Just in case the current 2 GB storage offering for free Windows Live Hotmail accounts was not enough for you, Microsoft just upped the stakes. The Redmond company started rolling out a new update for Windows Live Hotmail on August 13. With the refresh, Windows Live Hotmail users will be able to access a collection of new features but also enjoy various improvements to the service. Back in May, Microsoft joined at the hip the then beta Windows Live Mail and MSN Hotmail and came out of the testing phase with Windows Live Hotmail. Starting in the second week of August, the company will offer no less than 5 GB of storage for free email accounts and up to 10 GB for paid users.

"We're already releasing something new. Today, these new features will begin to roll our gradually to all our customers over the next few weeks, so if you don't immediately see them, be patient, they're coming! We've been hearing you loud and clear across the world: speed is one of the most important aspects of a web-based email service. We've spent more time in this release identifying what parts of the product are slowest and fixing those. We hope that you notice an improvement when this update is released to your account, and we'll continue our work on performance in future releases. Our last release went quite smoothly, and we've been continuing to monitor the live site to make sure that we're providing e-mail that is reliable - you always want to be able to get to your mail, and we hear you," revealed Ellie Powers-Boyle, Windows Live Hotmail program manager.

In addition to the performance tweaks and the increase in storage space, Microsoft is also delivering to users a new model for mail retention in relation to the automatic management of messages in the junk and deleted items folders. Windows Live Hotmail will also from now on deal with duplicate contacts. The restrictions set in place to block the viewing of spam images and links have been relaxed in order to enable users to more easily access the content, but at the same time enhancements have been made to the service's filter and to the filter training methods via user reporting.

"We heard you asking for more space for your mail, so we shrunk the header in this update. You can now forward mail from your Hotmail account to other accounts. For now, if you have a free account, you can only forward your mail to other Hotmail accounts. If you receive a meeting request, such as one sent from Outlook, you can now click "accept" and have it added to your Calendar. This had existed for years in MSN Hotmail, and we're adding it to Windows Live Hotmail now. Now Hotmail can automatically tell your friends why you haven't written them back in a few weeks," Powers-Boyle added.