Set Up Hotmail for Lazy but Correct Replies

Everybody wants to do things correctly. Most people will go to considerable lengths to conform to what they want themselves — and others — to be.

There is no need to be more than perfect, however, and there is no point to making it particularly hard to do the right and correct thing. Writing email replies with correct quotations and attributions is nice, but since Hotmail is not really good at it you'd have to do a lot by hand, and that will typically do a lot more harm (elsewhere) than good.

Fortunately, another completely legal and correct way to reply to email messages does exist, and Hotmail is pretty good at it. It's probably also easier to handle, too, and it takes just requires a few clicks to get you set once and for all.

To set up Hotmail for lazy but correct replies:

• Follow the Options link from the top Hotmail navigation bar.
• Go to the Mail section.
• Click Message Replies.
• Make sure Auto is selected under Include Original Text When Replying.
• Choose Horizontal Separator under Original Text Indicator.
• Click OK.