Not being a hotmail user I'm not aware of how their system works. Do they have advertising inserted in to the emails or on their website to enable the costs of the "free" service to be covered?

On the website yes, but not in the emails, at least on my account.

Really!?! I often have a line at the bottom hotmail emails I receive followed by a line of advertising text, then a link on the following line.

Phil

None of mine seem to have any text added to them. Since I use Windows LIve Hotmail and not the old Hotmail, I wonder if it could of been changed.

To be honest, it is irrelevant whether I use a free service or not. If a shop gave away free toasters that burst into flames, they are still culpable.

"Archiving doesn't mean deleting. ... You have deleted my emails after 4 months."

From another post it seems you've previously lost e-mail, so how come you haven't copied it elsewhere (eg using IMAP to access it).

FWIW, I have mail pulled off my PN account at regular intervals, using the runbox.com mail service, status report follows: "Last retrieval: 06.02.2008 15:56 Failed: 0"

If you don't check it for months, one has to wonder how important it was to have the account in the first place.