Vista - Changing Live ID email address

Quite a while ago I changed my Passport (now Live ID) email address from my
ISP email address to a Hotmail account. Although I continue to use
Messenger, and want to continue to use it, I don't really use my Hotmail
account.

The problem I have is that many of my contacts continue to send email
messages via Messenger. By default those go to my Hotmail account. I tried
to change my Live ID email address, but it seems that option does not exist
for people who are currently using a Hotmail account.

So my questions are:
1. Why can't I change my Live ID email address to something different?
2. If I can't change my Live ID, is there another way to select that all
email messages sent via messenger go to an alternate email address?

Thanks!

Greetings Jason,

@Hotmail accounts are considered "special" and although they've done work to allow you to
switch to one, they've never created a way to switch from it back to your own address.

Indeed the latest Live ID wizard doesn't even allow you to use your own address anymore.

If you log into Hotmail, choose Options at the top-right, then More Options, and then choose
Forward mail to another e-mail account, you can have it sent to another address.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"Jason" <Jason@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5AE8E423-05ED-4015-BA7A-16627D7EC73C@xxxxxx

I suppose that's an answer, but I'm not sure it answers the "why" part ...
I'm not sure "special" explains why they're different.

At any rate, the mail forwarding is a good suggestion, but now I encounter
this ... "You can forward your mail to one other e-mail address that ends in
hotmail.com, msn.com, live.com, or custom domains."

Why am I limited in what email account I can forward to?? This seems like
I'm just being penned in and inconvenienced for no good reason.

Jason

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

Hi Jason,

Oh right, I forgot about that restriction. My apologies.

It's limited I guess because those domains Microsoft/Hotmail controls on their own end.
I've never heard an explanation why this is.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"Jason" <Jason@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6119758A-ACB6-48B0-BF60-588D1BC89380@xxxxxx

Hi this is a message specifically to Johnathan Kay (sorry I didn't know how else to contact with this subject in mind ... !!)..

You stated that if you changed your live ID that you needed to stay off the system for atleast 8 hours for the system to update. Because this was not mentioned in the ID change ( as i remember .. !!) I did indeed connect and have a list of contacts that are all offline ( even though i know some of them are not..!!).

I have done the export import routine and still have a list of offline contacts.

My questions is, does the upgrade routine to the existing list of contacts automatically restart after a specific time of being off line or do i have to re start the whole upgrade process again ... !!

I hope you can help, and this makes sense but if you need any further info then please do not hesitate to contact me via this thread.

Cheers,

Alex Kay.