This evening Microsoft released the final build of Windows Live Essentials 2011 just a month after the last beta refresh.
Live Essentials includes the programs like Windows Live Movie Maker, Mail, Messenger, Writer, Sync, and Family Safety and Version 2011 takes advantage of the ribbon UI and integrates further into Windows 7 by using jumplists.
Web Installer: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials
Offline Installer: http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/en/wlsetup-all.exe
The Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Public Beta has now been released. The beta is only supported on Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 and Windows 7.
If you want to play with the public beta download your copy from the Windows Live Essentials beta site
A commenter over at Jonathan Key’s Messenger Geek blog has pointed out a very useful feature has been removed in the latest QFE patch. The ability to backup and restore the Messenger Contacts list. Why this has to be removed I have no idea nor does Jonathan Kay.
The feature was handy for the following scenarios.
One suggestion that Jonathan has suggested is to go to http://people.live.com/ , choose the Manage menu and then Export or Import but this is not ideal.
Tom Warren of Neowin.net is reporting that thousands of passwords have been posted by an anonymous user of Pastebin.com on October 1st, a site commonly used to share source code. The accounts may have been collected by a phishing scam or had been hacked.
Though the details has since been removed the number of effected accounts totalled 10,027. The effected accounts started with the letters A and B but Neowin is advising users to change their passwords and security questions regardless.
Update: The phishing scam as it seems to be has now spread to Google’s GMail, AOL and Yahoo services. The number of effected accounts now totals around 20,000
Over the next few weeks there will be an upgrade to the Windows Live messenger service and the upgrade will happen in two phases as detailed below.
The upgrade will include fixes as well as resolve a security vulnerabilities as detailed in Security Advisory 973882
Below is the timeline of the upgrade from the Windows Live Messenger blog
First Phase, Optional Upgrade:
The optional upgrade will happen in two stages:
Starting Aug. 25, customers using versions 8.1 or 8.5 were asked to upgrade their client.
Starting early Oct., all customers using versions 14.0 (but not the latest release 14.0.8089) will be asked to upgrade their client.
The upgrade at this time is optional. Customers who haven’t upgraded during the optional phase will be required to do so during the second phase.
Second Phase, Mandatory Upgrade:
The mandatory upgrade will happen in three stages:
Starting mid-Sept., all customers using Messenger 8.1 or 8.5 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger.
Starting late Oct., all customers using Messenger 14.0 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger.
To ensure that we are protecting customers, those who do not administer the upgrade will not be able to sign in to Messenger after this time.
As we reported a few weeks ago, Microsoft has officially rolled out an update to Windows Live Essentials (Build 8064). If you’re not familiar with Windows Live Essentials, it is a suite of applications that include: Windows Live Mail (Desktop Version), Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Toolbar, Windows Live Family Safety, and Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.
The updates don’t appear to have any new features, but contain lots of fixed bugs especially for Windows 7 users. Microsoft has announced that users still using Windows Live Messenger 8.1, 8.5, and the latest 9.0 (build 1202) will be asked, not required, to update to 14.0.8064.0206.
Other than nit-pick bug fixes, it appears that the Windows Live Messenger team has not fixed the jump list bug for Windows 7 users. So you’re still going to need to run Windows Live Messenger in “Vista Compatibility” mode.
Download: Windows Live Essentials build 8064
Screenshots:
News source: Neowin.net
A few hours ago, Tom Warren announced what Steve Ballmer announced during the keynote address tonight. From what I and many others understood, there was apparently a new build labeled as the “final version” released over at Download.live.com. However this is not the case, hey it happens. We’ve just received confirmation that the “1202” builds are indeed the final build. The main reason that Steve announced this at CES is simply because the Windows Live Essentials suite is now available to every market, compared to being strictly US.
During the keynote, Steve Ballmer also announced that users will soon be able to add Facebook as one of many web activities on your Windows Live Profile. So when you post an image or update your status, your network on Windows Live will also know. And last but not least, Dell will be shipping most of their consumers PCs with the final version of Windows Live Essentials starting in February.
