MSN Explorer – Security Enhancements

July 15, 2013 7 Comments

Summary:

  • Security Enhancements to MSN Explorer will start to roll-out at the end of July 2013.
  • Changes will require (1) Password input/verification upon every access/sign-in; (2) Minimum operating system (XPSp3 or later); Minimum version of MSN Explorer (10.5 or later)

Notification:

Dear MSN Member

Security enhancements are coming to your MSN Explorer sign-in experience which will require that:

  1. You must enter your password on every sign-in. Make sure you know your password.
  2. You are using the latest version of MSN Explorer which is version 10.50:
    • You must upgrade to the latest MSN Explorer version. The latest versions start with 10.50. Verify that you are running MSN 10.5 by doing the following:
      1. Launch MSN Explorer
      2. Click Help & Settings
      3. Click on About MSN
      4. If the version shown starts with 10.50, then you are running the latest version.
    • See the FAQ for instructions on upgrading if you are not on the current version.
  3. You must verify you are running a supported operating system version:
    • Click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Open box, type winver.exe, and then click OK. The version number is displayed in the About Windows box.

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8:

    • Your operating system is supported.

If you are running Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 2:

    • You must upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3. Follow the directions on this site.

If you are running Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows 2000:

    • These operating systems are no longer supported by MSN Explorer.
    • For information on alternatives and saving your information please refer to the FAQ.

The update will start rolling out at the end of July. We appreciate your patience as we work to keep your online experience as safe as possible. If you have questions on these changes you can refer to the FAQ or contact MSN Product Support at 1-800-386-5550.

Sincerely,
Your MSN Explorer Team

Comments:

  • MSN Explorer Sign-in Changes FAQ’s – https://membercenter.msn.com/SignupChangeFAQ.aspx
  • MSN Explorer Versions prior to 10.5 will no longer work
  • Windows XP Sp3, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 will be the only supported operating systems
  • Enhanced ant-phishing capabilities will be deployed by adding McAfee® SiteAdvisor® technology to MSN Explorer

Revisions:

July 15, 2013: Original Draft and Original Publish Date

Filed under MSN Tagged with , , ,

MSN Phasing out Chat and E-mail Support For Subscription Plans

March 22, 2012 2 Comments

 

Summary:

Effective April 30, 2012 MSN will phase out support via Chat and e-mail for MSN subscription (fee-based) customers

 

Subscriber Notification:

  • Email notice of March 19, 2012

MSN_SupportEnd_00

Current Options Impacted:

MSN_SupportEnd_01    MSN_SupportEnd_02

 

Comments:

  • Support can be obtained now and in the future in the MSN Solution Center – http://answers.msn.com  MSN_SupportAnswersMsnCom_01
  • This change impacts MSN Subscribers (fee based) using MSN Dial-Up or Premium Internet Software Plans
  • The Chat and E-Mail Support options at https://support.msn.com will no longer be available
  • The notification does not mention removal of ‘Customer Service Phone Support’ which is expected to remain available for billing, cancellation etc. purposes

Revisions:
March 19, 2012: Original Draft Date
March 22, 2012: Original Publish Date

Filed under MSN Tagged with , , , , ,

Windows Live Hotmail – Email Forwarding

December 8, 2010 1 Comment

Summary:

  • Windows Live Hotmail now provides the ability to forward messages from a Hotmail type account to one other email address
  • Forwarding is possible to another Hotmail type account(email address) or a third party email address
  • Hotmail type accounts are of the form Hotmail.com, Live.com, Msn.com etc.(This also includes other country specific derivatives of the same domain(e.g. Hotmail.nl, Live.de, Msn.uk.co)
  • Forwarding is capable from Hotmail, Hotmail Plus, and MSN Premium(primary and subaccounts)
  • Hotmail account holders now have the option to retain a copy of forwarded messages in the Hotmail account’s inbox
    Reference:

1. Windows Live Solution Center – Sending and Receiving Mail

  Thread Title: ‘forwarding my emails from my hotmail account to another email’

2. ‘Live Views’ – by vasudev Windows Live MVP

  Post Title: ‘Forward messages in the New Hotmail to any mail account now available to all – Restrictions removed’

 

Instructions:

  •   1. Sign-in to http://mail.live.com to access your account.
  •   2. In the upper-right corner of the Windows Live Hotmail home page click Options, then More options on the drop down menu.

