Email change and a great idea...

[Alexander White]

Hi People...

I want to change the registered email address I use for my .NET passport.
(The one people see when I speak with them using Messenger)

Currently the email address is (e-mail address removed) and I want to
change it to a non-hotmail address. (I know it can be done...i've seen it
done!)

I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen this question asked on
various newsgroups, but the answers have invariably been unhelpful and
wrong. You get no points for suggesting I click here, click there then
under my email address in the .net member services simply click 'i want to
change this'... coz that option isn't there.

So I gave up trying to change it and thought I'd start again and just sign
up for a new .net passport (using my new preferred email address). First
problem here is that I can't seem to close the existing passport, it's
telling me I have to email customer services??

But I can't sign up for a new .net passport (with my preferred email
address) anyway because on the registration form the email address bit is
already filled in with a @hotmail.com extension.

Why so difficult? Are you making it especially difficult on purpose or is it
a catastrophic wetware failure (again) ?

TIA for any help you might have...

Alex.

PS The great idea is this:
My contacts are split in to various groups. When I speak to family members
(in family group) I want them to see my name as 'Alex'.
When I speak to some of my online gaming buddies I want them to see me as
'<<busephalus>>'. It's simple really, just have a different display name
depending on which group you are in.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Alex,

The 'I want to change this' is only available if you're already signed up using a
non-Hotmail/MSN.com Passport.

For the record, just because a solution for an issue is "similar" to what you want, does not
mean that's the solution for your particular issue. This particular situation that you wish
to change isn't something that comes up often, and as such, you won't find the solution to it
(well without putting a few things together) directly here immediately. You do *not* need to
contact Passport services to do this. I'm not sure which newsgroups you're referring to, but
if they're any that I frequent, the answer would be there and correct.

Now that being said, here's how to get what you want. Firstly, you'll need to save your
contact list (it'll be deleted if you don't). Sign into Messenger using your current
Passport, click the File menu (or Contacts menu if you're using MSN Messenger 6) and then
select Save Contact List. The default filename should be fine, and just save it on your
Desktop. If you don't yet have a contact list, you can skip this. Go to the Desktop and
verify that the file was created. If you do have contacts, you may want to delete them off
your main contact list (after you've saved them), so that they can remove the old address off
their lists completely. To do so, just right-click each contact, and choose Delete.

Next, if you have your Passport saved in Windows XP, remove it by clicking the Start Button,
then click the Control Panel. Then, click User Accounts in the Control Panel. Select your
account name, and then on the left side of the screen, under Related Tasks, click 'Manage my
Network Passwords'. In the window that opens, click the Passport.Net\* (Passport) entry and
click 'Remove'.

Then go to http://register.passport.net. You should then be able to create a new Passport
based upon any address. After the registration is complete, sign-in to your new Passport in
Messenger (your new verification e-mail should be arriving shortly). Then, click the File
menu (or Contacts in MSN Messenger 6), then select Import Contacts from a Saved File, then
locate the file you just saved on your desktop and select it. Your contacts will be readded,
and they'll all need to add the new passport to their list.

A verification e-mail should arrive shortly after registration, you can then verify it and
you'll then be able to change your display name (after signing out and back in after
verification).

Nice idea, the problem is the currently implementation of the protocol wouldn't allow
something like that -- perhaps in the future it might.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com