Windows Live Mail 2012 not Blocking Hotmail Images

Anonymous
2013-03-22T17:45:35+00:00

Hi everyone, I've been running Windows 8 Enterprise with Windows Live Mail 2012 since the fall.  I have Windows Live Mail configured for 13 email accounts - most are IMAP accounts, a couple Yahoo! accounts, a GMail account, and a Hotmail account (@hotmail.com).  I have "Block images and other external content in HTML email" checked in the Safety Options on the Security tab.  It works exactly the way it should so I get an email with images and they're blocked unless I click "Show images" on the message or if they are already in my Safe Senders list.

However, this works for all my accounts in Live Mail except my Hotmail account.  For some reason ALL images just show up and are not blocked.  Most of these are spam, so this is really bad because of the potential of web beacons letting the spammers know that the address is legit.  I can't figure out what's going on with this.  I had cleared all my Safe Senders to start from scratch just in case that was the issue, but it made no difference.

If I log into the Hotmail website (or Outlook.com), the option for "Block attachments, pictures, and links for anyone not in my safe senders list" is checked and the same messages that are showing images in Windows Live Mail are being correctly blocked on the websites.

So the problem has to be something on the Windows Live Mail client specific to Hotmail accounts (or at least mine), but I'm just not sure where to go next.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

-- Jim

Windows for home | Other | Email and communications

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T22:17:48+00:00

    Firedog,

    I think you are misunderstanding the issue.

    From OP:

    I have "Block images and other external content in HTML email" checked in the Safety Options on the Security tab.  It works exactly the way it should so I get an email with images and they're blocked unless I click "Show images" on the message or if they are already in my Safe Senders list.

    However, this works for all my accounts in Live Mail except my Hotmail account.  For some reason ALL images just show up and are not blocked.

    ----------------- (emphasis mine)

    This has nothing to do with the "Security Level".  The setting is "Block images and other external content in HTML email"  This should apply to ALL e-mail, whether its spam, Nigerian Princes, a message from my GF, MSN, or Amazon.  But, alas, HTML e-mails from everyone in my Inbox automatically show the images without prompting.  The headers, the footers, and (presumably) the "blank" gifs they use to track when you've opened the e-mail.  We don't want that. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Jim)

    And it works as expected/intended for all other accounts setup in Live Mail (GMail) (ie. images don't show up at all until clicked on appropriate link).

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T22:30:18+00:00

    Try turning off HTML emails in WL Mail,

     That would work.  Do you know how to do that?  I searched, but couldn't find a setting for it.

    I don't really want to switch to using GMail for everything, since I have a lot of accounts already setup, but its looking like a better option every day.

    A lot of pain up front > little pain every day.

    Thank you for your insight.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T23:22:50+00:00

     Do you know how to do that?

    When viewing the message list, press Ctrl-Shift-O for Options. On the Read tab, select Read all messages in plain text.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T23:39:16+00:00

    I was reacting to Jim's statement that ALL images just show up and are not blocked.  Most of these are spam. If spam is turning up in the inbox, then the security level should be raised. If it's turning up in the Junk email folder, then things are working as designed and the message will not be displayed unless it's consciously opened, and the problem of displaying images doesn't arise.

    He also wrote that this[I get an email with images and they're blocked unless I click "Show images"] works for all my accounts in Live Mail except my Hotmail account. It wasn't until after I'd posted that he wrote that I have this problem with all my IMAP accounts. That's moved the goalposts quite some distance away. It makes troubleshooting so much easier if the symptoms are described accurately to begin with.

    It's worth pointing out that this setting applies only to external content. Images that are embedded in the message and transmitted with it are not external and will not be affected by the block. This is the likely scenario with a message from my GF.

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