Outlook 2003 fails to access Hotmail

[Ohadi Langis]

Since about the first week in December 2006 I'm getting an error
message synchronizing folders between Outlook 2003 and Hotmail Plus.

The error message is "Outlook's request to the server failed" This
error is intermittent, but always occurs the first time Outlook is
loaded after the computer is turned on. Eventually, folders do
synchronize and I get my mail. The problem also occurs after several
hours of inactivity, e.g., not using Outlook or having it loaded but
minimized on the task bar.

A test using Outlook Express with the same Hotmail account does not
produce this error message showing that the problem is limited to
Outlook 2003 on the desktop. All the mail comes down to the desktop
using Outlook Express from Hotmail on the web without any error
messages.

The Hotmail Plus account is current. I don't find anything directly
relevant in the Microsoft KB. This installation of Outlook is not
connected to an Exchange Server. I don't get this error at work where
I am connected to an Exchange Server, but I do from time-to-time lose
my ability to access my Hotmail account with Outlook 2003.

Any ideas?

System info

Pentium 2.4 Ghz, 1 Gb memory, 80 Gb HD
Windows XP SP2
Symantec Personal Firewall 2006, Anti-virus 2005
Outlook 2003 SP2
Internet Explorer 7.0573

 

[Ohadi Langis]

Here's the answer. It took ten days and nearly as many emails with
Microsoft, but the culprit is - - - Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.
Quoting from Microsoft's support email . . .

"The problem you have described could be due to a lot of reasons. As
per our experience, it occurs if any of the following conditions are
true:

-The client computer that you use to try to log on is running Microsoft
Internet Explorer version 7.0.

-The HTTP server is using digest authentication.

To resolve this, please download and install the following file
available from the Microsoft Download Center. You can get this for
free by visiting:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FF-7BFE-4336-9E65-972ED21324C4&displaylang=en

I downloaded this patch and the problem of Outlook 2003 server
authentication with Hotmail went away.