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If you’re moving to Outlook.com from Gmail, Hotmail, or any other email service, you may want to copy or move all of your old email into the new account. There are probably a number of ways to do this, including at least one that is automated....More

Like many of you, I have multiple Microsoft accounts, or what we used to think of as Windows Live IDs, or more generically, as Hotmail and Outlook.com accounts. And while Microsoft offers no way to merge these accounts, it does at least offer one useful convenience: You can link multiple Microsoft accounts together in Outlook.com, so you don’t need to keep signing in and out to access the information in the different accounts....More

With Microsoft replacing Windows Live Mesh with the SkyDrive application in Windows Essentials 2012, Windows users are suddenly faced with a decision: In the past, they could simply run Mesh and SkyDrive side-by-side, but installing Essentials 2012 actually removes Mesh. What’s the best strategy for replacing Live Mesh with SkyDrive?...More

While much of the discussion about Outlook.com will focus on the web experience, most users will also want to configure their favorite mobile email clients for Microsoft’s new webmail service. Today, I’ll focus on how you can configure Microsoft’s latest mobile platforms—Windows 8 and Windows Phone—to use Outlook.com, so you can access your email, contacts, and calendar information on the go....More

While the default Outlook.com experience is probably fine for most, you can actually remove the sidebar advertisements in Mail by signing up for Hotmail Plus. This paid service still works with Outlook.com, and while it’s a bit steep at $19.95 a year, it also helps the new Microsoft webmail service achieve a more professional, app-like look and feel....More

If you’ve fallen in love with the efficient new Outlook.com webmail service and would like to take this relationship to the next level, you can rename your crusty old Hotmail account with a shiny and new Outlook.com address. Just be sure you understand the pros and cons of doing so first....More

Before getting into more complex Outlook.com topics related to accounts, let’s quickly examine some of simplest ways in which you can migrate to a new Outlook.com email address. Using the Alias feature, you can continue using your long-lived Hotmail account but benefit somewhat from a new Outlook.com email address too, assuming you plan to exclusively use the Outlook.com web interface....More

Continuing the theme of helping Gmail users make the transition to Outlook.com, today’s tip explains how you can create and manage email categories, which are similar to Gmail’s labels feature....More

Many have been wondering about the fate of some of the former Windows Live products and services, and this week the software giant unveiled its next blockbuster update: Outlook.com, the webmail service that will replace Hotmail. Yes, that’s right. Microsoft is replacing Hotmail....More

If you’ve seen the SkyDrive app for Windows 8, the new look and feel of SkyDrive on the web will come as no surprise to you at all. It’s much a much nicer way to browse your cloud-based files from the web....More

When I write about funneling everything through SkyDrive and its associated Microsoft account—now still called a Windows Live ID—I get a couple of predictable questions. First, does Microsoft offer two-factor authentication, like Google? And second, is SkyDrive protected with some form of encryption and cloud-based document versioning?...More

I’ve received a lot of interesting feedback since writing 2012: A Cloud Odyssey - From Live Mesh to SkyDrive. And while I’ve gotten some great tips from readers, I’ve also heard a few concerns, the key one involving what happens if you mistakenly delete or modify a file in SkyDrive. So for my next SkyDrive entry, I’ve got a tip of my own: How you can overcome the SkyDrive service’s lack of file history functionality on the server, assuming you’re using Windows 8 (or Windows 7) on the client....More