# Hotmail - Public Access Computers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755 "2002-12-14T17:59:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/1 "2002-12-14T17:59:59Z")
At the library where I work, there is one public internet terminal that won’t let patrons access their hotmail accounts. It goes to other free e-mail services. And pretty much every other website around. The computer is running IE 5.5 (tweaked for public consumption so you can’t alter the settings) and Win 95 as part of a really big network. Do I need to call in the IT Squad to get them to tweak something? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/2 "2002-12-14T18:08:27Z")
What kind of errors are you getting? Is it a thin client terminal or an actual PC? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/3 "2002-12-14T18:14:15Z")
After you log in to hotmail, you get a “Page Cannot Be Displayed” error. It’s an actual PC. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/4 "2002-12-14T18:29:34Z")
Just refer them to the 005s and go to lunch. Anyway, if a reboot doesn’t clear up the problem, call IT. All sorts of downloaded crap used to make it past our public W95/Netscape setup before we switched to a W2K Terminal Server. Now, the whole network randomly crashes. Dunno which is better. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/5 "2002-12-14T18:40:08Z")
What usually works for me: Hotmail installs cookies to tell it which mail server to connect to (in order to distribute the load). If that server is behaving badly, the PC cannot access Hotmail. Get rid of the Hotmail cookies. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/6 "2002-12-14T19:25:57Z")
Yes, it’s amazing how many problems are caused by cookies and resolved by clearing the cookies. I had a similar problem with my bank account and it was caused by a corrupted cookie. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail-public-access-computers/142755/7 "2002-12-14T23:29:56Z")
Thanks, it probably is a corrupted cookie. However, the IT guys have to take care of it. And if you saw what people did to these computers or tried to do to them, you could understand how the files get corrupted.