XP and Hotmail

[Guest]

I've got an XP / Hotmail issue that Redmond has not a clue. If anyone could help, we would really appreciate the help.

As I explained to their direct online Support, our household is a 4 computer, stand alone (not networked) house. The OS's are (2) 98 SE, (1) Win 2k, and an XP Professional. We have 3 Hotmail addresses. On ONLY the XP machine, when Hotmail Sign In screen appears, and the ID and PW is entered it ALWAYS goes next to a screen that says "Sign in as a different user", followed by the ID I'd just typed. The other 3 machines (98, 2k) are not being accessed, and no one has left the Hotmail account "open" (not logged off). I use ALWAYS as intended, always, and ONLY as only. Then Redmond says "Contact your system administrator". Here are the configuration XP details Redmond requested:
Subject: CST168359764ID
BrowserVersion : IE v.6.0.2600.0000.xpdnt_qfe.021108-2107
OperatingSystem : Windows XP Professional (build 2600)
Comments : We are a 4 computer family, this problem (cannot login to ANY Hotmail address) happened only after installing the latest Hotfix's on XP. Our other
computers, 98se (2), and Win 2k, do not have this problem, login is routine. It seems the Hotfix has created a new problem. A final note, we've had these e-mail
addresses for years and check them daily (cap locks OFF). We have 2 other address that have the exact same problem: (e-mail address removed), and
(e-mail address removed). That is 3 e-mail addresses that do not work on just 1 computer (XP)

If you have a suggestion or two, our family would like to hear from you. You can use (e-mail address removed), the 98se and 2k machine work. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I've got an XP / Hotmail issue that Redmond has not a clue. If anyone
could help, we would really appreciate the help.

As I explained to their direct online Support, our household is a 4
computer, stand alone (not networked) house. The OS's are (2) 98 SE, (1)
Win 2k, and an XP Professional. We have 3 Hotmail addresses. On ONLY the
XP machine, when Hotmail Sign In screen appears, and the ID and PW is
entered it ALWAYS goes next to a screen that says "Sign in as a different
user", followed by the ID I'd just typed. The other 3 machines (98, 2k)
are not being accessed, and no one has left the Hotmail account "open"
(not logged off).

i've dealt with hotmail 'support'... the word, 'abysmal' immediately springs
to mind, they're a waste of good air. moving along...

seems like hotmail session cookies are not being set properly, have you
tried deleting the cookies, history and temporary internet files cache? (IE,
Tools menu, General tab, Delete Cookies, Delete Files, Clear History, OK,
restart IE) i've noticed that hotmail/IE won't allow you to have multiple
hotmail accounts simultaneously open in separate browsers, IF you check the
box that says, 'Sign me in automatically' on the .NET Passport Sign-In page.
for example, if you login to hotmail account A, then launch a new browser
and attempt to login to account B, you will either see the 'signin as
different user' as you've described OR the secondary IE browser will
immediately attach itself to the currently signed-in hotmail account, you
won't see a signin dialog at all. so the other thing to do, if emptying the
browser cache, cookies and history doesn't work, is to make sure that 'Sign
me in automatically' box is NOT checked when signing in to a hotmail account
AND you may need to clear the form/password data for IE (Tools, Content,
AutoComplete, Clear Forms, Clear Passwords, OK).

you might also want to try an alternate browser, at least for testing
purposes, to see if this issue is IE related. i recommend (and use myself)
either Mozilla Navigator or Firefox, you'll probably like Firefox better,
and both co-exist alongside IE without any problems whatsoever. you can
download Mozilla Firefox (free) from here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

it's a great browser, supports (intuitive) tabbed-browsing, built-in popup
blocker, granular control over cookies and content from 3rd party sites, and
much more... and is a *safer* alternative to IE, and good to have around
when IE is giving you trouble.

i've also seen this behaviour if messenger is running, signed-in to account
A for instance, and you then try to check hotmail account B or C. sometimes
you may not even be aware if messenger is running, as it tends to launch
itself at the most inopportune times, most notably when outlook express is
running, someone at M$ should be flogged for that. in any case, windows
messenger can be disabled/removed if need be, since it's a royal pain in the
arse, let me know if you need help with that. using task manager, check to
see that messenger (msmsgs.exe) is not running, and if it is, either kill
the process with task manager or launch windows messenger from the start
menu then kill it from the system tray by right-clicking on the messenger
icon and choose Exit.
--
francis

note, we've had these e-mail
addresses for years and check them daily (cap locks OFF). We have 2 other
address that have the exact same problem: (e-mail address removed), and
(e-mail address removed). That is 3 e-mail addresses that do not work on
just 1 computer (XP)

If you have a suggestion or two, our family would like to hear from you.
You can use (e-mail address removed), the 98se and 2k machine work. Thanks.

tip - do NOT post your e-mail addresses in a public forum, that's an open
invitation to get spammed in the future, spammers use 'bots' that
automatically datamine websites, usenet groups, et al for live e-mail
address, collect and sell them to 3rd parties for marketing/spamming
purposes. if you start getting tons of junk mail soon... you'll know why.

 

[PA Bear]

1. Check in at Windows Update (cf. KB831161).

2. IE Tools>Internet Options>Privacy>Edit> type in

hotmail.com
passport.net

and Allow All Cookies for each domain, in turn.
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

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