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Introducing Windows Live Solution Center

Dec. 16, 2008 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about how people can provide feedback about Windows Live to Microsoft. Today, the company finally revealed a formal process for this:

The Hotmail team really values your feedback and experience when using our products. We currently get feedback from many different places, including usability studies on new feature designs, surveys of existing Hotmail customers like you, the Hotmail feedback link, our support team, and other sources. We use these many sources to prioritize which new features to add, how to make Hotmail easier to use, and to identify problems that we need to fix quickly because they block you from using Hotmail.

While our blog posts give us a good way to communicate new features that we add to the product, a blog is not a complete solution. We want to have two-way communication with our customers and decrease the time that it takes to solve problems that users are having with their accounts.

We are proud to announce a new and better way to interact: Windows Live Solution Center!

What can you do on this new website?

  1. Get fast answers to common questions, such as “How can I stop receiving spam?”
  2. Get up-to-date status reports about Hotmail service issues or outages
  3. Work to resolve issues you’re having with Hotmail 
  4. Talk with other Hotmail users about issues you’re having, or exchange tips and tricks

Hotmail support staff may be contributing to, moderating, and monitoring the site. The Windows Live Solution Center at www.windowslivehelp.com is the best place to go to report a problem with Hotmail or get help with your account.

The Windows Live Solution Center is just for Hotmail right now, but other Windows Live services will be part of the site in the future.

We look forward to talking with you more on the www.windowslivehelp.com site!

