I’m Ian Tien, part of the Windows Live product management team here in sunny Redmond, Washington, USA.
I’m here to talk about our lives online—ever feel like yours is too complicated?
Too many online accounts, too many applications installed, too many places where your files are stored—in your e-mail account, your USB drive, the CDs you’ve burned, your old PC, your new PC, in your digital camera, in your phone (which also has a camera)…
If managing all your digital stuff became easier, wouldn’t that be AWESOME?
Here are three ways Windows Live helps simplify your life:
1) Share your favorites!
I LOVE this feature. It synchronizes my favorites (also known as “bookmarks”) in Internet Explorer across my laptop at work and my PC at home:
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Favorites on my home PC |
Favorites on my work laptop |
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All I need is Windows Live Toolbar on both computers,* and I can get to my favorite websites from either computer, and save new sites to both machines.
But let’s say I’m on vacation and I don’t bring my own computer—then what?
Sha-zam!
My bookmarks are also synchronized to my Windows Live account on the web:
So I can reach them from any computer (even my Apple Laptop).
You know what else I do with favorites? Share them with friends!
No, silly, I don’t mean e-mailing links to people—that is so 1992.
I mean, “Hey, here’s a cool article!”
To share it, I’ll hit the Share button on Windows Live Toolbar, make a quick comment…
…and—SHA-ZAM!
Moments later, friends can see my new shared favorite in the “What’s new” list.
“What’s new” allows me to share my activities with the friends and family I choose to add to my Windows Live network. They can see all the content I’ve decided to share with them on my Profile page:
And on Windows Live Home, I get a running summary of what all my friends and family are doing:
Plus, I can browse through “What’s new” in Messenger, too.
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Messenger beta, showing “What’s new” just below the contact list: |
“What’s new” in Messenger: | |
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And I can track my shared favorites online in the same place where my personal web favorites are stored on Windows Live SkyDrive:
It gets even better:
2) 25GB for online photo and file sharing—for free!
Wow! 25GB? Really?
That’s like, a bazillion photos.
But, not only can I share a bazillion photos, I have a FANTASTIC experience organizing, fixing, labeling and sharing them. It starts with Windows Live Photo Gallery which can automatically find photos on my computer and organize them by file folders, date (e.g. year, month, day), or based on tags I enter:
In the following example (photo of me flexing on a mountain—how I spend most weekends 
), not only can Photo Gallery automatically recognize a face, it allows me to add a “people tag” to each face to label it as my own, as one of my Windows Live contacts, or as any name I type in. In addition to people tags, I can also add descriptive tags like “Weekends,” “Mount Baker,” and “Hiking.”
The tags help me find the photos later on and can be viewed from the web as well.
Plus, I can automatically (or manually) adjust color, exposure, and detail as well as crop, straighten, fix red eye and even add black & white effects.
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Before: Me, flexing. |
After: Aaarrh! I’m the Incredible Hulk!! Angry, green, and rotated! |
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Oh no!
I accidently saved my changes! I didn’t mean to turn myself into the Incredible Hulk forever! What do I do?
Oh, phew! Photo Gallery can not only undo my changes, but revert to my original photo even after saving…
Fantastic.
Where was I?…
Right, now that my photos are organized, labeled, and touched up, I want to share them.
POW!
I click the Publish menu in Photo Gallery and my photos are on the web in a flash.
Here’s how the photos look in an online album:
There’s even a beautiful slide show mode where the background “glow” of each photo is designed to complement the colors of each image—Snazzy!
I can share these photos with anyone. Just click Send a link on the page with the photo (or group of photos), and either select from my Windows Live contacts or type in an e-mail address.
Information about the new album also shows up in my “What’s new” list to update people in my network with whom I’ve decided to share this album:
If my friends want copies, they can download the photos using Photo Gallery (or, if you’re in the US, Denmark or Ireland, as a compressed .zip file).
Okay, so now that my friends and I are happily sharing photos, could this get any better?
Yes! Mega bonus points: I can click Setup gallery sync (from the File menu in Photo Gallery) to keep my entire photo collection synchronized across my home and work PCs!
Now new photos I add or update from home or work are available on the other computer too—and I can revert to my original photos from either machine if I change my mind.
Note: At the time of this writing, gallery sync is not yet available to the public (awww…). But it’s coming soon (hurray!).
If I enjoy keeping photos up-to-date, I can use Windows Live Sync to synchronize documents between computers too—great if you’re tired of using e-mail, USB keys, and CDs to move data around, and a lifesaver if your computer ever breaks down. 
By the way, these photos were taken with the 2.0 mega pixel camera in my HTC Shadow phone.
Plus, I never worry about running out of space, because Windows Live gives me 25GB:
And that’s not any 25GB, that’s 25GB of fun, powerful and easy-to-use photo sharing that I can use with anyone in the world.
