Well..... the thing is that services like Hotmail are only web-based email clients. You still need an email server to send and receive messages, which comes back to the problem that, as far as I know, there are no email servers which run on Win9x. Without the server support, all the frontends in the world are useless. Unless you are planning on offering email accounts to other people besides yourself, creating MX aliases to your existing account(s) is really your only and best option. If what you want to do is setup a Hotmail like service, you're going to need to either upgrade to some form of Win2K or WinNT (which can run email server software) or migrate over to Linux which will run email servers like Exim. Win9x is not an option as a server operating system, and was never designed to be such.
Regarding the Noton Firewall, while that does give an additional level of security, it's effectiveness is limited by the platform on which it runs. Win32 is an inheritantly insecure platform (didn't CodeRed show this clearly enough?) whether it's Win9x, WinNT, or Win2K. The NT family is somewhat more secure, but I still wouldn't choose to place truely important or sensitive info on it. Win9x is not secure, even by WinNT standards, and never will be. Firewall programs provide a sense of false security which should not be equated as real security. It is shockingly easy to crack into Win9x boxes and firewall programs don't really change that. ALWAYS consider Win9x systems connected to the internet as an open book to anyone with the knowledge and desire to read them, and judge act accordingly.
HTH.
geoff
