I am so cross - need a new email account!

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Eighteen years ago I went to work abroad. Email wasn't quite such a big thing then, I had left my old work address and the new one wasn't yet activated but I wanted to communicate with my old friends. I found I could set up a free Hotmail account, which I did. I had a rather peculiar email address because all the obvious things I tried were already taken and anyway I imagined it would be only temporary. As it turned out I have had the same email address all this time. It's free and accessible over the web without having to remember a forgettable login page. I have had to explain the idea behind the name many times but people do tend to remember it, which is handy. It has been with me from job to job and place to place and I use it for work and general communication. At least I did until last week. Hotmail is easy to use from anywhere, so while we were on holiday I foolishly thought I would just check my email quickly in case anything important had come up. This was a big mistake. Microsoft didn't like the fact that I was trying to use my own account in Spain, it has locked me out, made me answer a series of questions about my identity, who I send emails to, what subjects and what folders I store them in, and wants to send a code to a separate email account - naturally if I had a different account I regularly use I wouldn't need the Hotmail one would I? As soon as this is resolved and I have saved what I need I am going to close this stupid account and move elsewhere, to a less authoritarian provider. Anyone have any suggestions?