Free Windows Live Hotmail POP3 access has gone worldwide

Free Windows Live Hotmail POP3 access has gone worldwide

Sean Bradford on 13 March 2009 - 12:45 · 43 comments & 24835 views

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About a month ago we reported that Microsoft was rolling out free POP3 access to Windows Live Hotmail customers in select markets. For the vast majority, including myself, the updates had yet to hit their accounts. Well the wait is over, the Windows Live Hotmail team has officially announced that POP3 access for all Windows Live Hotmail accounts has now rolled out to every customer.

Here are the settings to access your e-mail messages via POP3:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

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(1 reply) #1 raider360 on 13 Mar 2009 - 12:47

Thanks, Microsoft

#1.1 Faisal Islam on 13 Mar 2009 - 16:17

+1 Thanks bill gates

(4 replies) #2 Matt500 on 13 Mar 2009 - 12:47

If they had done this a long time ago they probably wouldn't have lost so many users. They have a good service.

#2.1 testman on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:38

Matt500 said,

If they had done this a long time ago they probably wouldn't have lost so many users. They have a good service.

Except they haven't lost "so many users". Their userbase has kept growing and growing and growing and is in fact one of if not the highest amount of users.

#2.2 Matt500 on 13 Mar 2009 - 15:05

Nobody really leaves, but people have created new accounts with other providers and dont use hotmail as their main address.

#2.3 Memnochxx on 14 Mar 2009 - 14:44

testman said,

Except they haven't lost "so many users". Their userbase has kept growing and growing and growing and is in fact one of if not the highest amount of users.

If I have 3 apples, lose 2, then buy 5 more, I still lost 2 apples.

#2.4 ecotrojan on 15 Mar 2009 - 15:20

Memnochxx said,

If I have 3 apples, lose 2, then buy 5 more, I still lost 2 apples.

you didnt lose them, i stole them ;-P

(2 replies) #3 +DonC on 13 Mar 2009 - 12:48

Port 25 doesn't work for me in the UK - I just get connection refused.

#3.1 Doli on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:39

Try the other port or you might have to use your ISP's smtp server just to send emails and use Hotmail's POP to recieve.

#3.2 Marshalus on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:43

Agreed, some ISP's block access to port 25 other than for their servers.

#4 guruparan on 13 Mar 2009 - 12:56

Thanks MS :-)

#5 neoraptor on 13 Mar 2009 - 12:57

yahoo should be next

(2 replies) #6 Jugalator on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:19

And now, IMAP in 2015.

#6.1 Marshalus on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:44

No kidding.

#6.2 profets on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:50

seriously.. we need imap.

what good is pop3? so you can have multiple copies of the same email in different locations? open an email on your phone, or in a mail client, mark it as read, or delete it, only for none of those changes to be made in your actual hotmail inbox?

also, i wonder if theres any options for pop3. last time i added my hotmail as a pop3 account on my phone it was downloading thousands and thousands of emails, all showing as unread. ahh, the beauty of it all...

(1 reply) #7 Dischordiant on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:22

Didn't they offer pop access for free a long time ago, then made it a paid feature?

#7.1 tripleXit on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:00

Yes. Yes they did. I know because I remember using it for free many years ago, then they cut us off. Now it's back. MS are such asses sometimes.

#8 +James_478 on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:30

I'm still not switching

I use it on occasions for certain things I've had a while, but I want IMAP

Give me IMAP and I'll fully switch back. I like Live Hotmail, it's better than Google's crap but google have IMAP :/

(2 replies) #9 rakeshishere on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:46

Free POP3 in 2009 and Free IMAP in 2020. Thats Microsoft for you

#9.1 xpclient on 13 Mar 2009 - 18:17

Exactly. Not just IMAP. Where is all the innovation in Hotmail? Users are pestered with floating ads on side as well as the top. You can't even set number of messages per page. Spam filtering is a complete failure. Gmail is turning up new ideas every week. No email service has features that Gmail Labs offers, so many custom user scripts, CSS "skins" and FF addons available to customize Gmail. Hotmail feels 19th century email. MS has lot of catching up to in mail besides search. Gmail is way way ahead. I may come across as a troll but Hotmail really lacks features today.

#9.2 Quikboy on 14 Mar 2009 - 02:59

2020? I don't think it'd be that long

Maybe by 2011-2012? That's if they want to stay in the game...

#10 gxsaurav on 13 Mar 2009 - 13:58

Is POP3 access in Hotmail relevant any more? On Windows we can use Windows Live Mail Desktop which supports IMAP based access to Windows Live Mail/Hotmail. Windows Phone have been able to access Hotmail since a long time already. Symbian OS Phones now have Windows Live for Symbian. Blackberry also has Hotmail already.

The only benefit I find is for the users running on Linux & Mac OS. Oh! well, good to see Microsoft play nice with the other OS.

(2 replies) #11 hotdog963al on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:02

People still use POP3?

#11.1 +warwagon on 13 Mar 2009 - 17:21

hotdog963al said,

People still use POP3?

