14 DAY TRIAL // At the start of August 2010, Microsoft finalized the worldwide rollout of Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4, offering the latest version of the service to no less than 350 million users across 220 markets.
The company was noting that the transition of customers from the previous version of the email service to Wave 4 had gone smoothly, but of course, as with any endeavor of this size, some problems did emerge.
The Windows Live Solution Center (Windows Live Help) has been the destination of choice for customers to both report issues with Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4 and seek out solutions.
A search for “new Hotmail” on the Windows Live Solution Center will brings a wide variety of results, most of them featuring the following message from the Redmond company: “For customers experiencing issues with the new version of Hotmail, we are actively working to resolve the problems that have been reported.”
The software giant hasn’t really discussed the issues affecting Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4, leaving the impression that not that many customers had in fact been impacted during the transition.
But the company did confirm that fixes are coming to deal with the problems reported by customers, and even offered a guide for customers experiencing issues with the new Hotmail.
Frequently experienced issues in the newest version of Hotmail “We are aware that some customers are experiencing issues with the latest upgrade to Windows Live Hotmail – below are some of the top issues being reported and some workarounds to them.
Our development team is also working on creating fixes to these issues, and they should be site wide by next week.
I cannot read my mail since being upgraded to the new Hotmail - There are a few possible solutions, depending on your configuration. If you are using mobile broadband to access the Internet you might experience script errors when trying to read mail in Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers.
The Windows Live team has developed a fix for this issue, but until they release that fix try using Windows Live Mail to read and reply to your Hotmail, or the mobile version of Hotmail.
I am having difficulty sending mail since being upgraded to the new Hotmail - There are a few possible solutions, depending on your configuration. If you are using High Contrast display mode in Windows, you may have difficulty sending mail.
The Windows Live team is working on a solution that doesn’t require you to turn off High Contrast mode, but until they can release that fix, try turning High Contrast off temporarily. In Windows 7, press Left Shift + Left Alt + Print Screen keys.
If you’re on an older browser like Safari 3 or Firefox 2.5, then your best option is to upgrade your browser. Running the latest version of your browser is a good idea in general, as newer versions are typically more secure and often faster.
If you can’t upgrade your browser, your next best option is to use Windows Live Mail or another mail program that supports the POP protocol, or the mobile version of Hotmail.
I got an error in Hotmail that says a script on the page is causing the browser to run slowly - The Windows Live team has identified a bug that is causing this issue. It seems to stem from running Messenger on the web in combination with a few other variables.
They are working on releasing a fix as soon as possible, but until then, a good workaround is to try signing out of Messenger on the web (click your name in the upper-right of the page, and then click “Sign out of Messenger” in the menu),” Microsoft revealed.
Browser Support
The Redmond company is advising Windows Live Hotmail users to make sure and use a supported browser.
Internet Explorer 6.0+, Internet Explorer 6.x, Internet Explorer 7.x, Internet Explorer 8.x (Standards mode), Firefox 3.0+ on Windows and Macintosh, Safari 4.0+ on Windows and Macintosh, and Chrome on Windows – latest major version are all valid choices for end users.
At the same time, Microsoft is telling customers still running Safari 3 or Firefox 2 to upgrade their browser as soon as possible in order to ensure that Wave 4 of Hotmail will function under normal parameters.
Keep the feedback coming
Earlier this week, Chris Jones, Vice President, Windows Live Engineering revealed that Microsoft welcomes all feedback related to the Wave 4 release of Hotmail and Windows Live Essentials Beta.
Jones notes that the software giant taken into account input from a variety of sources, in addition to the telemetry that the company built into its products.
In terms of telemetry, the company gets info related to setup failures, crashes, script errors, and how the solutions are being used by customers. But Microsoft also collects additional feedback.
“We also get a lot of input through the Windows Live Solution Centers (our support and help forums) – this is a mix of quantitative feedback (how many people hit a particular problem) and qualitative feedback (verbatim comments from people in the forums, and conversations with support professionals),” Jones explained.
“We also track issues reported through social media avenues (including this blog, Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter), and direct feedback from our MVPs and from customer research–focus groups, surveys, informal discussions with customers, and more,” he added.
Of course, users can turn to the Windows Live Solution Center not only for Hotmail problems, but also for issues affecting all the rich clients packaged into Windows Live Essentials Wave 4.
The first Beta development milestone of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4, including Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, etc., continues to be available for testers.
Recent reports indicate that Microsoft is gearing up to release the second Beta Build of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 next week. The company has yet to confirm this officially.
Still, Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta 2 would introduce a range of fixes, and will apparently coincide with updates to Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4 updates, also designed to report some of the problems reported with the latest version of the service.
Download Windows Live Messenger Wave 4 Beta and the rest of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 here.