W4_HM_FwdMoreOptions

  •   3. Under ‘Managing your account’, click ‘Email Forwarding’ to access the forwarding options to add another e-mail account.  One can forward mail to **one** other email account.

W4_HM_FwdManageAcctOptions

  •   4. Click the radio option ‘Forward your mail to another email account’
  •   5. Enter the email address where messages should be forwarded in the dialog box titled ‘Where do your want your messages to be sent?
  •   6. To retain a copy of forwarded messages in your Hotmail Inbox check the item ‘Keep a copy of forwarded messages in your Windows Live Hotmail inbox’.
  •   7. Click Save

W4_HM_FwdAddEmailAcct

 

Comments:

  • This feature (Hotmail Forwarding) did not receive much publicity from Microsoft or the Windows Live Team. Quite a few internet search engines continue to primarily yield articles stating a Hotmail Plus account is required which (as the July 2010) is no longer correct.
  • Support for Windows Live Hotmail can be obtained  in the Windows Live Solution Center
  • Questions regarding Hotmail ‘Forwarding’ should be posted in the Sending and Receiving Mail Forum

 

Revisions:

Aug 15, 2010: Draft Version  – which sat in abnormal obscurity in the ‘assumption laboratory’ for too long 😦

Dec 8, 2010 : Original Publish Date  ( Enjoy! <vbg> )

Filed under Windows Live Hotmail Tagged with , , , , , ,

Windows Live to Discontinue My.Live.com

January 29, 2010

Summary:

Effective March 15, 2010 the Windows Live Platform will discontinue use of and access to My.Live.com

Users of My.Live.com will be temporarily redirected to My MSN (http://my.msn.com) eventually the redirect will fail yielding a ‘Page Not Found’ or ‘Cannot Display’ error (editor note Jan 2011 – redirect now fails)

Settings, Feeds, Gadgets/Modules will ***not*** be migrated to My MSN

Reference:

While still available to see the notification use your browser to navigate to http://my.live.com

Here’s the same notice in text form

<qp>

Thank you for using My.live.com. On March 15, 2010, My.live.com will be discontinued and all users redirected to My MSN. Please note that your settings, feeds and gadgets will not be migrated to MyMSN. To make MyMSN your homepage today, click here.

</qp>

Comments:

The most noticeable differences will be:

1. Advertisements – MyMSN has ‘ads’,  unlike My.Live.com which does/did not
– An MSN Premium primary member account or member sub-account(created by the primary) is capable of an ad free MyMSN page

2. Different MyMSN modules(text and graphic) are available for customizing the page
– Modules on My.Live.com were referred to as ‘Gadgets’

3. RSS Feeds Modules always show the first feed line item entry with contents expanded(thanks to LarryB. for pointing this out)

4. One can have up to five pages on My MSN (My.Live.com permitted many more – as a test I added 15)

5. Some common and different navigational links at the top of the page (see below graphics)

–  i.e. Links to Hotmail and MSN remain;  though Home(home.live.com) are removed

    • My Live Links:

  • MY MSN Links:

Revisions:

January 26, 2010: Original Publish Date

January 28, 2010: Updated Comments section(Module vs Gadgets, Feeds, and Maximum pages allowed)

January 29, 2010: Excluded Hotmail Plus account and replaced with Msn Premium primary or secondary account(s) as a requirement for an ad-free page

January 15, 2011: Updated to reflect failure of redirection from my.live.com

January 29, 2012:  Removed defunct Tags, Added new Tags

Filed under Windows Live Tagged with , , , ,

Changes for Accessing Hotmail using the WebDAV Protocol

January 14, 2010

Summary:

The WebDAV protocol will no longer be supported effective September 1, 2009   (Revised Jan. 2010 – See Revision section below)

On June 2, 2009 Microsoft announced changes impacting one of the methods to access Hotmail type accounts(Hotmail.com, Msn.com, Live.com) using ‘http’ servers/settings when using a local email client(e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage).

Note: Accessing a Hotmail account in a browser(Internet Explorer) is not impacted by this change.

Only two remaining protocols DeltaSync and Pop3 will be available for accessing Hotmail type accounts(Hotmail.com, Live.com and Msn.com) in a local installed email client. IMAP is not an available option.

