Re: Hotmail login and Cookies problem

Sunny wrote:
> Had the same hotmail login problem Wednesday, changed nothing, and
logged in
> 3 hours later OK.
> (Temporary Hotmail glitch) ?

Yes, it IS a Hotmail "glitch". It has nothing to do with the root
causes listed in the first entry from "Microsoft MVP". The problem is
on their end. They know it. They're just not admitting it. Kinda like
all the problems they had several months ago with response time, page
not founds, etc. that just "magically" went away. This is Microsoft's
way a saving face while they, behind the scenes, try to undo whatever
went wrong.

A sure-fire sign that this has nothing to do with US is that it (the
cookies issue) started happening to a whole bunch of people in
different places, on different ISPs, and on different machines at
roughly the same time. To think that it's NOT something to do with IE
or Hotmail or .NET is simply a form of denial. Denial is a classic
coping mechanism.

Don't worry, they'll figure it out. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I
like being LIED to. It's just that I understand why they try to come up
with all kinds of goofy cover-up type reasons instead of just saying
"we don't know". They want people to think that they are smart. They
think saying "I don't know" will make them look dumb. The only thing
they don't get is that sometimes, saying "I don't know" is the smartest
and most honest thing someone can say.

In the meantime, my workaround is to delete all cookies and then log in
again. The message saying that the browser "does not accept cookies" is
now missing. Clearly, it DOES accept cookies.

I hope this IE/.NET/Hotmail defect is fixed soon.

Here is what I have found when helping a customer of mine.

If they got to the Hotmail login screen using this URL:
http://login.passport.net/uilogin.srf?id=2

they were given the message that "cookies were disabled" in
their browser _unless_ they cleared out all their cookies.

If they got to the above link by entering

www.hotmail.com

which will take you to the passport URL above then
great joy. What is the www.hotmail.com site doing
that the .NET passport site does not do? I suspect
dropping a cookie on there. However, I have not
spent a lot of time looking at this, I just know that
setting up Favorites or home pages to be the
www.hotmail.com URL solves the problem. IMHO
this is a bug, but hey, I'm just a tech helping out
frustrated Hotmail users.

gummo


<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Sunny wrote:
> > Had the same hotmail login problem Wednesday, changed nothing, and
> logged in
> > 3 hours later OK.
> > (Temporary Hotmail glitch) ?
>
> Yes, it IS a Hotmail "glitch". It has nothing to do with the root
> causes listed in the first entry from "Microsoft MVP". The problem is
> on their end. They know it. They're just not admitting it. Kinda like
> all the problems they had several months ago with response time, page
> not founds, etc. that just "magically" went away. This is Microsoft's
> way a saving face while they, behind the scenes, try to undo whatever
> went wrong.
>
> A sure-fire sign that this has nothing to do with US is that it (the
> cookies issue) started happening to a whole bunch of people in
> different places, on different ISPs, and on different machines at
> roughly the same time. To think that it's NOT something to do with IE
> or Hotmail or .NET is simply a form of denial. Denial is a classic
> coping mechanism.
>
> Don't worry, they'll figure it out. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I
> like being LIED to. It's just that I understand why they try to come up
> with all kinds of goofy cover-up type reasons instead of just saying
> "we don't know". They want people to think that they are smart. They
> think saying "I don't know" will make them look dumb. The only thing
> they don't get is that sometimes, saying "I don't know" is the smartest
> and most honest thing someone can say.
>
> In the meantime, my workaround is to delete all cookies and then log in
> again. The message saying that the browser "does not accept cookies" is
> now missing. Clearly, it DOES accept cookies.
>
> I hope this IE/.NET/Hotmail defect is fixed soon.
>