Outlook.com

[nosh]

So MS rolled out yet another email service: outlook.com

Digital Inspiration has compiled a "reasons to love it" list.
http://www.labnol.org/internet/gmail-vs-outlook/24531/

Some good features listed there, some not so much.

This bit (from the above mentioned article) got my attention...

Outlook makes it easy for you to recover your deleted messages even if you have permanently emptied your Trash bin. Open the “Deleted” folder in Outlook and click the link that says “recover deleted messages.”

- seems like a very good reason to not use the service for anything private if MS is going to hold onto my mail till it decides not to.

MS's reasoning:

With Microsoft Outlook, you can recover email that might have been accidently deleted from your inbox. This is also helpful if your account has been hacked, because hackers often delete all the messages in an account.

Hilarious! If a hacker gets into my account the last thing I want is for him to have the fxxxing ability to resurrect every last one of my deleted mails.  

However...

This feature doesn’t work for child accounts. This way, parents can be confident that when they delete messages from their children’s accounts, they stay deleted.

I have no clue how to create a child account but apparently, that's the way to go.

[Carol Haynes]

Actually while I see the security and privacy issues with recovering deleted emails there are a couple of good points to it too.

I have had a number of customers with hacked Hotmail (and Yahoo) accounts who have lost everything. OK they were stupid to rely on an online service as the only copy of their email but they would have killed for that feature.

At the end of the day privacy on any service is illusory - any provider can access all of your email. If they want to waste server space storing it for a while after deletion I can't really see it is a cause for too much concern.

[40hz]

At the end of the day privacy on any service is illusory - any provider can access all of your email. If they want to waste server space storing it for a while after deletion I can't really see it is a cause for too much concern.

And there's also message encryption for anything you're that worried about. You can get fancy with Gpg4win and Kleopatra, or just attach an encrypted text or other file to an innocuous cover letter if you don't do a lot of this. Freeware products like AxCrypt and dsCrypt are good for encrypting individual files. Both provide more than adequate security for normal personal uses.

[IainB]

Rather good comparison of Outlook.com features v. Gmail. Some good/useful point there: Ten Reasons to Love the New Outlook.com

[nosh]

Can't argue with the fact that some people would find it handy.

40, don't know how well encryption would work if the fact that I've been corresponding with someone, is in itself a giveaway (eg: talking to potential employers).

[Rover]

[mahesh2k]

Gmail is laggy on Firefox and also nagging a lot with ads and usability. I hope they don't do that to other browsers than IE.

I like the interface.

[attach]

[daddydave]

Found a couple of things out the hard way. If you sign up for this using a Windows Live account that uses a non-Microsoft email address, you don't get a new Microsoft email address you can send from, you'll have to send from your non-Microsoft email address within outlook.com. (I wouldn't recommend it, when I sent from my gmail address TO my gmail address from outlook.com, it gets flagged as a possibly not from me when I logged into Gmail to check it out.) You can create email aliases which are @outlook.com, but you can't send from them (at least in the above scenario). And the really important part, once you create an alias, you can't use that email address for a new account even if you delete the alias later.

One feature I just glanced at that hasn't gotten any hype yet to my knowledge is that you can have sub-accounts for kids.

[Carol Haynes]

AdBlock Plus works well with outlook.com

[daddydave]

AdBlock Plus works well with outlook.com

Do you mean because there are no ads adverts yet, or have you seen some that it is blocking?

[Carol Haynes]

Adblock plus blocks all ads in outlook.com on my system

There is an Ad bar down the right when adblock plus is disabled

(using Google Chrome)

[daddydave]

Adblock plus blocks all ads in outlook.com on my system

There is an Ad bar down the right when adblock plus is disabled

(using Google Chrome)

I have Adblock Plus as well (Firefox version), but I just tried going to the site in another browser and didn't see any ads there either. I guess they show up after you actually start using it, which I'm not yet.

[Carol Haynes]

Interesting - I get a block of Google-style text ads down the right margin of the screen. As soon as I activated AdBlock plus they disappeared.

Maybe it depends on your APB subscriptions (I use EasyList, Fanboy and "Recommended filters for Google Chrome"). I also have the Extension "Ad-blocker for Gmail™ 2.7" installed in Chrome.

Also just tried it in Firefox 14 with and without AdBlock Plus enabled (again using Fanboy and EasyList subs but it doesn't make any difference if unobtrusive ads are ticked or not in filter preferences):

Without ABP:



With ABP:

[wraith808]

Yes, you have ads when you're not in an e-mail thread (conversation).  When you have an e-mail open, there are no ads.

And isn't that the same link in the OP IanB?

[tomos]

I find the whole import/ send from another address confusing; e.g. it says I "can use Hotmail to send and receive email from other accounts. To get started, enter an email address". I mean, what's hotmail got to do with it...?