But wait! There’s more:
3) Enjoy Windows Live with your existing services!
Today, you probably use different services for sharing your photos and websites—maybe through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Yelp, etc.
How do you keep track of all those accounts?
SHA-ZAM!
Windows Live lets you integrate other social networking services, either by adding web activities from other networks into your “What’s new” list:
Or, by adding friends from those networks to Windows Live (you can even tell which Facebook friends are already on Windows Live):
The list of partners for web activities grows constantly—it also varies in different parts of the world, so check the settings on your profile to see what’s available in your area. There’s no better place to keep up to date with the people you care about.
Bottom line: If you’re looking to simplify your life online—and you like having fun sharing with friends and family without the hassle of difficult software or isolated websites—think about what your life COULD be like.
Favorites in sync. Photos in sync. Family in sync. Friends in sync.
Two words:
SHA…ZAM!
Ha ha, just kidding.
Here are the two words that make it all happen:
Windows Live.
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* Favorites sync is not available in all regions, and requires installation of Windows Live Toolbar.
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For those posting problems and looking for replies, you should give serious consideration to posting at http://windowslivehelp.com/. I for one am thoroughly impressed at the direction the Live platform is going. And I\’m a 40-something male in a C-level position in a professional services company (read not a teen or twenty-something). The Windows Live initiative has motivated me to drop my decade old dependence on Yahoo! for mail, photos (flickr), toolbar, personal blog hosting (wordpress), and web hosting. The Essentials applications (download.live.com) really cinched the deal for me. I\’m still very entrenched in Facebook and wish I could better meld the two. I\’m also entrenched at LinkedIn but my personal "stuff" needs not to be melded with my professional.
@ Mandxx – Here\’s a how to on that very topic, and it\’s even in English. http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2008/12/17/how-to-enable-polygamy-in-windows-live-messenger.aspx
@ Scotsman – It amazes me how much difficulty folks seem to have with Hotmail. I haven\’t experienced any of the reported problems with lost messages, crashing, or the like. Once in a great while, I\’ll need to refresh the browser to get Hotmail to update, but that\’s about it. Otherwise, it\’s usually rock-solid for me. Are you using WL Mail or the web-based Hotmail client? I use both, and I\’ve been very impressed with the WL Mail client. Very simple and clean, and no ads. Also, remember that it\’s a good idea to save a draft of a long message once in a while, just like you might save a long document that you\’re editing in a word-processing program. Stuff happens once in a while, you know.
Well, registry editing is all well and good, but it\’s not exactly something for the average user. As it happens, if you have vista home premium, with a bit of reg tweaking you can enable most of the extras for vista ultimate as well. The article actually misses 4 important, (some would say vital) points1. BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!. NEVER tell anyone to play with the registry without saying this first, otherwise you will find 100,000 repair engineers calling at your door waving big heavy things.2. Set a restore point (see point 1)3. This will work in vista. If you try it on xp (especially with sp3) you could be in REAL trouble, unless it\’s a relatively clean and recent install. (different reg. file implementation} The results could be horrendous (see point 1 again!) Although of course, the upside for microsoft is that no-one will be able to contact them to complain………………….4. Although you are very unlikely to be caught, this is in fact illegal, as you are enabling a service that you are meant to pay for as an extra. If you don\’t mind a bit of theivery, then fine, but take the consequences (see point 1, but replace the words \’repair engineers\’ with \’men from microsoft.}
I love the 25GB Windows Live Skydrive upgraded to! I have been using Windows Live since early 2007 (under a different account – a few different accounts – I change alot). Anyways, I remember when SkyDrive was only 5GB, and I thought that was HUGE! Now 25GB?!? That\’s awesome! Thanks!
Found a bit of a typo throughout this article, it should read SHAM.
Toolbar is Missing FormFill.. WHEN WILL IS BE AVAILABLE?
@Roland do I look sound like a person that would have windows live toolbar? @ Greg yes I know there is away to go into registry and change it so I can get both 2 or more at the same time …. but that wasn\’t the point I was making!AGAIN ……… WHY WOULD ANYBODY NEED TO BE SIGNED IN TO MESSENGER ON 2 OR MORE DIFFERENT PCs AT THE SAME TIME ………. YOU WOULDN\’T ….. SO WHY WRITE THE DAMN THING IN?????
