Here are a few tips I picked up regarding using the Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite and the Hotmail mail service. I use Hotmail to host my email with my own vanity domain, which I think works great (and it’s free!). Don’t know if these things work exactly like this if you use another mail service or have other default programs.
- The Inbox button in Windows Live Messenger will open Windows Live Mail if Windows Live Mail is set to automatically sign in to Windows Live.
To stop this behavior; select Stop signing in, in Windows Live Mail (Options->Connections):
This will open your default browser instead and navigate to Hotmail when you hit the Inbox button. - To get the new cool Jump List and notifications when you pin Hotmail to the Windows 7 Taskbar; first navigate to your Hotmail Inbox, then drag the tab down to the Task Bar. If you do it from the Windows Live Home page you will not get these cool features.
Hi,
I just wanted to ask how you use hotmail to host your email? do you feed email to hotmail from your own email hosting, or do you point your MX records to hotmail? More info would be great.
Cheers,
ivan
Hello Ivan
Check out the Windows Live Admin center (http://domains.live.com). Here you can add you own domain, and much more.
Morgan
Thank you for the valuable reply. I have been reading and it seems a breeze to setup for first time domains. I need to put a bit of thought in regards to migrating though. I have a couple of questions if i may:
1. Is there advertisement on the bottom of the email?
2. Confirming it does support active-sync?
3. Can I configure a second domain to act as a domain forwarder? (user@abc.com emails forward to user@def.com emails)
4. any downfalls of this service to dedicated hosted solution – i.e. Web hosting email (asside from lack of activesync)
Kind Regards,
Ivan
Hi Ivan
1. No advertisement in the messages themselves, but you do get ads on the live.com pages. You can get rid of this by upgrading to Hotmal Plus, but I have never seen the need. The ads are not very intrusive and you can actually close them for a limited time. What you see when you log on to live.com is pretty much what you’ll see when using your Hotmail inbox.
2. Yes, ActiveSync is supported. I have personally used both iPhone and Windows Phone 7. If they work, chances are that pretty much everything else will as well.
3. Don’t know actually.
4. For me this service has been excellent. Hotmail is fast and easy to use and administer. Plus you get all the other Live services like SkyDrive, Xbox Live on the same account. Hotmail does not work with IMAP or POP clients, and not with Outlook without the Hotmail Connector.
Good luck!
Morgan