Yep, I love POP3. Sure I could use IMAP but then if for some reason Gmail has a disaster and deletes all my emails they are gone. With pop3 my computer or Gmail is considered a backup. I always have a backup of my emails. I love that feeling. I think people put to much trust in the cloud.

#11.2 profets on 13 Mar 2009 - 18:08

i think i'd rather use imap and make a backup of my mailbox once in a while if i was really worried about the possibility of an online disaster.

i know pop3 has its uses, but for additional access to an existing mailbox its not too great. if i had to use pop3 to access my gmail account on my computer's mail client, and phone for example, then that means in 3 different locations i have to check the same unread mail. and if i want to sort them somehow i have to do that separately in each location as well.. if i send an email from my computer it wont be saved in my sent items online or in other locations...

#12 MMaster23 on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:04

And it's slow as heeeeeeeell .. at least for me it is.

(1 reply) #13 gloom227 on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:05

It was about time! I went through the hassle of switching from Hotmail to Gmail when I got my iPhone last year. I just couldn't accept to check my email on a crappy text-only mobile interface... My wife was a little more patient and she configured her Hotmail account on her iPhone this morning and it worked like a breeze! Thanks

#13.1 Calum on 14 Mar 2009 - 08:12

Are you maybe considering going back to Hotmail then yourself?

Wave 3 is fantastic.

#14 Tamilboy86 on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:21

Checked yesterday and it was working

.... Now I can use my @msn.com mail on my touch.

#15 liemfukliang on 13 Mar 2009 - 14:39

Translated in Indonesia at http://ficforlife.com/2009/03/pop3-gratis-dari-hotmail.html.

#16 gazebee2001 on 13 Mar 2009 - 15:12

Simply ridiculous how my folders can't be supported. Sure, there's Windows Mail Desktop, but that's Windows only. Until there's IMAP, there wouldn't be a viable solution for us Mac users.

And for iPod Touch and iPhone users, mboxmail does a supreme job of hotmail with its app, with a $10 pricetag

(1 reply) #17 babyHacker on 13 Mar 2009 - 15:59

Windows Live Mail is the only way to go for Hotmail. Never having to log in, no web browsers, you can check multiple Live accounts plus POP3 and IMAP, spell check and the list goes one. Hotmail still does lack no brainer things like thumbnails of images which is just stupid but I digress, WLM is the best and fastest way to check Live mail accounts by far.

#17.1 Calum on 14 Mar 2009 - 08:13

Oh definately. I constantly get new emails when people have replied to threads and unless I am out with friends, I tend to be at my computer doing uni work and things, so it helps getting instant notifications of when people have replied for forum threads and things.

(4 replies) #18 Erikas on 13 Mar 2009 - 16:23

I now check my live.com and gmail accounts through WLM, and they are both on the server and downloaded locally. I would like to switch to Outlook. Will my hotmail messages remain on the server or will al be downloaded and I won't have an on-line copy anymore? The same question for gmail actually, does that work with outlook?

#18.1 zeke009 on 13 Mar 2009 - 16:26

Erikas said,

Will my hotmail messages remain on the server or will al be downloaded and I won't have an on-line copy anymore?

Great question and one I was just thinking about myself. Does anyone know the answer? I use the Outlook Connector to get my Hotmail in Outlook now and my mail is mirrored between Outlook and online. But if I go POP3 access, will the same thing happen by default? Or do I need to find that setting to "leave copy of message on server" where ever it's hiding.

Erikas said,

The same question for gmail actually, does that work with outlook?

Yes it does. I've got my Gmail account configured in Outlook 2007.

#18.2 excalpius on 13 Mar 2009 - 23:57

I have the hotmail POP account read by Gmail now. Then I only have to access the Gmail account. This gives me best in class spam filtering and automatic online archiving while still allowing me to access my Gmail account anyway I want (pop/imap/web).

#18.3 +witalit on 14 Mar 2009 - 00:08

Erikas said,

For gmail that will, for hotmail im not sure! Sorry.

#18.4 P1R4T3 on 17 Mar 2009 - 04:46

Erikas said,

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...#entry590712592

(1 reply) #19 Cask1 on 13 Mar 2009 - 17:39

Great, now I can change my account back from Spain.

#19.1 limeares on 13 Mar 2009 - 19:20

I will stay in UK only for the Facebook tab in Windows Live Messenger. LOL.

#20 conna on 14 Mar 2009 - 06:46

Outlook will leave the email on the server if you tell it to. It is under the advanced tab where you set your account up. On a side note, I have had hotmail access in outlook from the beginning (outlook 2003 support hotmail natively) and on through the "need to pay for" period. Not sure why but why would I complain. There is a outlook connector that keeps everything synced. The best client for hotmail/live accounts is WLM I feel.

#21 Solid Knight on 15 Mar 2009 - 03:30

Got it to work with Windows Mail. Just use a fake e-mail address for the initial setup then go back and fix it after the wizard ends.

#22 ajua on 06 Apr 2009 - 05:23

i just got it to work for my @live account but my @msn is not working, im getting '-ERR command not implemented' response from the server.

any ideas?

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