@Greg- Gee thanks for the advice Greg. I\’m really glad to get advice on saving long drafts once in a while because things happen. I guess I wasnt specific enough. My 4 page contract response was an attachment sent to my hotmail address from a client. There it was all properly attached and such and then BLAMO! Hotmail locks up again. I reload my IE and hotmail and Surprize, no attachment. "Gee Mr. Client, could you resend everthing? Yes I know I replied yesterday that I had recieved it but see Hotmail is trying to "improve" their service and well things happened and I lost everthing."I am glad The new Windows live hotmail is rock solid for you Greg. It does seem that I and many many thousands of folks are crying that we didnt switch over to gmail or yahoo years ago because we dont work on or with computers for a living and re writing my regestry might as well be a moon walk. Wasnt the Hotmail team supposed to beta test all this before it was forced onto loyal customers of 8+ years?? Thanks for the help Greg.
@Greg again …. I have had no problems with hotmail either, mainly cos I don\’t use it!
maybe the programmer had no-one to talk to…………………………………..
LOL ……. that must be it!!
I like the tone of the article. It\’s at least more friendlier and more humorous, than typical business speak. Good article. I hope for more web activities though. Keep up the good work.
@ Dave – What\’s wrong with a little registry editing. Don\’t you have any imagination?@ Mandxx – Not sure where you\’re going with your comments. You seemed to indicate that you\’d like a way to log into Messenger using multiple Live IDs. That\’s exactly what the registry trick allows you to do. You don\’t use Hotmail? Great, that\’s the beauty of WL. You can use only the services that you need. However, Hotmail is a great – and extremely reliable – service for the millions of us who do use it. You just seem intent on bashing WL.
"…let’s say I’m on vacation and I don’t bring my own computer—then what?"…… ok guy. you covered going off and leaving the pc for a while – Now let\’s say you didn\’t bother with any emails or computering for awhile. (your on Vacation, remember? – Perhaps with a beautiful companion) So your P.C. is NOT on your mind.So when you return home – all aglow… your IN-BOX is Full of 500+ emails – mostly crap – and after saving a few, a few replies, a little banking, whatever…. You\’re now left with about 300+ emails you need to delete.So now what? – You know that In-box Folder won\’t allow you to just delete it\’s Folder. (if it does, someone pls walk me through it) – cause if you delete the entire cluttered InBOX FOLDER – All that\’s left is making a New Empty for now IN-BOX FOLDER. easy-peasy.But No – Instead I\’m doing one of these: highlight email #1, delete email #1… highlight email #2, delete email #2.. etc etc etc unil you kill it dead. (the p.c., not the beautiful companion. and yes, she\’s now living with you)ANYWAYS….There must… or at least SHOULD be some sort of Feauture – … SELECT ALL EMAILS and then DELETE ALL EMAILS within the in-box.Is this indeed a feature within WindowsLive Mail? (I have the newest new one, that says: copyrighted in 2009.. it\’s now Dec. 20th, 2008 still, odd.)or am i over-looking something and making this way too complicated?In either case – if someone knows, please be kind enough to pass that bit of knowledge along, eh?Much Appreciated.- Jack
@ Jack – While it\’s true that Hotmail only shows 25 messages per page, you can click the checkbox at the top of the page (next to Sort By) to select all of the messages on the page. You can then easily click the Delete button to quickly delete the selected messages. WL Mail, being a desktop application, has a more functional interface and doesn\’t use pages to display messages, so you can just press Ctrl + A to select all messages in the folder, and then click Delete (just like in most other e-mail applications). I agree that Hotmail needs an option to display all messages in a folder without using multiple pages. BTW, if you\’re getting 500+ junk messages in your inbox each month, you might want to check into more agressive junk mail handling. For instance, I have my junk filter set to Exclusive – that means only messages from my contacts and designated safe senders come to my inbox. The rest, which I presume to be junk, goes directly to my junk folder, which is automatically deleted after ten days. Of course, I pop over into my junk folder once in a while, just to make sure there\’s nothing important in there. If I find safe mail in the junk folder, then I can click the Not Junk button, which adds the sender to my safe list and prevents future messages from being routed to the Junk folder. WL Mail (like most other e-mail programs) has similar options for handling junk e-mail.Happy e-mailing!
