Microsoft revamps Hotmail

New homepage offers MSN services

One of the world's most popular web-based e-mail services, Hotmail, has had a facelift.

Microsoft introduced the changes, which include a new interface and improved e-mail filtering, late on Wednesday after some initial technical glitches.

The revamp ties Hotmail much closer in with Microsoft's MSN service.

It is in line with the software giant's .NET vision of offering users everything they need from the internet in one all-inclusive web service from any location and on any device.

New homepage

When they log on, Hotmail users will see a new, predominantly blue, homepage.

Click here to read a selection of your comments about the new Hotmail.

MSN is applying knowledge we've gained... to offer consumers a better way to handle their e-mail and protect themselves from spam

Hotmail's Rick Holzli

Among the cosmetic changes are the replacement of Hotmail's buttons and icons with tabs in the style of MSN explorer, Microsoft's web client software that combines the company's various internet products into one service.

On logging on, the homepage promotes services on MSN, rather than a list of your e-mails.

A message summary box on the left shows whether there are any new messages in your inbox.

Fighting spam

Microsoft says the new service will provide better protection from junk mail.

"MSN is applying knowledge we've gained as the provider of the world's largest e-mail service to offer consumers a better way to handle their e-mail and protect themselves from spam," said Rick Holzli, director for MSN Hotmail.

With the upgrade, Hotmail has simplified the options to stop junk mail, allowing users to choose four levels of anti-spam filtering.

It has also added dictionary, thesaurus, spell checker, and the Rich Text editing tools in the Tools menu on the Compose page.

The upgrade adds Swedish and Dutch language options, in addition to the current 10 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese and Spanish.

Microsoft says Hotmail is the world's most popular web-based e-mail service, claiming it has more than 110 million active accounts.