  • DeltaSync uses a unique http server and will be the only http method available
  • Pop3 an internet standard protocol uses the Live.com Servers (effective Feb 2009 all Hotmail accounts are capable of Pop3 access)

Windows Live Mail, the Outlook Connector(Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010) and MSN Explorer(9.6 or greater) are the only applications that support DeltaSync for Hotmail type accounts

Windows Live Mail, Outlook 2002/2003/2007/2010, Vista’s Windows Mail, Outlook Express and other third party email clients including the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Entourage all support Pop3 access 

More Information on WebDAV retirement:

The text of the full notice explaining additional details and options are available on the Windows Live Team and Hotmail Team blog

Note: For accurate Pop3 configuration settings see the link below (Hotmail Accounts Pop3/Smtp Access Configuration)

What to do before Sept 1, 2009:

Option 1 –  HTTP/DeltaSync Access:

  • Install Windows Live Mail(WLM) in XP, Vista or Windows 7 to use the DeltaSync server or
  • Install the Outlook Connector(OLC) in Outlook 2003/2007/2010 to use the DeltaSync server or
  • Install or upgrade to MSN 9.6 or later only if an MSN Premier customer and also preferring to use the provided MSN Explorer software

Option 2 – POP3 Access:

  • Configure Windows Live Mail, Outlook 2002/2003/2007/2010, Vista’s Windows Mail, Outlook Express, or another third party email client for Pop3

Hotmail Accounts POP3/SMTP Access Configuration

Note:

  • Backup any important messages to user created folders in your email client or copy to a Windows Explorer folder. Protect your data!!!!
  • Option (1) above will retain the same synchronization that WebDAV provided with the Hotmail web interface permitting the web folders and messages to be mirrored locally(in WLM, the OLC, or MSN 9.6) and synchronized with the web interface(http://mail.live.com or http://hotmail.com) and available in both locations(local and web)
  • Option (2) will not provide synchronization with the web interface(i.e. No mirrored folders or messages)
  • Option (2) by design normally in most email clients will remove downloaded messages from the web server Inbox and place a copy in the Hotmail web interface’s Deleted folder (in a subfolder called POP) and retained until the POP option in the Hotmail web UI is configured to delete them thereby honoring your local client’s setting to ‘Not leave messages on the server’. To leave a message your Hotmail web UI Inbox ensure that your Pop3 email client is configured to leave messages on the server and configure the POP option in the Hotmail web UI to ‘ Do what my other program says’.

What will happen if still using WebDAV on Sept 1, 2009:

  • Access to new email in your Hotmail Inbox and other folders will cease
  • Attempting to synchronize with a non existent WebDAV server may or may not result in an inability to access any messages in your email client’s prior configured WebDAV Hotmail account and folders(no server, no download).

Http Servers Impacted that use the WebDAV protocol:

  • Two primary servers have been in use with Outlook Express and Outlook for Hotmail.com, and Msn.com accounts when configured for sending/retrieving via the ‘to be discontinued’ WebDAV protocol
Account Type/Domain Server Name
MSN.COM http://oe.msn.msnmail.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmdata
HOTMAIL.COM http://services.msn.com/svcs/hotmail/httpmail.asp
  • Neither of above two(2) servers support the new DeltaSync protocol and both will cease to function

Known Email Client Software Impacted:

  • Outlook Express and Outlook 2002 using WebDAV (neither support the newer DeltaSync protocol)
  • Outlook 2003/2007 when using the WebDAV protocol without the Outlook Connector

Known Email Client Software/Method Not Impacted:

  • Windows Live Mail using DeltaSync
  • Windows Live Mail(WLM) using the WebDAV servers for Hotmail accounts(migrated, imported, or previously setup). This ‘safety-net’ only exists since a WLM sync will override the WebDAV http server setting and use the necessary DeltaSync http server (If this situation is present, it is recommended to reconfigure the server for DeltaSync)
  • Windows Live Mail, Outlook 2002/2003/2007/2010, Vista Windows Mail, Outlook Express or other third party email client when using Pop3 settings
  • Hotmail Web Interface (Live ID Login required)
  • MSN Explorer 9.6 or greater (DeltaSync compliant)
  • Outlook 2003/2007/2010 when using the current Outlook Connector
    • The Outlook Connector latest version is available on the Microsoft Download site.