oh Greg, Oh Greg, will you never understand. Maybe your finding all this greyy text as hard to read as everyone else is.1, my problem – I KNOW I can edit the registry, I KNOW you can. I also know that we are in a very small minority. MOST PEOPLE CAN\’T! And if you get it slightly wrong, messenger will never work again without a major reinstall, and if you manage to get it slightly more wrong, your computer will never start properly again. I also notice that you ignored the legal implications of enabling a service that you are not entitled to.2, Mandxx\’s problem. She is NOT ASKING FOR MULTIPLE LOGINS ON ONE COMPUTER! Exactly the opposite. She is saying WHY IS THERE ONE LOGIN ON MULTIPLE COMPUTERS. Even you must agree this is totally pointless. Do you really need the facility to message someone from two different parts of the world at exactly the same time?3, Hotmail – NO-ONE IS ASKING FOR NEW SERVICES OR FEATURES, JUST THE OLD ONES BACK. Not that hard to understand surely?4, When you moan about not being able to have the same header and theme as here, YOU ARE MAKING EXACTLY THE SAME COMPLAINT AS THE REST OF US. That is, too much control, not enough choice. I don\’t deny you the right to make your space look anyway you like. The whole point of a space is to express your own personality. The ironic thing is that if you used my system to break out of Lives\’ control, you could have what you want in about 20 mins.Here is a genuine offer, If thats what you wan\’t, I\’ll do it for you, I\’ll even host the external page! But just realise that this isn\’t about me saying what your page should look like, it\’s about YOU saying EXACTLY what your page should look like
Gotta love these new additions to Windows Live! Sure would be nice to have better syncing and updatig with the Windows Mobile phones though
Oh no! I accidently saved my changes! I didn’t mean to turn myself into the Incredible Hulk forever! What do I do? Oh, phew! Photo Gallery can not only undo my changes, but revert to my original photo even after saving… Quoted from Ian\’s above blog: You might remind people that they don\’t have to work on an original photo, Ian. It\’s always wise to make a copy of a treasured photo to play with so that you don\’t accidently damage it. If you do, there\’s the original saved safely, (hopefully elsewhere) for people to pull in and play with. I\’m constantly telling friends this as it\’s so easy to make an unrecoverable mistake. I must, however, test your above theory for photos!
I must agree with Dave on the Registry business. Never advise anyone to touch it if they have no experience of repairing it should it ever go wrong. I speak from my own experience – not because of my tinkering but because of a so-deemed quality Registry Cleaner (of all things) that nicked a required Windows file out of it and crashed the computer. Tough to fix if you don\’t know how.
The other thing about the \’revert photo\’ option is that, like everything else mentioned above, it isn\’t new! This has been an option for ages. Nothing AT ALL has been added to the new versions of any of this software, only taken away.
HeyIs there anyway to stop random people adding me as a messanger contact?ThanxXo
@ xxNIKKIxx: yes, there is: STOP forwarding all this absurd chain mail about love, accidents, tests, causes and so on, which are NEVER true or never really matter. That way, your e-mail won\’t be seen by literally anyone with an e-mail account. You can also Use the Bcc (Blind carbon copy) so that your contacts\’ e-mail addresses won\’t be visible to each and every one of the recipients, and encourage your contacts to do so. Sensitive personal information, such as the e-mail, should be protected.Here\’s what I do: I never forward chain mail, and when someone I don\’t know tries to add me to their contact list, I refuse AND block them. I can say blocking is my favorite feature of the program.To the Windows Live Team blog: as a genuine early adopter, I like everything, and I\’ve been using the public BETA of Windows Live Messenger long before it was updated (yesterday). I like all the new features, and have had no problems, and no major complaints to make. I have something more of a suggestion:Since you\’ve gone so far into changing the Windows Live Platform, and since Windows Live Writer is made to do so, why don\’t you enable Future Publishing for the blogs in Windows Live Spaces? It\’s almost ridiculous that the program supports what its own platform doesn\’t. I don\’t think I\’m asking for too much.
WTF you talking about!?!? I dont forward anything to anyone and neither does my friends. Its people trying to add me to messenger whenever they visit my profile, i do decline and block them but everytime i go back on theres another lot of requests.
While you can\’t set a publish date yet for blog entries with the WL Spaces editor, you can save changes using a draft, which no one else can see until you\’re ready to publish it.
While you can\’t set a publish date yet for blog entries with the WL Spaces editor, you can sit in a corner juggling 3 quails eggs, whilst watching Carmen Buranda on the telly. I think that\’s just about as relevant.Why not make your answers match the questions?
Nikki, What you can do is, on the Windows Live home page, click on the \’options,,,and \’more options\’ under that,,under the theme changes, then click on \’communications\’ and here it will say:(Who can invite you to their network?) You can choose between the following:1. Anyone2. My extended network3. NooneOther than that, I don\’t know what else you can do, but NOone can \’automatically\’ add you to their network without your permission; all you can do is \’block\’ the person when you get the invite if you still want to keep the option open to allow some people to invite you.
DAve, Lol!!!
Well, it\’s just what I happened to be diong at the time……………………………………:-)
(except for the quails eggs)
(…….. and theCarmen Buranda …….
@Dave… do you think he gets it now? @ Nikki I too have been plagued by network requests, which oddly, didn\’t start happening till the updates!
@ Hey Dave – For someone who hates the service, you seem to use it an awful lot. Here\’s an idea for you. Why don\’t you create a WL Group called "Windows Live Haters" and use the private discussion forum for all of the bashing. There are plenty of us who like the services just fine, and your negativity and garbage are wearing quite thin.
