MSN Hotmail, www.hotmail.com Review

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MSN Hotmail, www.hotmail.com
2.4 stars
Average rating for this product is: 2.4 out of 5

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spook's Review of MSN Hotmail, www.hotmail.com

23rd Jun 2004

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
    • Content
      2.5 stars
    Good Points

    Free, permanent email address, easy to navigate


    Bad Points

    Can be slow to load, lots of spam, not enough storage space


    General Comments

    I have a Hotmail account that I've used for ages because between having been a student throughout most of the '90's and then moving around internet providers (and residences/countries) regularly for a few years I needed one address that all my friends and family knew would always work. At the time there were far fewer free email address sites online, and many of them were small and new and one could never be sure if the company would be around for very long, so Hotmail seemed like a good option.

    As an email service it's pretty good. It's almost always accessible, the site is easy to navigate, you can send messages as text or as HTML, you can attach and receive files and Hotmail will even run a virus check on any files coming into your mailbox. You can set up different levels of security whereby you can allow only emails specified as "friendly" into your inbox, or allow everything, or set up a filter that puts stuff Hotmail thinks is suspect into a Junk Mail folder.

    As many of my friends swap email addresses around, and random acquaintances I don't speak to often use my Hotmail, I don't keep it on the highest security setting. In the past, this has often meant that logging in on a daily basis I could find easily 100 emails in both my inbox and my junk mail folder. About 6 months ago, Hotmail did an update which almost entirely got rid of the spam, but the clever spammers have already started to find ways around it. But it has definitely improved overall, and it's a good sign that they seem to be trying to keep a step ahead of the spammers.

    The only really negative point is the lack of space. If you hoard emails like I do and hate deleting anything (especially correspondence with people like academic supervisors and university bureaucrats regarding submission dates and things) then it can be a problem, especially when spam fills up your inbox and emails start bouncing.

    On the whole though, if they start giving more space like Yahoo and Gmail then it will definitely be a service worth signing up for, if you don't already have an account.

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