Posts filed under: Hotmail

Sign in Hotmail. It’s not very complicated to sign in to Hotmail once you understand a little bit about exactly what it is and its history.

As with most websites, email services, etc., the actual Hotmail sign in process isn’t rocket science, but unlike those other sites, it has undergone so many name changes in the past 20 years or so that it all can get a little confusing. Is it still Hotmail? Well, what’s this Outlook thing then? And what the heck is a Microsoft account??

Sign in Hotmail

Sign in Hotmail

So, here’s the thing: they all pretty much mean the same thing these days. Hotmail was acquired by Microsoft in 1997, later becoming “Live” (short for Windows Live Hotmail), and ultimately being merged with MSN services, and the end result of all of this was the new Outlook.com which rolled out a few years ago.

That’s why, when you go to “Hotmail.com”, the URL will actually say “login.live.com”, and you might see the word “Outlook plastered all over the page while simultaneously being asked to sign in with your “Microsoft account”.

Now that we’ve taken care of that, let’s get on to the steps to follow to sign in Hotmail!

Steps to sign in to your Hotmail account

• The first step we’ve already covered. Go to Hotmail.com in your web browser, and when it redirects you to another domain that says Outlook and Microsoft account, etc., don’t worry because you’re in the right place to sign into your Hotmail account. Hotmail is, in fact, one of several different types of Microsoft accounts that you can use for associated services like OneDrive, Skype, Xbox Live, and many others.
• The second step is to enter your Hotmail email address into the first field. If you happen to have an email address ending in Outlook, MSN, Live, or any other incarnation of Microsoft, you can use that to sign in here too. It’s all the exact same service nowadays. But it is important to type the correct domain that was given to your email address when you first created the account.
• The third step is to type your password into the second field. Hopefully you haven’t lost track of it! Type carefully and double check whether your keyboard has caps lock enabled or not if you have any problems. You might be able to recover a lost password with your mobile phone or a backup email address if you provided that information to Microsoft.

Alternatively, you can request a single-use code to sign in to Hotmail, which will be sent to your mobile phone via SMS. This is a good option for library computers or cyber cafes where you can’t be certain that there aren’t key loggers on the PC you’re using.

The fourth step is to decide whether you want the computer (browser, really) to keep you signed in all the time. This is a convenient option if you’re the only one who uses the computer, but you’ll generally want to leave the “keep me signed in” box unchecked on any other computer.

Last step is to click on the “sign in” button. If your Hotmail login information was correct, you’ll be taken straight to your inbox!

References

• Support Microsoft.

Hotmail Account. Does Hotmail even still exist? Yes, it does! Although many people aren’t aware of it – you see, Microsoft has been cleverly rebranding and re-rebranding Hotmail ever since they bought it in the late 1990s.

These days, their official web email platform Outlook.com is what provides the Hotmail service, so you won’t necessarily see the word “Hotmail” blazoned all over the sign up page, but they are the same thing. As of this writing, you still have the option to choose an email address that ends in Hotmail.com instead of Outlook.com, although it’s not clear if this option will be phased out in the future.

So if you want to create a Hotmail account and ensure that your email address actually says “Hotmail”, it might be wise to get on that as soon as possible. Lucky for you, it’s a really easy sign up process that won’t take more than 5 minutes on the computer. You can even do it on the Outlook mobile app, if you prefer. Here are some instructions that you can follow to make sure you can sign up for a Hotmail account without running into any speedbumps or confusion.

Hotmail Account

Hotmail account

If you’re going to be signing up for Hotmail account on the computer, start by opening up your preferred web browser, and typing “Hotmail.com” into the address bar. Now, the website that you will be taken to will not say “Hotmail” in the URL, and it probably won’t have the word Hotmail anywhere on the page. That’s okay – remember what I said about re-rebranding? What you’ll most likely see is “Live.com” in the URL, “Outlook” as the name of the page, and “Microsoft” as the type of account. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place.

Click on the link to create a new account, which should be underneath the log in box. In the sign up form, type in all the necessary information, like your first and last name, birthday, country, etc. It’s also strongly recommended that you provide a mobile number or at least a backup/secondary email address. These can be used to add an extra layer of security to your Hotmail account and will also be helpful if you ever forget your password.

You’ll have to choose a unique email address for your new Microsoft/Hotmail account, meaning it can’t be an email address that anyone else is using. Now, this next step is very important if you want a real Hotmail account and not an Outlook one: find where it says “@outlook.com” after your chosen email handle, and click the little arrow to open up the menu of options. One of your choices should be “@hotmail.com” – find it and click on it to select.

Now all you have to do is pick a password to log in to your new Hotmail account in the future anytime you want to check your email, use OneDrive, Skype, etc.

Finally, prove that you’re a real human by entering the code you see into the box, agree to all the legalese, and click on “Create account” to finish setting up your new Hotmail account.

References

• Microsoft Answers

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