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Users of Microsoft's Hotmail email service weren't welcomed by holiday greetings from their friends this past weekend. In fact, they didn't get any messages at all. Recent reports state that many users of the service found their entire email history deleted without warning.



The deletions don't appear to be a few select cases. Instead, a significant number of Hotmail users complained of the issue on Microsoft's Windows Live support web forum. Those affected by the problem are reporting that their "Sent," "Deleted," and "Inbox" folders have been completely wiped out.

Entire Hotmail Accounts Reset

Many Hotmail users were shocked by the issue, noting that they've never seen anything like it before.

"I have [had] a Hotmail account since I remember myself on the web (1990's)," noted one user. "I logged into it on 31[st] December 2010 at around 06:30hrs. Got an error message and a 'new' hotmail account with a first system welcome message. All previous mails in the inbox are gone and all the folders created are also not there." (Source: pcmag.com)

Microsoft hasn't yet stated when a fix for this issue will be available, but say it's currently investigating the problem.

"At this point it appears to be a limited issue, and Microsoft is working with individual users who are impacted. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers," said Catherine Booker, a Microsoft spokesperson. (Source: afterdawn.com)

Message Recovery Uncertain

Some experts aren't certain this episode will have a happy ending. Microsoft Solution Center representatives have been keen to point out that message recovery is a difficult process, and doesn't always work out. At this point one can only speculate as to what may happen to all those erased messages, but it doesn't look good.

Under normal circumstances, entire Hotmail accounts are subject to deletion after 120 days of inactivity. Users who reactivate their account can get their email addresses back over the next 90 days, but the messages will have been permanently deleted. It's possible this recent episode is somehow related to a problem in that automated deletion process.

An estimated 360 million people own Hotmail accounts, making it the most popular web-based email service in the world. to hotmail

Just checked mine and its ok. Tats a fairly serious problem.

My account is still there. I wish it had been wiped as I never use it since going to gmail . The joy of having an email account without spam. The odd time I check the MSN account I have nothing in the inbox, but on aversge about 50 t0 60 junk emails. Boo for Microsoft.

Mine is safe as well. *Whew*

Not that I use it that much anyways. Gmail is my new and complete love <3

Posers.

I've been using Gmail since you had to be invited to the service, back before anyone could just create an account for it. :3

Kherr wrote:Posers.

I've been using Gmail since you had to be invited to the service, back before anyone could just create an account for it. :3

Just had to rub us all a little. HUH? HUH?

Kherr wrote:Posers.

I've been using Gmail since you had to be invited to the service, back before anyone could just create an account for it. :3

Same here. Gmail (Google) is my friend. I <3 them!

Microsoft Restores Lost Hotmail Accounts

For the past few days, Microsoft's Windows Live support forums have been lit up by complaints of frustrated users who recently encountered emptied email inboxes, sent, and deleted folders upon accessing their Hotmail accounts.



Microsoft on Sunday admitted many of its Hotmail accounts had been inexplicably wiped clean, and many experts speculated that the accounts were unlikely to be repair.

Microsoft has since announced that the majority of email accounts have been restored to normal working order, but user complaints continue to be filed online forums. (Source: eweek.com)

Contacts Spammed Even as List is Wiped

In some cases, the problem appears to have gone deeper than just vacated folders. One user complained that not only was her sent box wiped, but her contacts had all received spam advertisements for free iPods. (Source: toptechnews.com)

Server Load Balancing Blamed

According to eWeek, Microsoft claims the Hotmail outage affected roughly 17,355 users and that the issue was due to a load balancing problem between email servers.

"Beginning on December 30th we had an issue with Windows Live Hotmail that impacted 17,355 accounts," said Chris Jones, vice president of Windows Live engineering. Jones insists that the majority of emails have been restored as of January 2nd, and that the company was "very sorry for the inconvenience." (Source: eweek.com)

Microsoft encourages anyone still encountering problems with their hotmail account to request help via windowslivehelp.com.

well to bad about the hotmail accounts, as for google I hate the way they catalog everything you do but they provide such darn good services. they make it so easy to keep your life in sync. Think about it, your phone, medical records, calender, contacts, email, etc. are all synced in "The Cloud". This is the reason I both love them and hate them, lol it's a love-hate relationship.