How to Set Up Windows Live on Outlook Express

Learning how to set up Windows Live on Outlook Express can help to greatly simplify your online life. Having multiple e-mail accounts can get confusing, especially when you use certain accounts for certain correspondence (one for work, one for personal, etc). Being able to link these email accounts to each other can streamline the process of both receiving and sending emails, especially when you’re sending emails to different contacts from both accounts. You can achieve this simplification in a few easy steps simply by setting up your Windows Live or Hotmail account to coincide with your email account with Outlook Express... as long as you are able to navigate a few different screens on your computer.

While there might be slight variations depending on which version of Outlook Express you are using, this general guide should help you to get through the process quickly and easily in most cases:

1. Open your Outlook Express account to show your home screen in the email account.
2. Click on the “Tools” heading from the Outlook menu, which will bring up another small tools menu.
3. When the smaller tools menu pops up, click on the “Accounts” heading which will bring up another small drop down menu.
4. Click on “Add” and then “Mail”, which will bring up a screen that will ask you to enter some information. You’ll need your account information for your Windows Live email account at this point in order to continue. 

Filling in the Details

Knowing how to enter your information for your Windows Live account is an important part of learning how to set up Windows Live in Outlook Express:

1. When the screen pops up, you’ll be asked to enter your name in the “Display Name” field, where you’ll enter your name or the name that both accounts recognize.
2. Click “Next.” In the second screen, you’ll be asked to identify the account you wish to link to your Outlook Express account.
3. Enter your Windows Live email address in the “Email Address” field and again, click “Next.”
4. There will also be a heading that reads, “My incoming mail server is a _____ server.” In this instance you’ll click the “POP3 option and then enter “pop3.live.com” in the “incoming mail server” field.
5. In the outgoing mail server field, type “smtp.live.com”, and click the “Next” button. 
6. In the next screen, you’ll have to reenter your Windows Live email account information, including your password.
7. Once you’ve done this, click “Next”, and then “Finish”... but don’t think you’re done just yet.

Verification

The last step to learning how to set up Windows Live in Outlook Express is to make sure you've done everything right:

• Highlight the Windows Live account and click on the “properties” tab.
• In the “Servers” tab, go to the “Outgoing Mail Server” tab and be sure the “My server requires authentication” heading has a check mark by it.
• In the same menu, make sure that in the “Advanced” tab, the number 25 is entered in the “Outgoing Server” field and that “995” is entered in the “Incoming Server” field.
• Check the “My server requires a Secure Connection” tab if it isn’t already.

You can then click “OK” and “Close”, and your accounts will be linked together.