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The changing face of Hotmail

by Alexandra Middleton | 01 Oct 2013

Since it was launched in 1996, Hotmail has been a popular choice for personal email.

In August 2012 the decision was made by Microsoft to replace the Hotmail brand and roll all existing email accounts under the outlook.com banner.

Users with existing accounts were able to keep their @hotmail.com, @live.com or @msn.com addresses, but outside this the Hotmail brand no longer exists.

The transition saw more than 300 million Hotmail users transferred to Outlook.com.

No Log in details were changed and no emails, contacts or calendar details erased in the transition process.

To log in, existing Hotmail users must now visit www.outlook.com and from there proceed as usual.

Getting started

If you are a first time user looking to set up an Outlook account, simply visit www.outlook.com. At the bottom of the page you will see a prompt that asks, ‘Don’t have a Microsoft account?’ and the adjacent option to Sign up now.

Once clicked you will be navigated to a page that requires you to fill in your personal details, including name, address, date of birth and your preferred email username.

Once you have filled out all these fields, accept the terms and agreements at the bottom of the page. It’s that simple.

You are now ready to start sending emails.

Your Outlook account is characterised by a blue menu bar that runs along the top of the screen and a list of Folders down the left hand side, including Inbox, Junk, Drafts and Sent.

Located in the blue menu bar at the top of the screen is an icon with a cross inside a circle and the word ‘New’. Click on this icon to compose your first email.

Benefits of using Outlook

Outlook email offers a number of benefits outside of the functions offered by Hotmail.

The layout of Outlook’s interface is simple and easy to navigate which means once you have an account there is nothing standing in the way of you sending emails straight away.

Outlook also offers a number of intuitive features that keep your inbox organised and free of spam.

By setting up automatic filters, Outlook will automatically file emails into folders and block certain types of incoming mail. These filters can also be used to temporarily display only the emails that fall into a certain category, such as newsletters. 

A noticeable change between Hotmail and Outlook is the fact that Outlook has no distracting display ads. Unlike Gmail and other webmail services Outlook does not scan your emails in order to target specific ads to you.

Your Outlook email can also be directly linked to your existing social media. This means that you will only need to visit one source to see your emails, Facebook notifications or any Tweets you receive.

Unlike a lot of other webmail services Outlook is capable of sending larger files up to 300mb. This capability to send and access large files is further improved with the use of Microsoft SkyDrive.

Your Outlook email can be accessed anywhere you have Internet access via your phone or tablet device.

SkyDrive

The SkyDrive allows you to store your documents and photos in the Cloud. The Cloud is a virtual server that you can save and access content from, via the Internet. By saving large files from your desktop computer in SkyDrive you have access to them wherever you are on whatever device you are using. Your Outlook email is also able to connect to your SkyDrive, which allows you to access large files and share them with others via email. This function can even be performed on your mobile.