Hello
  I have had a hotmail.com address for about 15 years, but haven't checked it recently, perhaps for a year or more.  I have a feeling it was shut down due to inactivity and/or outlook changeover.   It has been my backup account with GMail for the last several years, and I recently received a message from GMail saying the hotmail address was invalid, which was my first indication that something was amiss.

Microsoft Customer Support wrote:  I was able to verify that your account does not exist in our database.

When I explained to Customer support that I was referring to a potentially terminated email account, they suggested I post to this forum.

 Is there something that can be done to restore the account?  I'm thinking there must be some sort of backup -- seems pretty irresponsible to delete someone's email account permanently, especially since I've been with hotmail for 15+ years. 

Thanks for any help!