IE 6 Cookies Giving trouble.

I have XP Pro Service Pack 1 Compaq PIV machine. Whenever I try to open www.hotmail.com and put my username and password I get the followin message
“Your Web browser options are currently set to disable cookies. To use .NET Passport, you must enable cookies.”

I have restored all the default settings for the IE 6. Have set the option in Privacy to “Accept All Cookies” but of no use.

Can someone help please??