Microsoft's free Web-based e-mail service Hotmail now has more than 100 million users worldwide.
Microsoft says its instant messenger software, which lets users type messages to each other in real time over the Internet, grew by two million users in March to nearly 32 million worldwide.
The company say the messenger data from Web research firm Jupiter Media Metrix showed it still had a global lead over rival instant message service from AOL's America Online.
More than half of Microsoft's instant messenger users are outside the United States while AOL recorded a figure of about 15 per cent.
Although such services are free for users, Microsoft is keen on building a large base of potential paying customers as it implements its .Net strategy to turn software into fee-based Web services.
Its MSN Internet operation, of which Hotmail and instant messenger are a part, is the consumer face for that strategy. Among other things MSN also includes an Internet access service with five million customers, and the MSN.com Internet portal that has 230 million unique users worldwide.