Oh, Greg, not again. PLEASE READ THE WORDS! (You know, the grey squiggles spoiling the nice white screen) WE LOVE LIVE, WE\’VE ALL USED IT FOR AGES, WE JUST DON\’T WANT IT TOTALLY BUGGERED UP. Is that clear enough?
Also if it\’s so popular, why has lives market share just gone into freefall? (see webtrends)
Thanx Lady X, ive lost some of my old friends with the so called update so i dont want to block all requests incase they find me again. With the old version you could stop people adding you to there messenger but looks like thats gone now.@Mandxx yup samehere, since the update ive became a must have messenger contact for people in countries i havnt even heard of aha
@ xxNIKKIXX: I didn\’t realise it that way, you just said "random people". Anyway, I\’m covered by Lady X.
Arrrggghhh! No consitency from MS and a completely confusing set of services. Live, Live Sync, Mesh, SkyDrive. Its all the same, give me a single storage area, and a single way to sync across different devices including my Windows PDA Phone.
@Greg … the "plenty of you who like the service just fine" …. seem to be absent from these blog comments!I am NOT, shal I say it again, (for those of us who don\’t seem to be able to grasp the concept) NOT a "Windows Live Hater" but there are certain elements of the update, which no matter how you sugar coat it and excuse it, just simply doesn\’t make sense! and they have ruined a perfectly good service with ridiculous overkill!
@ Mandxx – As I\’ve said before, most satisfied users don\’t think to post comments. It\’s just those on both ends of the spectrum (love it, hate it) who seem to take the time to chime in. The services make perfect sense to me. WL is the "Microsoft Office" of personal services; there are different tools for different jobs. Sure WL services aren\’t perfect, but they\’re still evolving, and even in their current state, they provide a decent core set of social networking services. If there are elements that are over your head, or don\’t enhance your experience, then don\’t use them. But I\’d rather have the flexibility there for those of us that do use them.
Hmmm!!, can anyone please tell me why or how i am getting people just adding me from all walks of life…and countries? and errr Satistics, where the dam satistics go to?WL people- How do I /we/ mostly everyone go back to the original???….Cannot moan at \’some\’ aspects of the new design, like peoples updates on the homepage has you have managed to get rid of a great deal of those useing live space has a \’naughty\’ site!!. (we can now read what all has been doing when we log in), but it is taking a great deal of getting used to. TBH, ….like over a week !!! * cracks open another box of headache pills" :-S
How in hell do I access my live faves w/o another toolbar? Useta be on my live homepage, but the web gadget will not install.
@ Mandie – To control who can add you to their network, navigate to your homepage and click Options > More Options. On the Options page, click Communication Settings. Also, statistics for your WL Space are still there. Navigate to your space, click Options > Statistics.
@ Pia – Live Favorites are now part of SkyDrive. You\’ll find them there in a private folder called Favorites. You\’ll need the WL Toolbar to automatically sync them with your local IE favorites, however.@ Windows Live Team – For folks who don\’t want to use the WL Toolbar, synchroizing local favorites with SkyDrive would be an excellent new feature for WL Sync to have down the road. Ian mentioned the ability to sync photos with SkyDrive coming down the pike, so it seems like a natural extension to me. Just an idea.
@ Dave – Regarding your earlier comment about making my answers match the questions, I was attempting to explain that although the delayed publishing feature doesn\’t currently exist in WL Spaces editor, you can delay publishing a blog entry (albeit manually) using the saved draft feature. I thought that was pretty clear. Perhaps you\’ve got a little too much "pharacological interference" for that to make sense, eh?
you\’d think before adding all these bells and whistles, Hotmail would first add an auto-save function for messages as you write them. BASIC, REALLY!
