I get a lot of people sending in questions asking how to set up Hotmail with the Mail application in Mac OS X, and until recently it has been a real pain to do. Now, however, it is a lot easier to set up and doesn’t require any third party software.

Start by opening up Mail and going to the Preferences. Click on the Accounts tab and create a new account by clicking on the plus (+) at the bottom. Enter your name, email address and password, then click continue to set the incoming mail settings. Enter the following:

Account Type: POP
Description: Hotmail (or whatever you like)
Incoming Mail Server: pop3.live.com
Username: Your email address
Password: Your password

In the next section, you should leave the Use SSL checkbox checked and Authentication as Password. For the outgoing mail settings, enter the following:

Description: Hotmail (or whatever you like)
Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.live.com
Check “Use only this server”
Check “Use Authentication”
Username: Your email address
Password: Your password

As before, leave Use SSL checkbox check and Authentication as Password.

Now you should be able to both send and receive email from the Mac OS X Mail app.