Normally if I create a web account, mail sent from that account uses that email address. It's not at all clear to me what's going to happen here, I presume if I import I will have the choice of using multiple addresses including the new outlook one (but I guess I'm wondering is this an online email client, or a web address, or both).*

BTW I have imported email from another account (gmail). My local email client now does not download the most recent mails, presumably cause outlook has marked them as downloaded - anyone know how to fix that? both are using pop3.


[edit] * when I dig a bit I see that it is both [edit]

[edit2] I removed the gmail account [edit2]

[Jibz]

Found a couple of things out the hard way. If you sign up for this using a Windows Live account that uses a non-Microsoft email address, you don't get a new Microsoft email address you can send from, you'll have to send from your non-Microsoft email address within outlook.com. (I wouldn't recommend it, when I sent from my gmail address TO my gmail address from outlook.com, it gets flagged as a possibly not from me when I logged into Gmail to check it out.) You can create email aliases which are @outlook.com, but you can't send from them (at least in the above scenario). And the really important part, once you create an alias, you can't use that email address for a new account even if you delete the alias later.

It appears I have maneuvered myself into the same corner .

You can choose to send from an alias by creating an e-mail and pressing the little down arrow next to your name on the left (aliases seem to appear after a while). Still doesn't give an obvious way to change an alias into the main address.

[daddydave]

You can choose to send from an alias by creating an e-mail and pressing the little down arrow next to your name on the left

Oh, I didn't see that, thanks! 

[daddydave]

The ads "feature" seems to have rolled out to me right before my eyes, that gray area was blank before. Time to re-enable ABP! Ads are pretty though, and showing local restaurants, so maybe I keep them for a while.

[IainB]

...And isn't that the same link in the OP IanB?

Oh yes, so it is. Coincidence. I had evidently been reading the same post as @nosh, but as he had put the hyperlink only (which I didn't look at anyway) and not the title, in my scan-reading haste I had not realised it was the same thing.

[IainB]

WARNING: Consider not using true Date of birth when setting up an Outlook.com account for a minor.
When I got a laptop for my daughter Lily (now 10 y/o), I tried to set up a Gmail account for her that used the simple format Firstname.lastname@Gmail.com, but that name pattern for her name had already been taken (was not available).

So when Outlook.com was announced, I hurriedly went in to see if I could set up an account for Lily that enabled her to use the format Firstname.lastname@Outlook.com. To my delight, it was available.
I was entering her details and when it came to "Date of birth", I unthinkingly put in her true DOB. When I went to set up her access to Live (MSM), SkyDrive etc., I then found myself trapped in a tight security-checking process where I had to ask my parent/guardian for proof of approval. So I signed on as myself to give it, but then the security process wanted to send a text key message to my phone and insisted that I accept a charge for it via Credit card/Paypal (part of which charge would go to a charity), and I had to use the text key as proof.
At which point I bailed out of the process in frustration, as I dislike being obliged to give out personal information (phone number and credit card details) to get something like this done and being obliged to accept a charge for it at the same time. Ruddy cheek!    

When I explained to Lily that I had what I had done and the hassle, she said:

"Oh yes. Dad, I avoid giving my real age when I am setting up an account for a game or anything, but if I do give it I also give my Gmail account as my guardian's email address, and approve it that way."

I went into her Outlook.com account and changed her DOB to an adult age (63). Let's see if that works...

[daddydave]

So I signed on as myself to give it, but then the security process wanted to send a text key message to my phone and insisted that I accept a charge for it via Credit card/Paypal (part of which charge would go to a charity),

Oh, wow, that's nutz..

[daddydave]

I then found myself trapped in a tight security-checking process where I had to ask my parent/guardian for proof of approval.

It doesn't sound like it would matter, but I'm curious: did you do your daughter's email address as a whole new account or as a "child" account (both literally and figuratively -- see screenshot)

[IainB]

I did it as a completely separate, new account. I wanted the address to be "hers", discrete and not owned under an umbrella account (mine). Otherwise, I foresaw potential difficulties in later getting her email address converted from a child account of mine to a discrete account n her name. I didn't want to lose the opportunity to get the Firstname.Lastname pattern secured for her.

[IainB]

Potentially useful post from Office.com - Outlook blog: (click on link to view)
Upgrade from Hotmail to Outlook.com

[Jibz]

It appears I have maneuvered myself into the same corner .

Looks like I managed to change it.

My problem was my primary address was an external one, and I had created an alias with the name I ended up wanting to change to my primary. It turns out, that as long as the alias is on the same account, you can delete the alias and then change your primary address to it, and it will work (with some caveats, like if you already changed it once this year you may not be able to again, and you can only have up to 5 aliases).

I don't think deleting an alias makes it available to other accounts though, at least not for a certain period, so you cannot create a new account using an address you had as an alias.

The 5 alias limit per year (think it said 15 in total somewhere) is worth noting, since you may hold back a couple in case you want a localized outlook address when/if they become available. Also, it means they are not quite as "disposable" as that article suggested.

Btw, the settings pages for managing this stuff are quite horrible.