Like most people who can still access their hotmail account through OE I've
been having to go through the identity verification process periodically. To
do this I follow a link in an email that has been placed in my inbox by
"Hotmail staff". Unfortunately in today's staff email the link is broken and
I get the error message "Bad Request (Invalid URL)"

There has only been one thread about this problem in this newsgroup and the
OP said he could go through identity verification manually by going to the
Hotmail web page.

Can anyone tell me how to do this as I can't find a way to do it.
Does anyone know of a different solution or am I locked out of my Hotmail
account forever?

"Dave" <abc@wgertsyf.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eTsee.14830$YF5.4316@newsfe5-win.ntli.net...
http://www.msn.com/
Find the Hotmail link on the right near the top of the page, click and
log in. You will be taken to a page where you can click on Inbox. Good
luck

"Dave" <abc@wgertsyf.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eTsee.14830$YF5.4316@newsfe5-win.ntli.net...
You have to do a what now..? I've never ever ever had any such request from
hotmail?

James wrote:
Let me explain more. MS decided that they would no longer allow POP3 access
to hotmail accounts via OE. This is because you don't see any of their ads
if you use ME. At the last minute they decided that those who had been using
OE (like me) could continue to do so, but new accounts or those accounts
that had never used OE to view their Hotmail would not be permitted to do
so. So, in short, I can continue to use OE to get my Hotmail.

Now and again all the Hotmail (drafts, junk etc) folders apart from inbox,
become invisible in OE. In the inbox there is only one email and it's from
Hotmail Staff. It contains a link to a page where you have to enter a
sequence of letters in a graphic. It's supposed to stop 'bots' using
Hotmail. I didn't really mind doing this until today when the link is
broken. If I log onto Hotmail via Internet Explorer all I can see are empty
folders. My Hotmail has gone and I can't 'verify my identity' to get it back
cos the link to do that don't work :-(

WormWood wrote:
Thanks but I've done that. See my reply below to James

"Dave" <abc@wgertsyf.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ynvee.27767$p06.6476@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
Yes...that is how i collect my hotmail, via o.e. The oldest mail in my box
is from 2003.

Still never had to do that though...? Weird.

James wrote:
I hear that lots of people are having to verify their identity, some on a
daily basis. You're lucky. It might be a MS tactic to dissuade people from
using OE, I dunno. I've sent a message to MSN support but I'll probably get
an automated response to whatever their computer deduces is my problem,
directing me to some irrelevant FAQ