Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email Know When Your Windows Live Hotmail Account Expires Act before you lose your emails By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 26, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Know When Your Windows Live Hotmail Account Expires When Your Account Will Be Deleted and Reassigned Does POP3 or Forwarding Count As Accessing? Paid Accounts Remain Active Throughout the Subscription Delete Your Windows Live Hotmail Account Yourself If you don't use your Windows Live Hotmail account regularly, be aware that Microsoft will delete it after some time of inactivity. Windows Live Hotmail was Microsoft's free web-based email service, accessed on the web from any computer on the internet. Microsoft transitioned Hotmail in 2013 to Outlook.com with an updated user interface and improved features. Outlook is now the official name of Microsoft's email service. If you have a Hotmail email address, you can access your email at Outlook.com. Use your Hotmail email address to log in through that link. Know When Your Windows Live Hotmail Account Expires After 270 days (about 8 and a half months) without access, a Windows Live Hotmail account becomes inactive. This means all messages stored in the account are deleted, and no new mail is accepted. Microsoft Corporation / Apple Inc. When Your Windows Live Hotmail Will Be Deleted and Reassigned People who send an email to an inactive Windows Live Hotmail account get their message bounced back with a delivery failure. You can still use your account name and password to log in to Windows Live, however. After 360 days (five days short of a typical year) of inactivity, a Windows Live Hotmail account is permanently deleted. If you don't use your Windows Live ID (which is your Windows Live Hotmail email address) for 365 days (about a year), it, too, can be permanently deleted. Somebody else can take your Windows Live Hotmail address. Does POP3 or Forwarding Count As Accessing a Windows Live Hotmail Account? If you access your Windows Live Hotmail account in an email program or service via POP or have Windows Live Hotmail forward your mail, this is not the same as accessing your account via the web. To keep your Windows Live Hotmail account active, log in via the web every 8 months, at least. Mark it on your calendar or to-do list, perhaps. Paid Windows Live Hotmail Account Remains Active Throughout the Subscription Paid Windows Live Hotmail Plus accounts remain active for all the subscription time, whether you access the account or not. Delete Your Windows Live Hotmail Account Yourself You can also close your Windows Live Hotmail account manually. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit