hotmail.com (hotmail.com)

Member Name: thole09

Product:	hotmail.com
Date:	26/09/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast sending and receiving of messages

Disadvantages: Some trouble with memory usage, Some navigation issues

Windows Live Hotmail, commonly shortened to "Hotmail", is a free e-mail service now owned and provided by Microsoft. First launched in July 1996, it was one of the first free e-mail providers available to the wider public. It has since grown to offer 5 GB of storage, security features such as inbound virus scanning and incorporation with Microsoft services such as Windows Live Messenger.

Before migrating elsewhere, I was an avid Hotmail user dating back to its early days. I have always found Hotmail to offer a fully functional service but recent visual changes have not been to my personal preferences. In recent days, Hotmail's engine has received an overhaul and the new design has left my computer struggling to cope. To illustrate the issue I have found that Hotmail requires 15 MB of additional memory when running as an independent tab in Mozilla Firefox. This is a faint but noticeable increase over the 9 MB RAM which my current web mail provider requires. For those with newer hardware, the memory difference is likely not something that would be noticed but could be painstakingly obvious on older machines with limited resources.

The default look of Hotmail offers a light blue against white background design with a lighter grey text. It seems that this lighter shade of grey for text is becoming the universal standard for websites but I am not sure why this is; I find it quite difficult to read. Navigation around Hotmail is generally easy with each section of the website clearly labeled on a menu held at the left hand side of the interface. The options section, however, leaves more be desired. For a user to change a password he or she must navigate through a series of three web pages before receiving the actual prompt. I find this extra clicking to be somewhat unnecessary when considering the critical aspect of keeping a password private and easily changed if necessary.

E-mail composition is easy and standard to the majority of other services. I also find messages to be sent and received at a very fast rate. These two features are fundamental to an e-mail service and Hotmail has always provided me with an excellent experience in these matters. Due to the noticeable strain the service now puts on my computer, however, I have migrated elsewhere. I would be able to recommend Hotmail to those with recent systems and to those requiring further access to Micrsoft's other features. Users with older systems should likely avoid Hotmail.

Summary: Thumbs in the middle