I had the same problem. I eventually got so fed up with it I switched to Thunderbird recently. The only problem is that you have to use a 3rd party application (I use Mr. Postman) to get mail from a hotmail account. Outlook did it internally, but Thunderbird needs external help. I wish outlook didn't take so long to load under litestep, but you CAN get by without it. Eudora also works, but I usually stay away from that pos. Good luck getting it working correctly.