Accounts Not Impacted:

1.Subscription/Fee-Based Accounts:

Revisions:

April 18, 2008:  Original Published Date

April 27, 2008:  Added Sections on Known Email Clients(Impacted, Not Impacted),  Undetermined, and Accounts Not Impacted(item#2)

May 1, 2008:  Revised Section on Known Email Client Software/Method Not Impacted  for Outlook 2003/2007 when using the Outlook Connector

May 5, 2008:  WebDAV Disabling Delayed(see Windows Live Hotmail Technical Support Blog: Responding to Customer Feedback – Disabling DAV )

July 21, 2009: Updated Summary, More Info(recent notices), What ‘If’ scenarios, and corresponding links.

Oct 31, 2009: Updated to clarify that browser access(Internet Explorer) is not impacted by WebDAV deprecation

Jan 14. 2010:  Added item specifying Windows Live Mail ability to override existing WebDAV server setting and use DeltaSync server

Jan 29, 2012:  Updated to reflect Hotmail web UI (user interface) POP folder functionality; Updated download Links for the Outlook Hotmail Connector; Added Tags

Filed under Windows Live Hotmail Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MSN 10 Information

November 30, 2009

Summary:

  • Information about MSN version(10.0) was posted on November 24, 2009 in the Microsoft Public Newsgroup – Microsoft.Public.Msn.Discussion (see  ‘More Information’ section below)
  • MSN software was formerly referred to as MSN Explorer

  

Reference:

<qp>Greetings,
MSN Explorer Version 10 (MSN 10) has been released for MSN retail customers in the United States.  International and partner versions are still in the development process. If you are currently running MSN 9.6, then you will be automatically updated to MSN 10 within the upcoming weeks.  For new installs, please go to http://membercenter.msn.com and click the Download Now link. MSN 10 runs on the following versions of Windows – 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP (32 bit only), Vista (32 bit /64 bit) and Windows 7 (32 bit/64 bit).

New features in MSN 10:
– Integrated e-mail spell checker for XP, Vista and Windows 7.
– Quick Web Access (QWA) allows you to surf the web while MSN 10 completes the sign-in process.  For new installs, QWA is enabled by default.  Customers who receive MSN 10 through the auto-update process will not have this enabled by default.  QWA can be easily enabled/disabled from the sign in screen.
– New video player for the dashboard.  Add the player by clicking the username at the top of the dashboard and choosing Video.  This option is not enabled by default.
– The search buttons have been updated to Bing.

Items that have been removed or changed:
– The “Encarta” button has been changed to “Reference” and includes a dictionary, thesaurus and translations.
– The calendar task list has been removed from the dashboard since it was part of  the former MSN Calendar service.
– Search box on the dashboard has been moved to a fixed position at the top of the dashboard.
– Messenger is no longer a requirement for signing into MSN Explorer.  If Messenger is installed, MSN Explorer will work with it in the same manner as before and show your contacts and their online status.

Notable bug fixes:
– The main cause for ‘Error 235’ while installing/uninstalling has been addressed. Note: this error code may still display if a firewall or anti-virus is preventing MSN Explorer from accessing the internet.
– New windows not displaying the navigation bar has been fixed
– Unable to download certain file types such as .csv or .pdf has been fixed
Behind the scenes changes:
Previously, in order to add or remove features from the dashboard or navigation bar it was necessary to release an entirely new version of MSN Explorer.  With MSN 10, we now have the ability to update the dashboard and
the navigation bar  without requiring a full update of MSN Explorer.  Now that we have enabled this functionality, you can expect additional new features to be delivered to MSN 10 over the next year.
Thank you,
Berit Benson
Community Leader, MSN Internet Access/MSN Explorer

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.</qp>

 

More Information:

 

Known Issues:

  • Unable to delete Dashboard Bing History (by design last 5 items are retained).  See the following link for discussion on a work-around and a beta tool currently being evaluated.  ->   ‘ How to delete dashboard Bing history ‘
  • Partner Versions(e.g. Qwest) [at the time of this publication] are not available for download or distribution and still in the development process.

 

 Revisions:

 Nov 28, 2009:  Original Draft Date

Nov 30, 2009:  Original Publish Date

Jan 15, 2010:   Updated for Known Issues, embedded Hyperlinks, and Tags

Dec 31, 2010:  Updated ‘More Information’ section to search MSN content on Google Groups

 

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, How-To, Help, MSN Explorer, accounts, Windows Live

Filed under MSN Tagged with , , ,