Create A Hotmail Account

Become master of your business' Web domain

Become master of your business' Web domain

By Sven Mogelgaard
Tech Talk

If you've been reading this column for any length of time you know that I feel very strongly about business owners acquiring Internet “real estate” such as domain names, email addresses and more. Now that this real estate has become more popular — and more valuable — plenty of folks are looking to cash in. With your cash. Here are some tips for avoiding the most egregious attempts to grab your cash and avoid hopefully problems down the road.

Own your domain. If you allow someone else to manage your Web services, you run the risk of losing control of your critical domain names and email accounts. If possible, create an account with a reputable domain registration company like GoDaddy or Network Solutions. You can then search for and register domain names and, most importantly, control important features like renewals, hosting and email. Multiple domain names can be registered under a single account so you can control all your Web services from a single location. If you already have domains registered elsewhere, investigate transferring them to your single account.

If you really don't want to manage your own Web services, you can still protect yourself by making sure you are listed as the registrant and administrative contact for all domains you have purchased. This ensures you have the ultimate control over your Internet real estate should you have a dispute with your Webmaster or technical administrator.

Be suspicious of mailings wanting money. I get calls from clients almost every week asking about letters or emails claiming it's time to renew or “register” their domains. These often look like invoices. If you or your Web person have purchased your domains through an online provider like GoDaddy or Network Solutions, your renewals will be charged to your credit card on file. Offers to “register” your domains with services and/or search engines are almost always ploys to separate you from your hard-earned money.

Educate yourself. You will certainly get solicitations from online directories and other sources promising to get your business listed on the front page of Google and other search engines. Be very suspicious of these offers.

4 Best Practices To Secure Your Hotmail Account - Make Tech Easier

Even though we discussed a lot about , Hotmail is still the leading email service in term of users. Gmail has introduced many security functions to secure the accounts of the people. Microsoft has also been doing great with Hotmail security but the features have largely been untold and silently integrated with Hotmail. Here, we will talk about the security options that Hotmail provides for security Hotmail accounts.

1. Using strong passwords

This is the first and foremost setting that a user needs to be responsible for. You should be using strong and secure passwords so that no one will be able to use brute force methods to guess your password. So what is a strong or secure password? The password which is:

Not a dictionary word (regardless of any language) Not a variation of a dictionary word Not a sequential or repeated word Doesn’t include any personal information like name, birthdate, Govt. issued IDs etc.

There are many random password generators but if you want to remember your password then you should follow the way to create passwords recommended by Microsoft itself.

2. Connecting With HTTPS

Using HTTPS instead of HTTP means that you’re using a secure means of communication between the Hotmail servers and your computer. If a hacker intercepts the connection during the communication, the connection will simply break and the hacker will not be able to get any information about the communication. Almost all the modern browsers will display a green bar that shows the owner of the site in the address bar. Make sure that the owner of Hotmail.com when you open it is Microsoft Corporation.

Here’s how it looks like in Internet Explorer:

And here’s the screenshot from Firefox:

To always use HTTPS, just go to the Microsoft manage SSL page and select “ Use HTTPS automatically in order to check your email.

3. Password Reset Information

You must ensure that your password reset information in your Hotmail account is always up to date so in any case if you forget your password, you’ll always be able to reset your password using the recovery information. To reset your password information, you’ll need to go to Windows Live account page.

You should always have a secondary email address that you can attach to your Hotmail account so that your password reset information is sent to your secondary account if you forget the password.

You can also add your mobile number as a recovery option so that the password reset information can be sent to your mobile phone in case of emergency but this option is only available to a few selected countries right now.