# How to stop Hotmail accessing mail from other people's accounts



## Chris Saunders (Jul 19, 2007)

Hi,

I recently performed a clean install of Windows 8.1. On the metro start page today was a flag asking me if I wanted to learn more about the OS, so I clicked on it. There might be something new there, I thought.

I was quickly taken to my Microsoft account which contained a link to my Hotmail app page. I'd forgotten I had a Hotmail account, and I've never used it since signing up for the trial version of Windows 8 in October 2012. 

Anyway, I clicked on the Hotmail app link and found to my horror mail from third parties to my grandson, mail between him and his mother (my daughter) and between him a bloke he sold a computer to. 

Now I do not want to read other people's mail, even if they are family members. I don't want them on the computer or in a cloud somewhere. It seems amazing the Hotmail (or Outlook.com or whoever) can 'sync' across mail accounts. 

Does anybody have any experience of this, and how can I stop Hotmail from stealing other people's mail?

Cheers!


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

You just need to unlink the Hotmail account from your Windows 8 PC:

How to detach Windows 8 account from my Hotmail.com account? - Super User


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## Chris Saunders (Jul 19, 2007)

OK, thanks for the info and link. I think Serneum is describing a Windows 8 scenario, not Windows 8.1, so his recipe doesn't quite match the available options in 8.1.

What I've done is turn off sharing for these apps: mail, people, music, one note and reading list. Hope that does the trick - not that I'm ever going to look at my Hotmail client again.

What I don't understand is why or how a personal email client can import copies of mails that weren't sent to me and are not meant for my eyes. 

I notice that my daughter is numbered among my Hotmail 'favorites' (1 out of 1) - but I haven't started a favorites list. I suppose Hotmail has imported that too from somewhere. 

Anyway, thanks for helping out, Masterchiefxx17, much appreciated!


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

I have a feeling that you linked the Hotmail account somehow to your Windows 8 machine. The steps shouldn't alter much between 8 and 8.1

Do you remember linking any accounts?


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Sounds odd but I had the same issue a couple of years ago and it wasn't with Windows 8 or 8.1
My Girlfriend signed into her account while using my laptop and the same thing happened, I mysteriously started receiving her mail in my Hotmail account.
I know she had signed out, as I had to sign in to use mine.
And neither of us had linked them.
It lasted a day or two then stopped. It may possibly have been a glitch on their behalf linking IP addresses? I really have no idea how it occurred.


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## Chris Saunders (Jul 19, 2007)

Thanks to Masterchiefxx17 and Panther063 for responding. 

The only thing about linking accounts that I vaguely remember is trying to link Outlook (Office 2007) and the Hotmail client back in late 2012. Seem to remember doing a lot of web trawling to find out if it was possible to 'merge' Outlook 2007 and Outlook com, but I think I gave up in the end. Certainly haven't linked anything since then - not even sure how I would go about it. I may have done so inadvertently during the installation of Windows 8.1 last week, saying yes to something without realizing the implications, but certainly nothing since then that I'm aware of.

Obviously 'unsharing' the various apps yesterday didn't help. Hotmail is still showing mail sent to my grandson, the latest arriving today. I've looked at the section in my Microsoft account where it says "Manage the other accounts you've connected" (under the "related accounts" tab), but no other accounts are listed. 

Apart from that, I haven't the foggiest what to do. I can't even see how I'm supposed to get into Hotmail's preferences or options. The only cogwheel is for managing folders. 

Brainwave: it may have all happened because Microsoft wants people to log in to their computing using their Microsoft account (the one ending with @live.com).


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

You may have nailed it with your last statement. Did you give an old Windows 8 computer to your grandson? If you did and it was set up with a Microsoft account linked to a Hotmail account then it will open said Hotmail account by default whenever the mail app is opened. From there another account could be easily linked to deliver mail to the Hotmail account.


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## Chris Saunders (Jul 19, 2007)

Ah, there's the answer I suspect. All three grandchildren have inherited or been given computers, hard drives, ssds and I don't know what over the past ten years. The computer in question (with one of my old ssds) has just been sold, and I know he'll wipe the ssd clean before handing it over. That should put paid to unwanted correspondence.

Here's hoping for the best. 

Cheers!


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