Outlook '07 vs Windows Live

[jacknjudy]

I am not very happy with Outlook - for one thing it's way more than I need
and I want to cancel it and just work with the Windows Live Hotmail account I
have. I am pretty uninformed about these things and I thought when I renewed
Windows Live it was an extension of Outlook. So I am paying for two different
systems, right? Anyway, I don't know how to cancel Outlook - do I just
uninstall or can I get anything back for not using it? Sorry, I'm not very
smart about these things. I hope you can help. Thanks

 

[N. Miller]

I am not very happy with Outlook - for one thing it's way more than I need
and I want to cancel it and just work with the Windows Live Hotmail account I
have. I am pretty uninformed about these things and I thought when I renewed
Windows Live it was an extension of Outlook. So I am paying for two different
systems, right? Anyway, I don't know how to cancel Outlook - do I just
uninstall or can I get anything back for not using it? Sorry, I'm not very
smart about these things. I hope you can help. Thanks

Windows Live Hotmail is an email service, with a paid option. Payment is a
recurring, annual subscription.

MS Outlook is a desktop email client, a component of MS Office, which is a
paid application. Payment is made one time, which the application is
purchased. After installation, it is yours to keep an no extra cost. But it
requires Outlook Connector to work with Windows Live Hotmail accounts. I
believe Connector is a free add on for Outlook. I don't use either, though,
so I can't offer any assistance with them.

If you don't want to use MS Outlook at all, you just uninstall it, and that
is all you have to do.

Windows Live Mail is a free desktop email client. You just download it, and
install it. It works with Windows Live Hotmail, but there is no cost for
WLM. It is not the same thing as the WL Hotmail service.

 

[VanguardLH]

I am not very happy with Outlook - for one thing it's way more than I need
and I want to cancel it and just work with the Windows Live Hotmail account I
have. I am pretty uninformed about these things and I thought when I renewed
Windows Live it was an extension of Outlook.

Windows Live is a slew of services that Microsoft provides. E-mail is
just one of them. Your bank has savings accounts, checking accounts,
CDs, loans, and other financial services.

Windows Live Hotmail is the e-mail service from the many that make up
Windows Live. Window Live Hotmail is where you open an account for
e-mail service. It's like opening a checking account at your bank which
is just one of their many services.

Outlook is an e-mail client used to connect to e-mail accounts. It's
like receiving those checks that let you use your checking account.
Windows Live Hotmail provides a webmail interface to your account.
Maybe that is what you meant by "just work with the Windows Live Hotmail
account". Why would you have bought an e-mail program if all you want
and everything you need was available in the webmail interface? I have
wants that no webmail interface will suffice but I have family that
always want to use only the webmail interface.

So I am paying for two different systems, right?

Well, did you pay for Outlook? That would've been a one-time purchase.

Did you pay Microsoft for the premium e-mail service at Hotmail (now
Windows Hotmail Live)? Or are you using a freebie account with them?

Anyway, I don't know how to cancel Outlook

You don't "cancel" Outlook. You can uninstall it. You can choose
merely not to use it hereafter.

do I just uninstall or can I get anything back for not using it?

You will have to ask whomever it was that you bought Outlook. Since you
opened the software package, and especially since you installed the
program, it is unlikely that they will issue a refund. It really isn't
their responsibility or liability that you didn't understand the
software that you chose to buy.

Sorry, I'm not very smart about these things. I hope you can help.

I can pretty much guess what will happen. You will eat the cost of
buying Outlook which you didn't need and stick with using the webmail
interface to Windows Live Hotmail.

 

[jacknjudy]

Clearly, I am on a learning curve - I guess someone told me about Outlook and
I bit - not realizing that it was way more than I needed. Later, I then
received a receipt by email that my MSN Live was renewed automatically to the
tune of about $60 which is what got my attention. I must have ordered it
thinking I was getting a supporting program that went along with Outlook.
You'll have to forgive me my misunderstanding all this (can't teach an old
dog-----etc.!) and I see now that I must be very careful what I am getting
into. As you say, I'll just have to eat the cost of Outlook. Thanks for your
input.

 

[jacknjudy]

Thank you for your help. As I told the other poster, I guess you can't teach
an old dog new tricks...I must be much more diligent from now on. :O)

 

[VanguardLH]

Clearly, I am on a learning curve - I guess someone told me about Outlook and
I bit - not realizing that it was way more than I needed. Later, I then
received a receipt by email that my MSN Live was renewed automatically to the
tune of about $60 which is what got my attention. I must have ordered it
thinking I was getting a supporting program that went along with Outlook.
You'll have to forgive me my misunderstanding all this (can't teach an old
dog-----etc.!) and I see now that I must be very careful what I am getting
into. As you say, I'll just have to eat the cost of Outlook. Thanks for your
input.

An e-mail service provider doesn't really care which e-mail client you
use to connect to them (assuming they aren't just a webmail-only
provider and they really do provide mail hosts to which you cannot an
e-mail client). You buy the e-mail service separate of any e-mail
program.

The e-mail program is a tool that you use to access any e-mail service
that provides hosts to which you can connect. The e-mail client doesn't
care which e-mail service you use, only that the service use protocols
that the e-mail program can understand.

The person who suggested to you to buy Outlook didn't know your needs
for e-mail, they didn't ask, or you didn't tell them and they guessed.
If you want to use a local e-mail client to locally manage your e-mails
with more features than any webmail interface will provide, you could've
just used the Outlook Express that comes with Windows (as part of the
Internet Explorer bundle except in IE7 which decoupled itself from OE).
Outlook gives you features far beyond just e-mail and was designed for a
corporate environment, not as a personal email-only client. For some,
the webmail interface is all they need and they don't want to learn how
to use a local e-mail client. Some folks want super simple and super
lean. Some want simple and lean. Some want a big fat hundred-use Swiss
Army knife.