January 03, 2011, London: Many Hotmail users had a New Year surprise when they found empty inboxes and missing folders as they logged in.
Several frantic users posted complaints against Email giant MSN claiming that their emails have been deleted from their accounts.
It is still unclear whether the problem lies with Microsoft, which owns MSN, or whether it is the work of hackers, the Daily Mail reported.
A number of users complain that all of their messages have disappeared while others said the majority of the e-mail in their inboxes was sent to their deleted mail folders instead.
It is not known yet how many account holders have been affected.
Windows Live support technicians said in numerous threads that the Hotmail team is aware of the problem and working on a fix.
"At this point it appears to be a limited issue, and Microsoft is working with individual users who are impacted. We apologise for any inconvenience to our customers," Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said.
She declined to disclose what caused the glitch.
The free Web-based e-mail service is the world’s most used with about 360 million users.(PTI)
