The best free one out there so far is Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition (Downloadable here: http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html at 2.5 MB) If you're using this, there's zero effect on Hotmail. I can't speak for any other programs.
As far as Hotmail goes, a few months ago, I couldn't get into my account for 4 days. (And it was a -paid- account! I could access my free ones just fine.) I emailed the customer service (or whatever they call themselves) and they said something like the server was having problems... so Hotmail can zonk out all on its own without anything having been caused by the user.
My reccomendation is to run Ad-Aware if you're not already... and if that doesn't fix it, email Hotmail.
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The best free one out there so far is Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition (Downloadable here: http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html at 2.5 MB) If you're using this, there's zero effect on Hotmail. I can't speak for any other programs.
As far as Hotmail goes, a few months ago, I couldn't get into my account for 4 days. (And it was a -paid- account! I could access my free ones just fine.) I emailed the customer service (or whatever they call themselves) and they said something like the server was having problems... so Hotmail can zonk out all on its own without anything having been caused by the user.
My reccomendation is to run Ad-Aware if you're not already... and if that doesn't fix it, email Hotmail.