Hotmail given makeover

12:53 7th November 2008

Microsoft has added improvements to its personal email service, Windows Live Hotmail.

The changes have been designed to make it easier for customers to use the account, while also increasing the speed of the service by up to 70 per cent.

A new feature called Contact Picker is designed to simplify the process of looking up contacts, while Hotmail now uses predictive text when a user starts typing in an email address, similar to Google's Gmail.

The Hotmail update notice said: "No big changes - more like a repainted room than a remodelled house … we’ve just made a few improvements to Hotmail based on feedback from customers like you."

In addition, a choice of design themes also allows the personal email service's users to experience Hotmail in different colours and patterns.

Earlier this week, research conducted by the Corporate IT Forum suggested that electronic crime is not being taken seriously enough by the UK government.