Changing Password in Hotmail

[wam]

I can't change my Password in my old Hotmail account. When I select 'Password' under 'Personal' in 'Options' my IE seems to go in a loop. I can only see 'Done' and 'Opening https://live.?????????' repeatedly in Status bar.

I tried to change Passwords of my 2 hotmail accounts but get same results. I asked a friend to try change his PW for Hotmail from my computer he got same results.

I am using IE7 in Windows XP (home edition).

Please guide me if I am posting this in the wrong place or help me out of this.

[xmailer]

About all I can suggest is to try using the Firefox browser, if you can, as per this post.

As for why Microsoft's own browser doesn't work as well as another with their email service, I guess you'll have to ask them. Just another example of why we all love MS so much, I guess.

[wam]

I read this thread after posting request for help and realised I am not the only one stranded. I have already asked MSN Support for help and hoping they answer.

What do you think about Netscape?

[xmailer]

Since at least more than one of us have had problems with our Hotmail options lately (I was having similar problems as mentioned in that thread and was also able to change my options with no problem after trying it with Firefox as mentioned there by The Storm, but didn't get around to replyng to that effect), it appears to me that either Hotmail (all versions) or IE (or both), is "broken". In fact, I wonder if anyone can change all their Hotmail options when using IE? I guess it can't hurt to ask/tell MSN support about the problem, although I don't personally care enough about Hotmail that it was worth the bother to me. But I'll be interested if you want to post here any reply you may get from them (other then their usual preliminary autoreply that is, of course).

As for Netscape, I haven't used it since it was in Version 3 or 4, but although I can't say I'm particularly knowledgeable of it, it's my impression that Netscape and Firefox are more or less the same browser, I think? But I can't say I'd be surprised if the similar problems we've had with Hotmail might be strictly an issue with IE, as ironic as that might seem.

[wam]

xmailer; I shall be more than delighted to post here any reply I get from MSN; provided I get one. I have already switched over from hotmail but I have to check this account once a week or so to be sure someone I might have missed, sends mail on this address.

About two years back I had a problem with Hotmail. The problem remained for three weeks and ultimately a 'net friend' helped me out of it. MSN never came to my rescue.

Just in case you might be interested in the problem I had. I could sign in my account, see the new emails (headers) BUT couldnt open them.

[theog]

As normal, my account works great with xp and IE7... wonder why I never have any issues in hotmail. I just changed my password to see if it would work.... After I put in the info, I get "Your information has been saved." That comes up within 1 second of hitting save.

I'm using hotmail live and not msn or classic... dunno if that makes a difference.... if so, switch to live hotmail....

very odd... I'll be surprised when I see an issue. lol

[wam]

theog; I am using Hotmail Live (Classic), The other accounts I tried to change Password were Hotmail (old). I am sure there is nothing wrong with Hotmail or IE7 but there is an issue of intigration of these two, not on all machines but some. I am sure I will be able to change my password once I sign in from any other computer.

Issue is what changed in IE7 on my machine which is restricting me to change my info? It was working alright when I last changed PW and after that I did not install any new program, only my anti virus keeps updating the definitions, I doubt if upgraded definitions has anything to do with this problem. By the way I tried to change the PW with antivirus not working, same results.

I think its the security certificates which has to do something in this. They are downloaded automattically from email sites and stored on the computer, and they allow or disallow you to do whatever you do in your email account. I will wait for MSN support to come up with a solution.

xmailer; It did not work in Firefox either. I cleared all cookies as suggested and then tried to change personal info but couldnt change anything.

Still waiting for response from MSN.

[theog]

switch to hotmail live.. it takes seconds... then it will work... then you can switch back... that also takes seconds. Easy "bootleg" fix.

[wam]

It didn't work... I switched to Live (Full version) but got same results. I even tried changing PW from another computer but couldnt do it.

[xmailer]

I had also tried switching versions in a futile attempt to access my options prior to the thread linked to above. Only using another browser did the trick for me, as had been reported by The storm. Sorry to hear that didn't work for you either. Although it wasn't actually my password I was attempting ro change at the time, but the "real name" associated with my account (since, unlike many other email services, Hotmail has never seemed to allow any name on outgoing mail other than the full name the account is registered to, and still doesn't AFAIK, just one of the service's numerous shortcomings IMO.) So, although I haven't yet tried it, until I do I guess I can't be sure I'd be able to do that with Firefox either. It's all a mystery to me, unfortunately.

[The Storm]

As mentioned by Xmailer, I was also having major problems changing my details in Hotmail. I kept getting the loop that you report. However I was only able to change any details by doing the following;
Clear cookies in all browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera)
Log in at www.passport.net (which is like MSN account central, if you like)
Change details from there

I forgot to mention on the other thread it was ONLY via www.passport.net I could change details in FIREFOX only. Using Firefox and trying to change details via Hotmail.com did NOT work.

