I, too, began receiving this error message this weekend. However, I do not
use Hotmail and never have.
I use an MSN account with HTTP as the default. My Outlook 2002 uses ".pst".
Is a "POP3" account setup warranted if I don't use Hotmail? If not, how
else can I work through this error message in order to obtain a week's worth
of missed e-mails?
I know of this change because I am a Hotmail user who was affected by the
change, and who received the notices. My accounts are in the 'hotmail.com',
'live.com', and 'msn.com' domain. All accessed using something identified in
both MS Outlook Express, and Windows Live Mail, as "HTTPMail" accounts.
This "HTTPMail" protocol used to use something called, "WebDAV", which has
been replaced by "DeltaSync". It affects not just Hotmail. A relative with
an MSN account, and email in the 'msn.com' domain, also received notice. She
was using an older version of the MSN Explorer software, and told that she
needed to upgrade it to the 9.6 version to continue to access her MSN
account as she normally did.
Since you are using Outlook 2002, your only option, to continue with use of
Outlook, is to set up your MSN account using POP3. The software which can
directly access MSN/Windows Live email accounts is: MS Outlook 2003/2007
with the Office Outlook Connector, Windows Live Mail, MSN Explorer 9.6, or
later. All other versions, of all other software, which used use "HTTPMail"
for access no longer can use it; must use POP3 instead.
A word of caution: POP3 is not a "synchronizing" protocol, it is a "download
only" protocol. You will not be able to synchronize all of your account
folders, as you did in the past, using POP3. And many email clients which
can use POP3 automatically delete email from the server once it is
downloaded. If you are used to having your email available on the server at
all times, you will have to learn how to configure your software (Outlook
2002 in your specific case) to leave a copy of the messages on the server.
All the clients I have used (MS Outlook Express included) allow you to
configure this before accessing the account; Outlook 2002 should be similar
in that regard.