Hotmail strikes back in webmail storage war

MSN is to give free antivirus protection and additional storage capacity to all Hotmail customers from next month.

The antivirus service will scan incoming and outgoing emails to all Hotmail users, and storage capacity will be increased to 250MB, which the company says is 125 times the current capacity. Users will also be able to send attachments of up to 10MB.

Hotmail has come under pressure from Google's proposed webmail offering, which is touted to offer 1GB of storage, although there are privacy concerns over the search giant's advertising plans around the service.

MSN will also revamp its paid-for services. Hotmail Plus Web will cost $19.95 per year and offer users online storage capacity of 2GB and the ability to send 20MB attachments.

Hotmail Extra Storage subscribers will be upgraded later this summer. MSN Premium subscribers will receive the added storage benefits later this year.

"We know from talking with our customers that online safety is their number one concern," said Blake Irving, corporate vice president of communication services and member platforms at MSN, in a statement.

"Providing free antivirus cleaning helps protect our Hotmail customers while guarding members of the overall Hotmail community and the friends and family they email."