While we are on the topic of Windows Live, I have been invited to attend a private one on one meeting with Ryan Gavin, Senior Director, Windows Live Consumer Product Management OR Dharmesh Mehta, Director, Windows Live Consumer Product Management. I’m not exactly sure if the meeting is going to be strictly PR related or an interview style. With that said, if you have any questions for me to ask please post them and I’ll try and get most if not all answered. I will be meeting with them on the 9th early in the morning so get your questions in!
Source: Neowin.net
Many of you will have several WLIDs, and want to sign into Messenger with more than one of them. Until now you had to seek refuge in a patch or add-on to be able to do so. Not anymore! Microsoft’s John Weisenfeld just shared a little trick with me to enable this, which I’m going to share with you.
The trick involves registry editing, so please follow these steps very carefully:
1. Start regedit (admin)
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows Live
3. Right click Messenger and create a new DWORD called MultipleInstances
4. Right click the newly added registry key and choose Modify
5. Set the Value data to 1
6. Close regedit
All done! Now you can launch Windows Live Messenger as many times as you want, and sign in with as many WLIDs you want, on one computer. Just don’t try to sign in with the same WLID more than once on one computer or it will throw error 80071392 at you!
Enjoy!
Source: Liveside.net
Microsoft has just made the updated release candidate of the Windows Live Suite wave 3 at download.live.com. Thanks to Sean Bradford for alerting us.
Microsoft has updated the Messenger client to Version 2009 (Build 14.0.8050.1202) as can be seen below from the about Window:
There is no beta tag anywhere on this build as it’s a near final build and Messenger plus does work with this build but not all features are usable.
Overall the UI has been enhanced in most areas with minor changes. The main improvements are the integration to Windows 7 and jump lists.
The sign in has changed slightly
The Windows 7 jump lists:
The toasts that pop up when users sign in have been updated too:
The contact list and IM windows remain largely the same:
Source: Tom Warren of Neowin.net
While we are all eagerly waiting for the release of Windows Live Essentials, let me ask you this: are you used to all those new services yet? I for one love them, especially the new Homepage. This truly is the one-stop-page to keep up to date with what your friends are up to AND holds all the links to the other services. Did you know you can have this same experience on your mobile phone? On any mobile phone (as long as it has an internet browser)?
You can! As the Windows Live Services for mobile have also been updated, as we announced it would earlier.
Text messaging
Access Windows Live via SMS. Get mobile alerts and more…coming soon you will be able to send SMS commands (update personal message, add people to your network, check calendar etc.) to Windows Live and Windows Live will send you a text message with the result! To get started, sign in and add your mobile.
Home – mobile.live.com
What you are used to on your PC now also on your mobile device, stay up to date with your friends whereabouts and links to all the other services.Just like on the homepage on your POC you can also change your personal message from this page.
Hotmail – mobile.live.com/hm
Email on the go! Read, write and delete!
People – mpeople.live.com
Your Windows Live Contact list. You can even search for a specific contact and call him/her, if he/she has that set up, by clicking on the Call link.
Photos – mphotos.live.com
Save, share and view Photos from your mobile device. You can view your own and your friend’s pictures (and comments on them) on your mobile and…
Yes, you can upload all those pretty pictures you took straight to Photos (skydrive) and share them with the people you wish to share them with. No more waiting until you can connect your phone to your PC or mobile photo blog services that come with some phones.
Messenger – mim.live.com
Chat with your friends from your phone.
Search – m.live.com
Windows Live Search to find what you need on the go.
MSN Mobile – http://home.mobile.msn.com/en-us/default.aspx
News, sports, weather and more.
Spaces – mobile.spaces.live.com
Express yourself on your space right from your phone by using blogs, photos, customization and lists.
Profile – mprofile.live.com
Manage your network on the go.
To learn more, get a preview of what the mobile experience looks like for you and/or to register your phone, visit http://mobile.live.com. Want to go look for yourself and experience it on your phone?
As you can see, in this day and age in which our mobile device becomes more and more important to us, you can now also enjoy Windows Live on the go!
Source: LiveSide.net