For a while now it has been impossible to receive your free hotmail (Now called live mail) in Microsoft Outlook.

They added a restriction that only paid accounts could receive mail this way. It was very annoying since every other free email service provides a way to get mail in Outlook (Usually via POP3).

Finally they have fixed this situation, and released a new and improved Windows Live/Hotmail Outlook connector. It works with Outlook 2003, and 2007.

The install is very simple. (Download it here). Download the connector and run through the setup.

Once it is installed a new connection option will show up in the Outlook account setup.

Or…just launch Outlook and it will prompt you the first time you run after the Connector install. Simply fill out your live/hotmail username and password.

The first time you launch it you will be prompted for a password. You can force it to remember (And it actually does!)

Now you can get your free hotmail/live email in Microsoft Outlook. The only restriction is that you cannot synchronize your calendar unless you have the paid version.