Important

[MSN Hotmail]

This is an auto-generated response designed to let you know that our system 
received your support inquiry and a Support Representative will review your 
question and respond to you soon. Please note that you will not receive a reply 
if you respond directly to this message. 

IF YOU ARE NOT A HOTMAIL CUSTOMER AND ARE REPORTING ABUSE OR SPAM FROM HOTMAIL:

Please note that we will need to see full message headers when you forward the 
offending mail to Hotmail. Full message headers are required for us to take any 
necessary action on the reported account. If you need help on how to view 
complete header information, please consult the Help associated with your 
e-mail program. 

IF YOU ARE A HOTMAIL CUSTOMER:

While you are awaiting response from a Support Representative, here is some 
additional information about how you can help protect your account. We realize 
that this e-mail message is lengthy, but please read the entire message below 
because the answer to your question may be included.

Within this message is information on:

  I. Limiting Junk E-mail ("spam")
 II. Turning on the Junk Mail Filter
III. Reporting Abusive or Unwanted E-mail

We strictly enforce the MSN Website Terms of Use and Notices(TOU), which 
forbids e-mail abuse. We ask for your support to help Hotmail prevent unwanted, 
abusive, or fraudulent e-mail.


*************************
I. Limiting Junk E-mail ("spam")

Hotmail employs the following methods to help protect you against spam:

  - We limit the number of individual recipients for each e-mail message.
  - We don't allow numeric characters at the beginning of an e-mail address. 
Any Hotmail sign-in name beginning with a numeric character is a forgery.
  - We include "X-[Originating-IP]: [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]" in the header of each 
e-mail message that Hotmail delivers. Any e-mail message without this entry in 
its full header didn't come from Hotmail.
  - We use industry standard security technologies to help block our relay 
hosts from those who send spam.
  - We take legal action against senders of unsolicited bulk e-mail who forge 
Hotmail addresses.

List brokers and individuals who send spam use many tools and techniques to 
gather e-mail addresses wherever they appear online. Here are some suggestions 
to help you reduce the amount of spam that you receive.

Do:
  - Remove yourself from any unprotected member directory.
  - Open another e-mail account that you can use as an address for newsgroup 
and listserve publications or for posting on bulletin boards.
  - Use the "Block Sender" option in Hotmail to block the delivery of e-mail 
from a specific sender.
  - Use the Junk Mail Filter feature of Hotmail to filter spam into your Junk 
Mail folder.

Don't:
  - Use your primary account to post to an online service or any Internet 
bulletin board.
  - Use your primary account to post in a Usenet newsgroup or mailing list.
  - Spend time in chat rooms or an online service that displays your address of 
your primary account.
  - Include yourself in an unprotected member directory of an online service 
(the Hotmail Member Directory helps protect you from spam because we do not 
display member addresses).
  - Reply to unsolicited e-mail messages with a "remove" request because this 
only validates to the sender that your address is current.


*************************
II. Turning on the Junk Mail Filter

The Junk Mail filter protects you from unsolicited e-mail messages (also known 
as spam). Hotmail examines all incoming mail that you have not blocked or 
filtered. If it determines that the message is junk mail, Hotmail directs the 
message to the Junk Mail folder. 

>>> To set the Junk Mail Filter

1.  Click the "Options" link on the upper-right side of the page. 
2.  On the left side of the page, click "Mail" and then click the "Junk E-mail 
Protection" link.  
3. Click the "Junk E-Mail Filter" link.
4.  Select "Default," "Enhanced," or "Exclusive" to enable the filter. See 
below for a description of what each level of filter does.
4.  Click "OK" to save your settings or "Cancel" to return to the "Junk E-Mail 
Protection" page.

