If you plan on being away from your Windows Live Hotmail account for a few days, such as due to a vacation, you can configure the service to automatically notify people when they e-mail you that you will not get back in touch with them for awhile.

1. Click the "Options" link on the top-right of the Windows Live Hotmail page, selecting "More options".

2. The "Hotmail Options" page appears. Underneath "Manage your account" click "Send automated vacation replies".

3. From here you can enter your vacation reply. If someone keeps e-mailing you, the vacation reply will be sent no more than once every four days.

First click the "Send vacation replies to people who e-mail me" radio button.

4. In the below text box, enter your vacation reply. If you use Rich Text then smilies and other emoticons, fonts, hyperlinks, colors, and more options will be available when composing.

5. Note that this will only be sent to your contacts. If you want this reply sent to everyone, uncheck the "Only reply to your contacts" button. Note this is not recommended as if someone sends you spam and Hotmail automatically replies, the spammer will know your mailbox is valid.

If Hotmail knows the e-mail is spam and sends it to the Junk folder, your vacation reply will not be sent.

6. When done, click "Save" at the bottom of the page to store your vacation reply.

When you are back from vacation or whatever, come back to this page, click the "Don't send any vacation replies" radio button, then click the "Save" button.

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