Yes, hotmail is clearly broken, or just dodgy. Lucky I only use it for MSN Messenger!

[theog]

Originally Posted by The Storm

Yes, hotmail is clearly broken, or just dodgy. Lucky I only use it for MSN Messenger!

I think some people just have trouble... if it were "broken" then more people would have the problem. Seems to me that more people would report the issue.

Just like recent posts about hotmail, we often find out it is user error or a misunderstanding of how to do something in hotmail rather than an issue with hotmail itself. Hotmail is not the most logical email system in the world....

Or maybe it could be one server or a couple of servers (if that is possible)...

[wam]

The Storm; It didn't work. I deleted the cookies from IE7 and FF and tried to sign in from www.passport.net but strangely I couldnt even sign in my account from there. FF goes in the same loop, (waiting for live.login..., connected to live.login...., opening live.login... and again waiting for live.login...) I signed in from Hotmail page within FF. Tried to change Personal Info but couldn't reach the page.

I will have to wait for a response from MSN Support (to whom I have requested 3rd time now).

theog; I asked 7 friends who use hotmail to change their personal information... 3 informed they cant change it whereas 4 said they can change but they didn't as they didn't want to change. (Good for the 4).

theog I am using hotmail as my primary address since 1996 (untill recently I have switched) and I think 11 years is enough to understand a mailing client; atleast I should have learnt how to change password.

People dont report on Forums because many I know (using free emails) have switched to Gmail, others to paid ones.

[xmailer]

Originally Posted by theog

I think some people just have trouble... if it were "broken" then more people would have the problem. Seems to me that more people would report the issue.

It's obvious that "some people just have trouble." At least three of us at this forum. Exactly why "some people just have trouble" is what no one here seems to have the answer to.

As for your assumption that more people would report it, maybe like me, many people just don't consider it worth the bother, but just decide not to use it, writing it off as a "buggy" system, which it clearly seems to me it is. In fact, that's exactly what I did. I tried changing my details a number of times, going back many weeks at least, every once in awhile, but never bothered contacting their so-called support about it, since I really don't place that much importance on the account. For the same reason, I didn't bother mentioning the problems I had here until someone else here (The Storm) mentioned having similar problems.

But I suspect the overwhelming majority of Hotmail users, even among those using Hotmail on a regular basis, rarely have any reason to change their personal details, as I rarely do with any email service myself, and as I suspect is true of most others as well, so obviously they wouldn't have any way of knowng they might have a problem doing so until they had reason to try it. In fact, while wam's informal poll of seven users may not be a scientifically selected sample, I would imagine its random enough to suggest what may be the approximate percentage of the Hotmail user base which may have a similar issue were they to bother checking. If so, it appears to me that MSN has a rather serious issue to address with their email service.

Of course, it's also possible, if not likely, that many Hotmail users have never heard of these forums, and we have no way of knowing, AFAIK, how many of them may have reported the problem to the service itself but had their queries ignored, as has apparently been the case thus far for wam.

Just like recent posts about hotmail, we often find out it is user error or a misunderstanding of how to do something in hotmail rather than an issue with hotmail itself.

I don't know what/which recent posts you may be referring to, but, like wam, I've been using Hotmail and many other webmail services for years, and the changing of the Hotmail options/details is childishly simple, as it's always been. Simple for me as a beginner, when it was one of the first email services I'd ever used, as I continued to use it as my primary service for a year, and just as simple now. The only problem is that it now sometimes doesn't work for some of us, for thus far unknown reasons. Unknown to us, and obviously unknown to you as well. Blaming the users for a problem which is obviously related to an issue with hotmail which some of us experience is hardly useful in resolving the issue.

Hotmail is not the most logical email system in the world....

I'm not sure about "logical" but it's clearly not the most reliably functioning webmail I've ever used.

Or maybe it could be one server or a couple of servers (if that is possible)...

That's a far more plausible explanation than the suggestion that some of us who have been using webmail for years, some of us using features far more complex with other webmail systems than anything Hotmail has to offer, may not know how to do something as childishly simple as accessing or changing our options/details in Hotmail.

Edit: I might just add that the most fundamental answer to this problem, and all other issues with Hotmail, might well be summarized by the title of a now approximately 5-year-old thread, which declared that Hotmail sucks donkeys. Perhaps some things never change.

[theog]

Originally Posted by xmailer

Edit: I might just add that the most fundamental answer to this problem, and all other issues with Hotmail, might well be summarized by the title of a now approximately 5-year-old thread, which declared that Hotmail sucks donkeys. Perhaps some things never change.

I think that when people posts stuff such as this then it is no wonder they are having issues.... no surprises really.

All good though... hope you get hotmail working... works great for me and so far all the people I have on Microsofts live domains... they have reported everything works and the email system is fast....