$19.95 for Hotmail??

Please post detailed "back-up" instructions for the rest of the membership.

you'd be tempted to think that the MAELSTROM of spam you get with a hotmail account is encouraged by M$ just to get you to sign up for the enhanced, fee paying account...

I remember the days of hotmail before Micro$oft.... oh yes, yet another thing that was NOT M$'s creation that they took over..... And it was far better then....

I am not the biggest fan of MS to begin with. When they started this latest scam to con people out of their $20.00, my opinion of the company descended further. Granted the cost of hosting terabytes of data is costly, but they get tremendous ad revenue and corporate bragging rights from the hotmail site due to the ubiquitous nature of this behemoth. I don't have a problem with a company trying to make a buck, but don't con the uneducated computer users please. Mention the $19.95 yearly option once or twice, then drop it.

Backing up your Hotmail account in Outlook Express

In Outlook Express go to Tools -> Accounts...
Then click Add -> Mail...
Enter your display name -> Next
Enter your hotmail address -> Next -> Next again
Then enter your password if you want it to automatically check your mail when you start outlook else it will prompt you for your hotmail password everytime -> Next -> Finish
Allow it download all your folders.
Once its done click on the Syncronize account button, then it will download all your emails on to your computer. Viola:grinthumb
From then on I would either check my account with outlook or whenever your get an important email you need to keep just click on the syncronize account button and it will download any new emails.