Determine if your chat logs still exist. Since chat logs were saved locally in MSN/Windows Live Messenger, you will need to have the same hard drive where the programs were installed or the chat logs were saved. If you had not done so previously, then there will be no chat logs to recover.

Windows Live Messenger accounts are protected by industry standard SSL encryption.

According to Facebook, Messenger uses the same secure communications protocols as banking and shopping sites. The messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means not even Facebook can access them.

The steps to retrieve the old chat logs work only on the old computer where you used the MSN Messenger. If you no longer use your old computer or if that computer was reformatted, then you may not be able to access the old chat logs.

View contact information:

1. On the navigation bar, point to Mail & More, select the arrow, and then Address Book.
2. Select a contact name.

Follow these steps to restore contacts:

1. Go to http://people.live.com and sign-in using your Windows Live ID account.
2. On the Contacts page, go to Manage and choose Restore deleted contacts.

Whatsapp took over the reins of instant messaging and then social networks conquered the world and finished up the deal with Windows Live Messenger. In 2013, Microsoft announced that MSN Messenger/Live Messenger was going to be discontinued in favour of Skype.

After purchasing Hotmail, Microsoft integrated it with their burgeoning line of on-line services, and branded them all with “MSN” – the MicroSoft Network. Hotmail became MSN Hotmail which then became Windows Live Hotmail. Same service, just three different names over time.

The emails told users they would get free Skype credit when they migrated over to the new service, the newspaper said. MSN Messenger began as a simple text chat service in 1999, a rival to AOL’s AIM service and ICQ. It later added features such as photo delivery, video calls and games as the technology developed.

MSN (acronym of The Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services. It is an app for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft. It allows users to read and send e-mail using internet connection. Outlook is a program bundled with Microsoft Office.

If you head to Hotmail.com, you’ll be redirected to Outlook.com, as Microsoft has transitioned all Hotmail users to its more popular, more robust Outlook platform. Accordingly, the only real “difference” between Gmail vs Hotmail is that Gmail is still around.

Hotmail and Outlook.com Microsoft closed that service years ago, and all Hotmail users are using its current service at Outlook.com.

8 Popular Outlook Alternatives

• Apple Mail. Apple Mail — more commonly referred to as just “Mail” — is Apple’s native email client.
• eM Client.
• Evolution.
• Gmail.
• Mailbird.
• Postbox.
• Spark.
• Thunderbird.

The biggest problem with Outlook for Android and iOS when it was first released was the omission of integration with mobile device management (MDM) tools. Without more management capabilities, IT can’t manage what users can and can’t do with the app – causing some organizations to ban use of the app altogether.