What is filtered at each level setting:
  
  - Default vs. Enhanced. The Junk Mail Filter looks at a number of different 
clues in e-mail and tries to determine whether the message you received is junk 
mail. Setting the filter to "Enhanced" results in a stricter interpretation of 
what mail is valid than setting it to "Default." An "Enhanced" filter can 
result in more valid mail being filtered to the Junk E-Mail folder than you 
want, and you may need to check the folder from time to time to ensure that 
nothing you want has been defined as "junk." If you find valid mail in your 
Junk Mail folder, select the message and click the "Not Junk" button.
  - Exclusive: An "Exclusive" filter means that messages reach your Inbox only 
if they are from an address in your Contacts or safe list, service 
announcements from Hotmail, or e-mail that you have consented to receive from 
MSN. This uses encryption to help protect against junk mail. By setting your 
Junk Mail Filter to "Exclusive," you accept only e-mail from your friends. This 
is e-mail equivalent of "don't talk to strangers." 

Remember to check your Junk Mail folder at regular intervals to ensure that the 
filter catches only the messages you want to delete. For example, mailing list 
mail and mail forwarded from another e-mail address may be filtered to the Junk 
Mail folder. To ensure that these e-mail messages go to your Inbox, create 
Hotmail filters or add the sender's address to the Safe List.

>>> To add an address to your Safe List

1.  Click the "Options" link on the upper-right side of the page. 
2.  On the left side of the page, click "Mail" and then click the "Junk E-mail 
Protection" link.  
3. Click the "Add Senders to Safe List" link.
4.  In the box at the left of the page, type the address or domain you want 
added to your Safe List.
5.  Click the "Add >>" button to add the address or domain.
6.  Click "OK" to save your settings or "Cancel" to return to the "Junk E-Mail 
Protection" page.

>>> To add a sender to the Block Sender list

1.  Click the "Options" link on the upper-right side of the page. 
2.  On the left side of the page, click "Mail" and then click the "Junk E-mail 
Protection" link.  
3. Click the "Block Specific Senders" link.
4.  In the box at the left of the page, type the address or domain you want 
added to your Block List.
5.  Click the "Add >>" button to add the address or domain.
6.  Click "OK" to save your settings or "Cancel" to return to the "Junk E-Mail 
Protection" page.

Note: Hotmail offers two additional ways to block senders. While you are 
reading a message, click the "Block" button in the toolbar. Or, while viewing 
the messages in your inbox, select the check box next to unwanted messages and 
click the "Block" button in the toolbar.

Hotmail also allows you to create Basic or Advanced custom filters. Basic 
custom filters allow you to filter incoming e-mail by subject or e-mail 
address. Advanced custom filters allow you to filter incoming e-mail by 
subject, e-mail address, sender name and the "To" or "Cc" lines.


>>> To create a Basic custom filter

1.  Click the "Options" link on the upper-right side of the page. 
2.  On the left side of the page, click "Mail" and then click the "Custom 
Filters" link. 
3.  On the "Custom Filters" page, click "Create New" to access the "Create 
Basic Filter" page.
4.  Under "Step 1: Filter Criteria," select the filter criteria you want to 
apply to incoming e-mail. You can filter incoming e-mail by subject or the 
sender's e-mail address.
5.  Under "Step 2: Folder," select a folder to which you want your messages 
delivered. You can also choose to delete incoming messages.
6.  Click "OK" to save your settings.