- Windows Live Hotmail team

Discuss this Article 29

rlcronin
on Dec 16, 2008
This seems focused only on Hotmail. Where do I go if I have an issue with some other component of Windows Live (for example, Windows Live Sync, which forgets my login info when it tries to log me in too quickly after I resume my PC from sleep).
rjohn05
on Dec 16, 2008
Just hotmail. I guess if you're a hotmail user this is good news. But I still think they need a way (fast) to communicate about the other services. Such as why I can't remove hotmail and msn news from my home page. At least google lets me put on my iGoogle page whatever I want.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
How about a schedule for when linked billing accounts tied to a Windows Live ID to be allowed to have the country changed. This is still an ongoing problem.
mdsharpe
on Dec 16, 2008
I'd be all over this service, to get a solution to my Windows Mobile Messenger woes. Alas it is for Hotmail only.
RobertC
on Dec 16, 2008
It would be nice if Microsoft was able to add a wider variety of themes to the Hotmail service. As it currently stands, I don't particularly like the standard suite of themes as none of them seem appropriate for males with their wild colours and floral emblems. Maybe girls use hotmail more?
lotsamystuff
on Dec 16, 2008
"Maybe girls use hotmail more?" ...and even some women.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
Some real beauty IE7 exploits happening recently. It's nice to see that most of them are in China. Good thing I block Chinese and Russian TLD's along with .biz and .info here's a taste: http://210.51.174.28 . . . . . . . . . . (warning: you didn't actually click that now did ya?)
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
I was right all along: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2320
Dipsh t Admin
on Dec 16, 2008
Wae, don't post malware links here. I thought that would be obvious, but apparently I was wrong.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
@dipsh!t: ....and yet people click on Google links every day. Even Paul had Google ads running here which linked to malware sites.
gorath
on Dec 16, 2008
Wow, Wae really is as much of a f*cktard as I imagined he was. I really didn't think anybody would reach that status, I mean, i've got a REALLY vivid imagination.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
"Wae really is as much of a f*cktard as I imagined he was." If you're as naive enough to click on a non-descript link, just as many unsuspecting users click on Google ad links, then you fail at IT, and you learned a valuable lesson the hard way. Otherwise, continue on about your business.
tayme
on Dec 16, 2008
I agree that there should not be links to malware sites posted here. But, on the other hand, how many readers of this and other boards click on tinyurl links all the time, not having any idea where it may lead? --tayme
Dipsh t Admin
on Dec 16, 2008
The thing is, we are all at least somewhat trusted, in that we have made posts over a period of time. That raises your level of trust, and posting a malware link is just plain irresponsible. I'm not really worrying about anyone that normally leaves comments, but what about the non-IT person? They may come to this site either because they always do or by chance. Either way, it's not the IT way. Helper cat is supposed to use his powers for good, not evil.
GRiNSER
on Dec 16, 2008
WHY OH WHY do all the Windows Live Services websites have different inconsistent designs? The windowslivehelp.com page seems to me as the tip of the iceberg. Did the designer have any idea of aesthetics or design? Why don't they finally hire some talented agencys? Consistency is generally a problem with Windows Live: What should I use for syncing? Live Mesh or Live Sync? What should I use as my homepage? my.live.com or home.live.com This is somewhat annoying and confusing - even for me who normally wouldn't complain about. The average joe already went to google or apple, I think...
tayme
on Dec 16, 2008
@Dip - You are completely correct. I would never click on a link that is using an IP, no matter who posted it...but there may be other casual readers that do. I would hope that most of us use the preview function of tinyurl, as well. --tayme
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
"on the other hand, how many readers of this and other boards click on tinyurl links all the time" I always strip out the www. if it's there and prepend preview. on the link so that I can see where it's headed first.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
"Helper cat is supposed to use his powers for good, not evil." Just like UAC, if I annoy, my job is done! :P
lotsamystuff
on Dec 16, 2008
Wae's slogan: "Exploiting Windows Vulnerabilities since...well, day one"
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
You can let out a sigh of relief: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2008/12/16/advance-notification-fo... ....back on topic.... ;) Yes, I agree that they need to add support for other Windows Live apps/services, not just Hotmail. Movie Maker seems to be coming along too. The new Trim option seems to be a good solution to the non-existant timeline. At least you can cut out the fluff from pre-existing video clips. There still needs to be some form of project compatibility with Windows DVD Maker though. With Windows Movie Maker, you could save a project file and import it directly into DVD Maker, thereby eliminating the need to pre-render video clips before burning to DVD. Now, you have to pre-render as a WMV and import it into DVD Maker, which loses some quality. The audio options need to be better implemented too. I like that the Publish plugins are compatible between Movie Maker and Photo Gallery. The Photosynth Publish plugin rocks too. If you haven't already seen "ICE", check it out: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/ The HD View and Silverlight Deep Zoom options are awesome!
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
@losta: They're called "zero-day exploits", dumbass!
Lindy
on Dec 16, 2008
Canadiot put "Tard" in F@&Tard. Nice move genius, hopefully anyone clicking on it was running OSX. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx Shout out to Sharky....this problem is now dangerous to Vista users as well. I think you were the one that told me to read the link I posted. It was originally only supposed to be a problem with XP and 2003. I wonder why MS has not patched this yet? I am always hearing from Canadiot and Microsoft Mikey how fast MS patches this stuff. How OS X users are so foolish for not running AV. I read on some site that there are an estimated 6000 known sites using this exploit already. Good Times!!
shark47
on Dec 16, 2008
OK, since you brought it up, Microsoft has published workarounds and is working to provide a fix. There are some companies that don't even acknowledge the issue until they post a fix. Care to guess the name of one such company? "How OS X users are so foolish for not running AV." No. No. OS X is perfect. No software in OS X has any problems. God himself/herself has coded OS X. Lindy, here's a more relevant link for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_personality_disorder
Lindy
on Dec 16, 2008
And here is your personal site... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass OS X is not perfect, but I seem to hear from the other Two Jack@$$'es that Windows/MS patches fast and that XP is the one with problem, not "The Vista". When the simple realistic facts are.... All software will have bugs and openings and Windows is targeted WAY MORE than OS X, simply because of market share. Its success has made it a target. MS used to have a HORRIBLE track with patching IE and their other software. After Billy G's famous email on taking security seriously MS has gotten a lot better.....better than many including Apple at responding to vulnerabilities. That said they need to fix this fast since IE is 70+ % of the browsers out there. You see if you cut out my sarcasm I am practical when it comes to the subject.
Waethorn
on Dec 16, 2008
"Shout out to Sharky....this problem is now dangerous to Vista users as well." Very little can be done by this if the user has UAC turned on. UAC also turns on Protected Mode in IE and limits user (and program) permissions. I tested it in a VM, and nothing was downloaded, nor did anything happen to IE settings. It's designed to modify certain files, but is shut down by DEP before it has a chance to run. The only thing that happened was that IE crashed, but memory contents weren't affected, as DEP prevented overflow corruption. AV software picked up cached data as suspicious and deleted it. No other data was modified in the VM (VHD comparisons proved that). "I am always hearing...how fast MS patches this stuff" They already have one in the works. It's been announced that it'll be released tomorrow. So tell me: is Leopard still as f*ed up as ever, or are you still apologizing for it? "How OS X users are so foolish for not running AV. I read on some site that there are an estimated 6000 known sites using this exploit already." LOL. Then that's proof enough! I read that's more sites than there are Mac users!
shark47
on Dec 16, 2008
BTW, no on bothered to read this link wae posted? http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2008/12/16/advance-notification-fo...
Waethorn
on Dec 17, 2008
"no one bothered to read this link wae posted?" more importantly, no one mentioned my new avi!
tayme
on Dec 17, 2008
@Waethorn - "more importantly, no one mentioned my new avi!" Only because it is about as sophmoric as robertsjoe's rants! --tayme
Waethorn
on Dec 17, 2008
"it is about as sophmoric as robertsjoe's rants" Is it lonely up there on your high horse?

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