Just now, Hotmail (oops, I mean Outlook) changed!!
Microsoft just now did one of those things I just simple H-A-T-E! They “modernized” the user interface (no doubt to make it more compatible with ‘mobile devices’) and changed the look of my Inbox.
Thanks a lot Microsoft! Don’t you know we users detest this crap?
Didn’t you learn from the kickback you received from Office’s “Ribbon”? Or Windows 8?
Crap man. At least offer a setting that says, “No thanks. Leave my Inbox the *&^% alone.”
And now to send an email, I have to learn where you moved the buttons and thingies.. Just how I wanted to spend my time! (Not good to change the “insert inline image” to a seperate command button..)
NO. I am not going to start using One Drive just because you always default point to it. Or put shortcuts – for me – to it.
Google Play (New) | Hotmail = The Best | 200+ Free Games
It happened while I was waiting for an antivirus scan to finish…
Yesterday during a malware removal job, I grew a wee bit bored waiting for an AV scan to finish, and so I clicked some little-noticed links, and did some exploring. Maybe you’ll be glad I did!
This first link you have probably seen – if you ever played any of the games that come with Windows, such as Solitaire, or my fave – Chess.
Get more games online
I must have seen that “Get more games online” link 500 trillion times. Well, I (finally) clicked it and was taken to..
200+ FREE games from Microsoft (Click me)
.. where I found a whole bunch of those online “Flash games” you play in your browser. Fun timewasters and free! Take a look at the selection, here.
The next link is more obscure, and I found it by exploring the pre-configured “Favorites” in Internet Explorer – which I normally do not use to surf the web (I use Firefox with NoScript).
I have mentioned “Microsoft At Home” before – specifically the ‘learn computing’ video tutorials, but it has been a long time since I’ve taken a look myself. While there, I noticed that the much-maligned Hotmail had been named Top Web App of 2011 by PC Magazine.
What?!
* Hotmail named best web app of 2011 by PC Magazine
“The Hotmail team got some great (and humbling) news recently – Hotmail was named best web application of 2011 by PC Magazine. We were particularly excited to see that people are taking notice of Hotmail’s war on Graymail and the work we’ve done this year to make Hotmail faster. There are a lot of great web applications out there, and we’re in great company, but it was an honor to make the very top of the list.”
Now.. the reason I use Hotmail is because there was a time before Gmail (and I wouldn’t touch AOL), and I don’t like Yahoo! Mail’s propensity for showing ads. I have ignored all the “Advice columns” advice to not use Hotmail – especially not for business – all these years. Now, I feel somewhat vindicated.
I still use Hotmail as my primary personal email as Gmail creeps me out.. the way they read every word.. and show me ads related to my email. Google As Big Brother. Another topic for another day.
More games: Hey.. what is that???
Click me
Introducing Google Play
Now your favorite music, books, movies, apps, and games are all in one place that’s accessible from the Web and any Android device. Discover, buy and share like never before.
* * *
Bonus: The Digital Patent Wars
“In today’s intellectual property environment, patents have evolved into weapons of war. In fact, patent lawsuits have escalated so much that many are debating whether patents should be abolished.
Internet Evolution is examining the situation today in a brand new Big Report, “Digital Patent Wars: How Companies Are Suing Their Way to the Top.” Click here to read the analysis.”
I am out of time. Have a good one, everybody! (And don’t spend too much time on those games… ha!)
.. “Graymail”? A new word for me.
Today’s quote: “Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.” ~ Mark Twain
Hey! The United Nations wrote me today…!
Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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Sorry, there’s a problem with Hotmail right now…
Hotmail seems to be having an outage. Anyone else see this?
They said they have added new features, so please refresh the browser…
2/14/12 @ 10:30pm Pacific
[update: this seems to be a big massive global one.]
[update: While I have no way of knowing the cause of this, I suspect that we can help the Microsoft data center Geeks by giving them time between login attempts.]
Fixed here
[Update @ 11:56pm Pacific refreshing the page (press the F5 key) restored my Inbox (also someone in Rumania reported success).]
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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How To Send 100 Photos In An Email
If you have ever tried to ‘attach’ a bunch of pictures to an email, you have probably bumped into email’s limitations. Most Email will only allow you to send 10 MB’s of attachments, and ‘paperclip’ on 4 attachments at a time.