@ Greg – Yes,a lot of satisfied people won\’t post here, also a lot of dissatisfied people won\’t post here, in fact a lot will just leave. (Although microsoft deny it, independent sources say that live lost 7% of market share in the first 2 DAYS after the changes). The fact is, if you look through these posts since the changes, and count the numbers of people posting for and against {not the number of posts, people like me and you skew it one way or the other) and work out the ratio, it comes out at 53-1 against. Even if you take into account the fact that people are 14% more likely to complain than praise, {don\’t argue, proven fact} And even if we take off a HUGE amount out of pure generosity of spirit, then the general dissatisfaction level is going to be a ot more than 25-1. I will also say, in your favour, that in many cases it\’s peoples own fault that they are having problems with the apps. The clue is in the word \’Beta\’. Microsoft beta\’s are notoriously flakey, and you just shouldn\’t use them for anything important. They are meant to be a taste of whats to come, and not for the non-technical user at all. But live have decided to push them as \’the new update\’ with no clear warnings about this, and install them over the top of existing versions, which is something a beta should never, ever do.For my part, I am a very happy and contented user of almost all the live services, I use live mail every morning, (although, a personal note here , how can ANYONE get excited about a new email program? Surely dealing with emails is the chore you have to get through first thing before you get on to the interesting part of the day? An email program has to do 2 things, read emails, and send emails, anything else is pointless padding) I use the toolbar a lot, I\’ve even hacked it to lose the irritating extra search box, and added a couple of extras I wanted. I use live gallery to sort and upload my pictures, and I use messenger almost constantly for both work and pleasure. The thing is, I\’ve not updated anything, and it all works perfectly, and I see no reason to update simply to get a feature or maybe 2 that I don\’t want, to loose a load of features I do want, and take away the small amount of style it used to have.On your other point about my posts being irritating, I did actually stop a couple of days ago. The following day I got 57 personal messages asking why, (and to be fair, one who said \’ You are a degenerate anarchist, and christ will condemn you to hell\’), So I make that 57 to 2 in favour. If you actually read my posts properly, you would see that a lot of the time I try and help people get back on track when things go pear shaped, and not only directly, but through the large number of pm,s I\’ve been getting asking for help. (Peaked at 97 two days ago, mainly on how to restore the old versions, (@ live team – who do I make the invoice out to???????))If you do find my posts irritating, well, they have my name and picture on the top, why not just skip over them?
Where\’s the Windows Live Highlighter in this new version? I can\’t find the button or two buttons that was in the previous version.
Jack Mari-Surrette – You just check the box next to everyone\’s message you want to delete, and then hit delete. Gone, all checked messages at once.
@ greg – If by pharacological you mean pharmacological (yes, it is irritating the wa this stupid window doesn\’t work properly), then I take it you are accusing me of taking drugs, in which case I suggest we carry on this conversation in court. FYI, I have been a big campaigner against drug use most of my life, and run regular free music workshops in a rehabilitation centre. You must grow up and look beyond the surface. Stereotypes are usually wrong.If you have to click the button to publish, it\’s not delayed publishing. If you save a draft, it\’s called \’saving a draft\’. A completely different thing alltogether. A comparable statement – my cars an automatic, you just have to push down this pedal, and waggle this leaver to change gear…….
@ Dave – Cool, I\’d love for you to share how you suppressed the extra search box in WL Toolbar. I\’m sure lots of us would find that helpful. Thanks!
My computer runs smoothly today. Thanks Bill Gates…
When I added WL to my computer, I couldn\’t add the toolbar as my google toolbar blocked it. Is this normal, I am at the hesitant stage of doing things to my computer, because I find them so hard to undo.
Hm…? What\’s the difference between Windows Live Sync and Windows Live Mesh (and I know there are others lol)? No Live Desktop?
@mandie and Greg ……. Stats are still there as Greg said but the information there is almost useless, as, if a visitor only visits your profile page, the visit is not logged, and is only logged when they visit your space, (from there) then the referring page will be your own profile/home page. You no longer see the address of the visitor in stats!
TOOLBARS – The google toolbar has it\’s own system for blocking the installation of other random toolbars. If you look under options you will find you will be able to disable this while you install the WL toolbar. But I really need to know what browser you\’re using before I can give fuller instructions. PM me if you like.Making the surplus search box vanish in windows live toolbar is quite easy, BUT you need programming knowledge, and the software to do it, which is quite expensive if you don\’t use it for other things. Simply find the dll file, make a copy to work on, decompile it, give the searchbox a fixed size of \’0\’, recomplile, replace existing dll file. Don\’t forget to rename and keep the old one in case something went wrong! This works on the old toolbar, but I don\’t know about the new one. Should be similar though.STATS – My little space has been quite busy of late, but if I look at the stats, my total number of visitors EVER is 4!
Can I just add that the style of the blog article is a lot better. A little humour defuses a lot of situations, and the actual explinations are much clearer too. Maybe slightly too far the other way for some people, (serious hint, avoid catchwords and catchphrases!} but at least everyone can understand what your talking about!