>>> To create an Advanced custom filter

1.  Click the "Options" link on the upper-right side of the page. 
2.  On the left side of the page, click "Mail" and then click the "Custom 
Filters" link. 
3.  On the "Custom Filters" page, click "Create New" to access the "Create 
Basic Filter" page.
4.  Click the "Advanced Filter" link above and to the right of the "Step 1: 
Filter Criteria" heading.
5.  Under "Step 1: Filter Criteria," select an option from the first drop-down 
list. You can choose to filter incoming e-mail by subject, e-mail address, 
sender name and the "To" or "Cc" lines.
6.  From the second drop-down list, choose either "Contains," "Does Not 
Contain," "Contains Word," "Starts With," "Ends With," or "Equals."
    - "Contains" searches for a specified word, partial word, or phrase (for 
example, the filter "Fred" finds all instances of "Fred," "Frederick," 
"Freddie," and so on).
    - "Does Not Contain" is the opposite of "Contains" (for example, the filter 
"Fred" finds all instances of anything other than "Fred" such as "Scarlett," 
"Rhett," and so on).
    - "Contains Word" searches for the exact word, not a partial word (for 
example, the filter "Fred" finds all instances of "Fred" not including 
"Frederick," "Freddie," and so on).
    - "Starts With" searches for a sentence or word that begins with the 
specified word or partial word (for example, the filter "address@hidden" finds 
all messages that contain "address@hidden," such as, "address@hidden," 
"address@hidden," and so on).
    - "Ends With" searches for a sentence or word that ends with the specified 
word or partial word (for example, the filter "@aol.com" finds all messages 
that contain "@aol.com," such as "address@hidden," "address@hidden," and so on).
    - "Equals" searches for the exact phrase (for example, the filter "Fred 
Smith" finds all instances of Fred Smith, but not "Smith, Fred," "Fred S. 
Smith," and so on).
7.  In the third text box, type the string for which you want to search.
8.  Under "Step 2: Folder," select a folder to which you want your messages 
delivered. You can also choose to delete incoming messages.
9.  Click "OK" to save your settings.

To apply newly created filters to e-mail currently in your "Inbox," on the 
"Custom Filters" page, click "Apply Filter(s) Now."


*************************
III. Reporting Abusive or Unwanted E-mail



>>> Report e-mail abuse to MSN Hotmail

If you have received abusive, harassing, or threatening e-mail messages from an 
MSN Hotmail account, follow the steps below to report it. To report junk 
e-mail, please see the "Report junk e-mail to MSN Hotmail" section below.

1. Turn on full message headers. MSN Hotmail will need this information to 
identify the true origin of the abusive message you received:

If you have an MSN Hotmail account. Click "Options" in the upper-right corner 
of any page. Click "Mail" on the left side, and then click "Mail display 
settings." Next to "Message headers," click "Full," and then click "OK."

If you do not have an MSN Hotmail account, consult your e-mail program's online 
Help to determine how to view full message header information.

2. Forward a copy of the abusive message to:
       address@hidden

>>> Report junk e-mail to MSN Hotmail

If you have an MSN Hotmail account, follow the steps below to report junk 
e-mail:

1. Select the message in your Inbox you want to report as junk e-mail.
2. Click the "Junk" button, located on the toolbar of your Inbox.
3. Choose either to report the selected message, or to report the message and 
block future messages from its sender.

If you do not have an MSN Hotmail account, follow the steps below to report 
junk e-mail coming from an MSN Hotmail account:

1. Consult your e-mail program's online Help to determine how to view full 
message header information. MSN Hotmail will need this information to identify 
the true origin of the junk e-mail message you received.
2. If the message header contains an "X-Originating-IP" line, forward a 
complete copy of the message (including the full message header) to
    address@hidden
If there is no "X-Originating_IP" line, then the message header has been forged 
and is not from an MSN Hotmail account. Unfortunately, we are unable to take 
any action.

Viewing Full Message Headers in MSN Explorer:
1.  From your Inbox, click the check box next to the message you want to view 
the full header information for. Do NOT open the message.
2.  From the "View" menu, select Message Headers.
3.  Click the "Details" tab and highlight and copy all the text in the 
"Internet Headers for this Message" window. 
4.  Open the e-mail in question and forward a complete copy of the message, 
including the full message header you copied at the beginning of your message, 
to:
       address@hidden

Viewing Full Message Headers in Outlook Express or Outlook:
1.  On the unopened mail, place your cursor over the mail, right-click, and 
click "Options."
2.  Under "Internet headers," copy the contents of the full header.
3.  If you are reporting abuse (abusive, harassing or threatening e-mail you 
have received), open the e-mail in question and forward a complete copy of the 
message, including the full message header you copied at the beginning of your 
message, to:
      address@hidden
4.  If you are reporting junk e-mail, open the e-mail in question and forward a 
complete copy of the message, including the full message header you copied at 
the beginning of your message, to:
      address@hidden


You can keep up to date with the fight against spam at:
    http://www.cauce.org/

Remember that MSN Hotmail also has comprehensive online help available--just 
click "Help" in the upper right corner.