Using "Follow Up" in Lotus Notes

As a constant user of Lotus Notes I have to say that one of the best features I have found in this tool is "Follow Up" which helps me a lot to don't lose the important mails I have to answer as soon as possible.

To remark one mail in this way, the first thing to do is to select it.

Then, you have to go to the "Follow Up" option (remember that the images are from a Spanish version) and click on "Add or Edit Flag...".

Suddenly, Lotus Notes will pop up the following window, where you can give this message a priority and actions, configure these and click "OK".

In this way, you will mark the massage with a priority represented by a flag icon together the mail.

But, if you want to see all your mails marked with some kind of priority you have to display the "Follow Up" section located at the bottom of the Lotus window.

Once you have expanded this section you will be able to see all your important mails, only the ones you have to review immediately.

However, doing the previous step I wrote above could sound very boring, it really is, this is why there's a faster way to do this: using the "Quick Flag" option, with this you will mark the message with a flag.

When you finish your work with the prioritized mail, you can remove the mark with the "Remove Flag" option.

As you can see, this is a powerful option when you have tons of mails there.

Losing my Windows Live Account, be Careful

Honestly, I have been using this Microsoft account since it was called Hotmail, but in all that time I hadn't been used frequently the account to chat through Windows Live Messenger.

Also it is good to say that I use an email client, Thunderbird specifically, so logging in to the Windows Live webpage was not something that I usually did. This is how I downloaded all the mails to my PC, which is really useful, but one Sunday weeks ago I need to chat with someone, having the need to connect in my Windows Live Messenger... and when I tried to do so I found out that I could not be logged in.

I was absolutely sure about the password I had used there, but it continued to reject my input so I decided to enter through the webpage, showing me the following message.

Believe it or not my account had been blocked! I had no idea about what it would be the reason for this, until I suddenly remembered that sometime ago my mail address had been used to send spam, but looking into a lot of forums I convinced myself that there was no solution for this, just to wait spammers to change to another mail address.

However, I got my account blocked anyway, therefore I began with the password reset process, but I have a problem here: I couldn't remember what my secret answer was, indeed I even hadn't idea about my secret question. This is how I contacted the customer support.

 
 
 

Here we go, I had to fulfill this form, which would be used to validate my identity, as you can see some items of this form are very specific.

The main problem I faced was with the country because when I created the account I used a fake country such as England, USA o France, at that moment I couldn't remember and neither now haha. Nevertheless, I tried to complete this form anyway it could be made.

 

With this, Microsoft created a private forum to solved my case, the first answer I received was:

Unfortunately, we could not verify the Windows Live ID account ownership using the information you provided.

In keeping with Microsoft’s commitment to protecting online privacy, Windows Live ID takes account security seriously. Passing the validation process can be difficult and our agents follow strict validation guidelines before authorizing a password reset. The validation process is pass or fail. We cannot provide you feedback on whether the account information you provided is correct or incorrect. This is to protect the Live ID account integrity.

Here are some recommendations to assist you in providing accurate information, allowing us to ensure we can successfully validate that you are the account owner.

• Review the information that you have provided for the account and verify its accuracy.
  • You can review your submitted information by visiting the link provided in the “Windows Live ID Help – Account Validation and Password Reset Information!” e-mail. This e-mail will have been sent to the alternate e-mail account you provided during the password reset process.
  • If you need to make corrections, please submit them through the Windows Live Solution Center case.
• You should identify any missing information.
  • Review your submitted information and identify any questions you may have missed or would be able to answer.
  • If you need to submit additional information to missed questions, please submit them through the Windows Live Solution Center case.
• Provide any additional information by submitting it through the Windows Live Solution Center case.
  • Adding any additional details to assist us in verifying you as the account owner is greatly appreciated.
  • Some examples of additional account information are –
    • A listing of Hotmail Folders.
    • Hotmail or Messenger Contacts.
    • Known subject lines of e-mails in your Hotmail account.
    • If you have changed your postal code, address, or other data, provide previous information. 

The more information you provide our agents, the more equipped they are to successfully validating you as the account owner.

We understand the inconvenience of not being able to access your account and we look forward to assisting you in your account recovery.

I reply this post giving more information, and guess what... yes, I received exactly the same answer, the same text, in front of this situation I tried to reply again explaining my need to recover my account, but I received this message:

 

We have concluded our review of the information you provided. Our agents were unable to validate that you are the account owner. The information provided has been reviewed and our agents could not match this information to the account information currently stored for the account.

Our final recommendation is to create a new Windows Live ID account. 

Windows Live ID Support

Yes, I had been talking to a bot, so I decided finally to create another account, but in Gmail because I will never have a Windows Live account for the worst treat I received. I hope my experience sometime to be useful to you.