e mail help

[#1]

All of a sudden one of my e-mail inboxes has stopped working, i am (was) using it as a spam re-direct via the spam filter thingy  so that all mial marked  by plusnts spam filter thing re directs to that inbox, however now windows live mail keeps asking for a password, even when i put the correct one in, and when trying to access that mailbox via the webmail interface ( username+mailbox name) it just says unknown user or password incorrect, ive tried changing the password in the member centre by putting in my curent password, but all that says is "The password must be 8-16 characters long. This can be made up of letters (a-z) or (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and any of the following symbols: !#$%&()*+,-./:;>=<?@[]^_`{|}~." however the password im currently using on my main plusnet account, and the e-mail system is seven characters long.
whats going on? all the other inboxes work with a seven character/digit password why not this one?

[#2]

The minimum password length was changed to 8 characters a long time ago, alongside allowing longer passwords and inclusion of the special characters listed. This standard was not made restrospective so existing passwords that might be shorter continue to work until changed.
The change in password rules was well publicised at the time.

[#3]

Quote from: pint

and when trying to access that mailbox via the webmail interface ( username+mailbox name) it just says unknown user or password incorrect

It took me a while to remember that each mailbox sign-in has its own password....  Are you using the password appropriate to the particular mailbox in question?
Chris