Those of you who have a Hotmail account can use the free (included) “SkyDrive” feature can get around these limits and send your PowerPoint slideshows and/or multiple images with a few clicks. (Yeah, I know. Bashing Microsoft and Hotmail just got a bit harder to do..)
Sharing pictures with friends and family is now a whole lot easier.
To share multiple photos:
- Click New to create a new email message.
- Type an email address and subject.
- Click Photos, and then click New album.
- Select the photos that you want to create an album with, and then click Open. Hotmail will upload and save the photos to SkyDrive.
- Type a message, and then click Send.
Note: You need to install Microsoft Silverlight to use this feature. This feature is not yet available in all countries or regions.
A short video tutorial is here.
Don’t have a “Windows Live ID” or Hotmail account? You can sign up (free) for one here
Related: Those of you who do not want to do Hotmail/Silverlight may be interested in my How to send big files (updated)
Today’s quote: “It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.” ~ Max Eastman
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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Please Help Me Access My Hotmail – I’ve Been Hijacked
I receive frequent requests to recover hijacked email accounts or retrieve the information in them, and/or to reset lost passwords. Here’s my answer:
No.
There is nothing I can do.
But here is what you can do:
1) Contact your email service provider and tell them what has happened. They should have some way of identifying you, (usually a couple of ‘secret questions’ you pre-set up) after which they should be able to reset your password.
(Notice there is no Number 2?)
* * *
Unfortunately this (almost) never works for free accounts. Why? Because these accounts are free and there’s (almost) no customer support. They tell you that up front. You get what you pay for.
Let me be even clearer about that: if you are using a free webmail (online email) service such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc., and…
- you forgot or lost your password
- your password does not seem to work
- you forgot the answer to your secret question
- and you did not set up an alternate email address, or you lost access to the alternate email address
- your account has been hijacked by a hacker
- and Support is not responding to your request for help
You are out of luck. I cannot help you – even if you hired me to.
Your only shot at regaining access to your email is via the form the service provides. Which does not always work.
Hotmail: The Windows Live Help Solutions Center is currently your only official support resource for Windows Live Hotmail.
If you think you’ve been hijacked, you can use Windows Live’s own Windows LiveID Account Recovery Help Page. There you’ll be taken through a form where you can prove that you are the rightful owner, and may, hopefully, regain access to the account.
Gmail: try this Gmail Help page first.
Yahoo Mail: try the Sign-in Help Wizard first.
I am not going to bother writing out the instructions for setting up your account, now, so that recovery in the future will be easier, nor tell you to write down the answer to your secret question (your Account settings is where you start), as I may as well be saying “change your oil every 7,500 miles”, or “brush and floss three times a day.” Many are probably reading this because they were not the careful conscientious type, and they were hoping someone else would clean up their mess for them.. (the New American Way.)
All I can say is: use the “recovery form”; fill it out to the best of your ability; and I can wish you good luck.
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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Hotmail Account Upgrade (Phish)
Hotmail’s spam filter failed to catch this “notice” of an “account upgrade” and let it slide right into my Inbox.
We are upgrading our database to serve you better. Your Windows Live! Account details are required for the upgrade and to keep your account active.
The information below are needed urgently for the exercise upon receipt of this mail to avoid an immediate deactivation.
Name:……………………………
User Name:……………………………..
Password:……………………………
Date of Birth :……………………………..
Country or Territory: ………………….
Ensure every detail requested above is provided correctly upon receipt of this notification to enable the upgrade.Incomplete details and wrong passwords forwarded will result in suspension or closure of your account for security reasons.
–Note: YOUR DETAILS WILL NOT BE SHARED.We’ll keep making Windows Live! the best email service around.
Sincerely,Windows Live Alert TeamMicrosoft Corporation
Okay… they made some text a red color.. and some text they made blue.. so it must be true..
Wow.
You know, I am almost at the point where I would not feel sorry for the victim of this scam… Anyone *naive* enough to fall for it – in 2011 – shouldn’t be on the Internet. Right?
But instead I’ll simply say: this is a CLASSIC scammer’s mass-mailed “phishing” email, hoping to snare some people’s passwords.
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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