Can't access hotmail or outlook. Why would that be?

[Mumswang]

I've acquired a refurbished laptop. I wanted a mac but hey ho beggars can't be choosers etc

Anyway I can see some web pages like BBC and mumsnet but when I try to look at hotmail or access my work emails through outlook exchange I get a 'server can't be found' message

Anyone have any idea why that might be?

Refurbished from where? Just that if it was previously used in work there might have been some settings made to 'local' machines (on the office LAN) which would not be found from 'outside'.

Hotmail might have been banned in an office environment, and the server info for your office e-mail servers might not work from 'outside' but would work on the LAN there.

What error message(s) do you get when trying to access Hotmail on the browser ?