If you are having difficulty accessing your account and are not getting a specific error message from Hotmail, then you might be experiencing a conflict with a new security feature called Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL is the industry standard in Web security used primarily for transmitting sensitive information over the Internet. Hotmail uses SSL to encrypt your login and password to guarantee security. You may experience problems accessing your account if:

• Your browser doesn't support SSL
  For some older Web Browsing Software, SSL is simply incompatible. If you are using either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator versions 1.0 you will not be able to gain access to your Hotmail account. For optimal performance, Hotmail recommends that you use Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, versions 3.0 or higher.
• SSL is disabled in your current browser.
  If your browser supports SSL it is possible that you might have SSL disabled. To see specific instructions on how to enable SSL for a variety of Web Browsers, click here.
• You are behind a firewall or proxy.
  Unfortunately, there is little Hotmail can do for you in this case. The best option would be to speak with your local System Administrator to see if a solution can be reached using your network. Note: Only some firewalls or proxies will cause errors with Hotmail. Just because you are behind a firewall or proxy does not automatically mean that Hotmail won't work for you.

Hotmail also uses Cookies to verify your account to ensure security. Cookies offer greater individual security to all people, especially those who use shared terminals or are behind a firewall or proxy. If you get a Cookies Required error message when you try to log in, follow these steps to get into your account.