The Windows Live team announces that POP3 access to Hotmail (@hotmail.com, @live.com, etc) has been enabled worldwide , finally ending years of your email being trapped behind Microsoft apps.

They've been rolling out these changes for a while now, with the US finally getting access last month, but POP3 access is finally available to everybody. Setting it up is fairly simple in most email applications—just create a new account in your favourite email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, Evolution, etc) using the following details from the Windows Live team:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)

POP SSL required? Yes

User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com

Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live

SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)

Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)

TLS/SSL required? Yes

Why i find this useful? Now you can get all your Hotmail emails in, you guessed it: Gmail.