Windows Essentials has been discontinued by Microsoft. This information is kept for archival purposes.
Windows Live Hotmail was Microsoft’s free web-based email service designed to be accessed over the web, from any machine on the Internet.
Windows Live Hotmail History
After Gmail, Hotmail was one of the most popular email services in the world. Back in 1997, when Microsoft bought it from the original creators, Hotmail offered something unique to most email mailboxes: independence from ISPs like America OnLine (AOL).
In 2005, Microsoft announced a new set of services designed to enhance the user experience in Windows. This new suite was called Windows Live, which you might recognize from products like the now open source Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Essentials. As part of this move, Microsoft planned to phase out Hotmail and replace it with a new mail system called Windows Live Mail. But testers and users complained about the change and how they preferred the Hotmail brand, Microsoft backed off and opted for Windows Live Hotmail instead.
The Windows Live brand was discontinued in 2012. Some of the services and products were integrated directly into the Windows operating system (for example, applications for Windows 8 and 10), while others were separated and continued on their own (for example, Windows Live Search became Bing), while others were simply removed.
Outlook is now the official name of Microsoft’s email service
Around the same time, Microsoft introduced Outlook.com, which was essentially a rebrand of Windows Live Hotmail with an updated user interface and improved features. Adding to the confusion, current users could keep their @hotmail.com email addresses, but new users could no longer create accounts with that domain. Instead, new users can only create @outlook.com addresses, even if both email addresses use the same email service. Therefore, Outlook is now the official name of Microsoft’s email service, previously known as Hotmail and Windows Live Hotmail.
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Editing the list of favorite contacts in Windows Live Hotmail
Here’s how you would have edited your list of favorite contacts in Windows Live Hotmail. And, dear reader, this is how you open, find and edit contacts in your Outlook address book.
When you start to compose a message, Windows Live Hotmail automatically displays a useful list of recipients from your address book (the Favorite Contacts ). You can direct your email to one of these recipients simply by clicking on their name.
To edit your list of favorite contacts in Hotmail Live Hotmail Classic:
- Select Contacts on the left navigation bar.
- Check the contact you want to add or remove from your favorite contacts.
- Click Edit .
- Mark or unmark Mark this contact as a favorite .
- Click Save .
