't worked on my computer so far!

In case anyone else is interested I have tried, without success:

1. Deleteing temp internet files.
2. Adding hotmail security certificate
3. Checking SSl enabled on browser

I have IE 5.0

So, process of elimination continues slowly...

[spekesoftly]

767bill,

Two more thoughts. Are you using a 'Firewall' ? If so, have you tried disabling it, before connecting to Hotmail ?

Have you tried another ISP ?

[BRL]

Bill, did you get the disk?

[767bill]

BRL,
Please check your private messages.

spekesoftly,
Will try out your suggestions, thanks.

[BRL]

Any joy with this Bill?

[767bill]

Seem to have found a way through using www.my.msn.com as a link into hotmail (rather than hotmail.com), a few extra clicks are involved and you have to look at a bit more of msn's advertising and news headlines. If this is the price for continuing to use hotmail with 10 times the storage space seems worth it...

Thanks for the concern, BRL. So for now I will stick with my trusty windows 95 set up

Bill

P.S If anyone regularly sends to yahoo / has a yahoo account be warned that mail sent from some ISP s - like BT- when you have yahoo messenger on the computer can be delayed up to 48 hours!!!