Q. I’m having issues with the MSN software Verizon gave me. Is there a newer version, or should I get another program?

A. MSN Premium is a combination of software and services (http://get.msn.com) you can buy for $9.95 a month or get bundled with broadband services — though some, such as Verizon, no longer advertise it to new users.

MSN’s services are nothing special — you can get most of them free at Microsoft’s Windows Live site. But the MSN Explorer software, a Windows-only all-in-one combination of Web browser, e-mail client and other World Wide Web tools, is the real problem.

Readers have complained about performance and compatibility issues, and Microsoft doesn’t seem to have put serious effort into it in years. (A Microsoft spokesman said the release of an updated 10.0 version was “imminent” but offered zero data about its features.)

Microsoft doesn’t assemble it easy to move from MSN, either. That same

spokesman wrote that “we don’t supply info migration tools to move customers to other Web applications today” — making that program a prison as far as your e-mail is concerned.

You may, in fact, have some options, depending on your versions of MSN and Windows. whether you run Microsoft’s Outlook, you can try using its Outlook Connector program (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011000051033.aspx) and use that to get your e-mail and contacts. User postings online propose that an export option on its Mail Settings screen can work to move saved messages to Outlook Express, assuming you still run Windows XP.

Finally, a volunteer-run tech support site (http://belfiore.mvps.org) collects tips about that software, including some about exporting your Web bookmarks.

None of these work-arounds may work in your case — but none should be essential in any case. Microsoft should put MSN Premium out of its misery, but not before adding a data-export feature that works with current…

Original post by dhiram