Microsoft have now pulled the plug on Millions of online email accounts

Mark, one of our I.T. Engineers was working on a problem for a client who couldn't send email from Outlook 2003 through Hotmail. It transpired that Microsoft had changed the rules without telling anyone so millions of people can no longer use Outlook / Outlook Express to email their friends without first subscribing to a paid service.

Seems a bit unfair doesn't it.

Here is Marks email outlining what needs to be done to resolve the situation. Cheers Mark.

Hi Guys
I’ve recently had a problem with a user not being able to access their hotmail account through outlook or outlook express. The reason. Microsoft have now pulled the plug on 90% of the online accounts – UNLESS the user has paid the additional costs to allow this service.
Because I validated MY email address (which has been around for years and seems to get every service known to man). I managed to download the tool required to allow the connection between outlook and the hotmail servers.
Enjoy.

Outlook connector – The following is the link to the MS Outlook Connector setup
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7aad7e6a-931e-438a-950c-5e9ea66322d4&displaylang=en

IF you have a problem with the above and you know a thing or two about Linux commands. There is a third-party option.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hotpop3