Oops!
My apologies, Ron.
When I posted before I knew that you could no longer use Outlook
Express to access Hotmail but I was under the impression that you could still use Outlook. (Trying to find this sort of information is made difficult by the fact that there seem to be more out-of-date web pages, even from so-called 'reliable' sources, than there are ones with current information).
Having Googled a bit further, I now find that unless you pay $19.95 per year to upgrade to Hotmail Plus, you can't use Outllook to receive Hotmail:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3697286. stm
I've always hated Hotmail. I gave up on it many years ago because of its total lack of reliability. My recommendation would be to ditch it completely and stick with GMail and/or Gawb (which is what I use), both of which can be accessed through Outlook.
Apologies again for accidentally misleading you.
Chris