If your confused about skydrive-live sync – mesh, try here http://www.labnol.org/internet/compare-windows-live-sync-mesh-and-skydrive/6166/ , very good and unbiased comparison of the 3
Thank you Gregg and mand… Question is i guess, are WL people going to fix it so it does what it says it should do? (show statistics) or more what it DID do in the original version? If not then what is the point of it being there at all!!@dave howes- lol at your post over the ratios…
Downloaded all the new messenger live scene\’s and they do not show up how do I fix this?Thanks
@Mandie… blowed if I know, might as well just add a view counter gadget to your space, and stop looking at the stats! I have asked such questions. both in these comments, in feedback and in a PM to Richard S. To date have received no answer! I\’ll be the first to admit that some of these changes do go over my head a bit (thanks Dave the link, it did help!) But then I am just your average user, and use Spaces more than anything any other feature, live writer, is real boon, but looking at the comments on these or other live team blgs, they seem mosly by your average user, who seem to be quite confused by it all! ….. Maybe if we keep shouting loud enough some one will here!(Incidently re Hotmail …. I just sent out an email to a load of people, from my main email account(fsnet) , accidently including my own Live mail address, in the list of recipients, and it was The ONLY one that failed)
Sorry to those who have asked, but I really can\’t send the hacked dll file to anyone. Tweaking something on your own computer to make it work for you is one thing, but giving it to other people is decidedly dodgy!But something fo the live team to ponder maybe, in these days of sleek integration. Search box overkill irritates everybody, wether it\’s because it spoils your nice corperate page, or takes up space where you could stick another chunk of psycadelic madness. Just a thought………………………….
@ Dave – Thanks for pointing me in the right direction; I look forward to tweaking the toolbar. I\’m generally opposed to browser toolbars. They stick out like, well an add-on. Still, I like the WL Toolbar better than most. WL should consider other BHOs that better integrate into the existing command bar/toolbar, or perhaps develop an accelerator for IE8 that will allow you to share favorite web sites using WL. Since I have home.live.com as my home page, the other links are not terribly useful.
Hi thereI don\’t know if I m in right place, but I have a problem.I can\’t open my e-mail box on my PC. In local library it is OK.yet anothe e-mail address that I have I can open it on my PC at home!Every time I tryed to open it I would receive this masseage: "The Windows Live Network is unavailable from this site for one of the following reasons: This site may be experiencing a problemThe site may not be a member of the Windows Live NetworkYou can:You can sign in or sign up at other sites on the Windows Live Network, or try again later at this site." All this prblem came up 2 days ago when I couldn\’t remember my pass ward. So I tryed to reset the pass ward and fiddled with it and then I couldn\’t get to open it any how. Please help if you can or you could direct me to some one. Thank you very much. Ifetam@hotmail.comRegards-SugarPS. Thoes "reset passward " means one can keep same e-mail address but new passward. What would happen with all my old e-mails that I use to open it with my previous passward?
Found another bit of Spaces silliness, which some one may be able to help me with? I decided to start a group, I\’m a diving instructor and wanted to start a group for divers and wanna be\’s, so followed the instructions to do this, got to the part where I invite people to join …. and the only people I can invite are my messenger contacts. The Group itself shows nowhere on my Space. I had to add a custom list for that, nor in my networks list, nor profile page, nor is it added to the new members Space.Live have given me web space to put photo,s forumns etc, but as far as I can make out the only way SPACES in general can see my group, is, if they happen to notice the custom list. on my Space.The group has been added to my messenger (so we can chat amongst ourselves!) but you can\’t get to the Space provided from messenger/contact card?Have I missed something, is there I directory, where groups are listed, (As on Facebook) Did I not tick the right box some where?For any one who maybe interested in joining a group such as mine the address is below, (and now you have the advantage over me, by actually being able to get to my group page!!)http://gettanked.groups.live.com/
SENA: You need to give more comprehensive info on your PC setup and what Browser/Site you\’re using. Changing a password should never affect the messages/emails in your Email Provider. Are you using, or trying to use, Hotmail? If you browse through the Live Team\’s Blogs, they give you a specified site to ask questions about any problems you may be experiencing. I\’ll go and look it up, come back here and bung it in unless someone else beats me to it:-)
The thing I was looking for is called "Help Central". Best way to find it is from the "Spacecraft" blog site. Just been to look and the link to this is on the page.
I like all the new features of the new messenger, however I still find that I am having problems with the video hookup in messenger. When I get good video the messenger shuts down my micro phone for no appearent reason. After disconnect and checking the set up the mic is working. Is there a work around for this or am I and my friends the only ones experiencing this anomally.
@Sena … Just a quick bit of advise, it is not a good idea to put your email address on ANY open site … when you eventually get back into your emails you may just find several hundred spam emails waiting for you!
@Mandxx: good point there. I\’ve actually noticed quite a few people entering email addresses to these things.@SENA: You might like to "copy" the text in your post then delete the post, edit out your email addy then bung your post back in without the addy. Make sure, then, to delete text from your Clipboard. "Stay safe online", to quote from Microsoft.
@ Mandxx – I haven\’t been able to find a master directory for WL Groups yet, or even a functional way to search for them. Good idea putting a link to your fav groups in a custom list on your WL Space. I belong to one general-interest group called Hack Live Spaces; it\’s located at http://hackmsnspaces.groups.live.com. Pay it a visit!
Not run by d3vmax is it?
That\’s the one.
