Microsoft's Hotmail, one of the most popular free e-mail services on the Web, MSN and Windows Live went through a “temporary” outage overnight. Users who singed in were told they did not have an e-mail inbox anymore.

 

Late Thursday night Microsoft assured users that their e-mail inboxes are OK and explained that the problem was due to an "incorrect message" that was sent out during "routine maintenance." The company said the problem was taken care of, but some users may still experience problems when trying to sing in. 

 

For a couple of hours, users who were trying to sing in were greeted with the following message: "You don't have an inbox ... yet." Consequently, users were invited to create new accounts. 

 

Microsoft posted a message on Windows Live Help in which it explained the error. The message wrote:

 

"Hotmail and Windows Live ID experienced a service disruption starting at 8:44 PM (PST), which ended at 10:15 PM (PST), and during this disruption you may have been told your inbox did not exist. This was incorrect messaging. Your inbox, contacts and Live ID are all intact. We're all Hotmail customers, so we appreciate how frustrating this experience was. Thanks for your understanding. If you're still getting errors, please close out all browsers and sign in again."

 

As expected, the error created frustration and made many customers think their computer or e-mail account, or both, had been infected by an Internet virus worm.