hi Bob.
It's the difference between Hotmail (and other web based mail services, like Gmail) and an email client (like Outlook) that runs on your own computer.
When you click on the email address, Windows sees it as a mail link and starts what it thinks is the best program to deal with that: Outlook.
It is possible to convince Windows to use Hotmail as your default client, I think. I had a bit of a Google and offer these (though I don't know for sure which operating system you are using, so you may need to search a bit more - See how I searched here:
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=click+an+email+link+and+start+hotmail
- i normally use that kind of comment if I'm being sarcastic but for someone getting to grips with the web, it's really good to see how other folk use it and that's an ideal tool. try the link and you'll see what I mean).
Here's what I found:
http://tips4pc.com/email%20computer%20tips/hotmail_email/make_your_start_menu_email_link.htm
and
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080504102949AAA1eMt
and
http://www.ehow.com/how_5872059_make-primary-email-vs_-microsoft.html
Alternatively: Right-click on the link and select "copy link location" then go to Hotmail and paste that into the address field..
.
Anon
March 2012