Back around New Year 2009, all my contacts were deleted from my old MSN Messenger account.

With my old MSN username being 10 years old, and full of crap (spambots filling up my tools>privacy 'blocked' lists and an email full of spam), I decided to get a fresh start and start a new MSN Messenger account.

I added the email of everyone on the old list to the new one, and 75% of them transferred with no problems. However, many people, most of whom had no reason to not want to talk with me, were never seen again. I think some people, myself included, don't accept new random contact add requests, because of all the SPAMbots, salesmen and random perverts etc.

I have kept these contacts on this new MSN account for 2 years now, because they are still useful for searching for lost friends on Facebook's 'Friend Finder' etc. I have re-connected with a few people using this method.

However, I have a lot of boring free time in the office now, and want to clean up my MSN list. I am sure some accounts are literally dead and finished.

I know you can send a mass email, and see which emails are sent back undelivered. However, in some cases I have seen these emails then start working again at a later date. Also, I use Plus already, so I can leave MSN running, and see if any missing people pop online occasionally. However, this won't solve the issue of those who maybe rejected+blocked me, due to not recognising my new address, when I did the transfer.

Is there a way to see which Hotmail/MSN/Live accounts are cancelled, which have me blocked (intentionally or through miss-identification) or which are simply inactive for years?

It would be really nice to know which contacts were worth keeping 'just in case', and which I should just delete.

Cheers,

Si

Block-checkers and tools that check the status of WLM accounts were handy years ago.

However, they won't work anymore, and the security holes they exposed are now fixed. Microsoft doesn't allow any unauthorised status checking anymore.

Please read: Block Checkers DO NOT work

You should have left the spam-filled list as it was, then you could have gone back and seen if old friends were online, as well as change your nickname to "I have a new email, add me: xxx@hotmail.com".Lesson learned

You could try copying the contacts from your NEW account back onto your OLD account. Seeing as your old friends shouldn't have blocked or deleted that account (and they'll recognise the email address if a request is received) you may be able to contact them that way.

You also get the chance to add a personalized message to invites. Maybe there you can say who you are, and remind them who you are