Had a link on my space for him for 4 years, without him, when spaces first started, we couldn\’t have even basics stuff like music! or adding pics to your blog! A Good man!!
when I receive an e mail and it\’s been sent to 20 people and I want to save those addresses I used to see something that said save contacts. Now it\’s gone. How do I continue to do this? Please help. thank you. Jacki4242@msn.com
Jacki read mine and Jens comments 5 and 6 down
Bill Gates, you are a genius of extra-ordinary!
See, the thing is, unlike the transition from Msn Hotmail to Windows Live about 2 years ago which, if it was even that: 1). Was handled very professionally and smoothly, without slowing anything or anyone down2). Had a far more sleek, mature, sophisticated adult look and appeal, This Team (at a time when we\’re just beginning to settle in with the last setup) pull the rug right out from under us not just with an interface that looks more like something inspired by someone\’s 4 year old niece or nephew, with its larger fonts/lighter prints but with the stupid changes made, has derailed and brought about problems we didn\’t have before or had since corrected. This upgrade (so soon after the last) has been extremely disruptive, unwelcoming and downright frustrating. I know all about having to occasionally upgrade & jazz things up a bit but more often than not, as if done with blindfolds on, these bozos throw at us what often has the appeal of what might have been the very first version ever put out, so that the only way I can possibly understand how and why these designers & engineers would see such changes as an improvement, more attractive, would be if they were tripping at the time of it\’s creation, design and release.Besides giving the look of a childrens book, they unleashed on its members, a version filled with endless flaws, which, I would think would be a big "No-No" in the competitive market, thus reason to: a). Either revert back to the version everybody was happy withb). Replace the team behind this hideous and un-user friendly version which has caused such an uproar like I\’ve never seen nor have ever been a part of before or at the very least, c). Go back to the drawing board and make the changes necessary to bring about the kind of smooth operation we had with "Windows Live Classic" and correct whatever problems resulted by this joke of an improvement and extremely displeasing version. People keep saying "change is good" as if they\’re the first to come up with that line when the fact is, change isn\’t always good. I think (especially in light of this experience) that is just as true and sometimes wise ( in staying in the game ) to simply stand still for awhile, leaving everything as is or (at the very least, on occasion) make small changes without turning the entire operation on it\’s ear, \’cause at the end of the day, what really counts, what is most important to us all, what people most want and look for is a service that is dependable, reliable, consistant and honest. With those four elements in place, you have and are likely to have, customers and members who are not only loyal, pleased and satisfied but will remain so right up to the end, thereby keeping you in the game.I never was one to blog and now it seems that\’s all I do these days. One issue which (up until last night and with no imput from me) I was up against since September was, in order to activate my ID link to let me in without having to type in my password, I was having to forward my computer clock an hour from the "correct time", when before it was because my computer clock was set back an hour from the "correct time" that Windows Live wouldn\’t let me in, but the second I realized and corrected it, my sign in problem was solved, that is until "The Team", once again shook everything up and I really can\’t understand between the version they took from us and this new version how anyone can possibly see it as an improvement.
Yesterday and until now, i encounter a major problem that is, do you believe certain number can be changed without you command it. For example, the statement \’103 Friends\’, suddenly diabolically changed into \’102 Friends\’. And that is the sort of problem that i encounter. Anyone have a thought? I\’m in Sabah, Malaysia is in deep trouble… Cry for me Argentina. Because of this, everything of my cyberfriendship is awkward.
Hi there, hope you all had a lovely xmas!,…I have a little problem, i uploaded xmas pics on my live space photo, was actually surprised to see them uploaded so smoothly right in front of my eyes (thumbs up on this new one):-) only that soon changed to disapointment when i realized that i uploaded a photo in the wrong place/sequence!…went to find the move/re-arrange thinghy to click on (you remember the one we had in the old version ??)….and its GONE!! Soooo please can someone bring that back or tell me where it has been moved to??? ..
Today, my computer\’s pace is lower then before. I have problem in opening my windows..
Is it possable to track who is trying to assess my acount becase there are emails that are being sent that i did not create and are being sent to people i do not know. If you could use triend Micro security software to help hear is a web link to hwlp just go to http://us.trendmicro.com/us/home/
Hm… Live Sync. Would you not rather consider Live Mesh?
Hey spend some time beta testing Hotmail changes.SHA-ZAM millions leave for gmail.
Something strange is occurring with Windows Live Messenger. I receive IMs from people that are in my contacts but they didn\’t send the message. An example: Margie Mae says:http://margiemae1130.crazy-new-year-party-pics.com This person didn\’t send this IM – how is this happening?
Team,Few important things:1 – It\’s good to be different, but horrible to be confusing.I mean, look at your interfaces. Guys, you got some good features on this whole social side of live.com, but it\’s really confusing. Plus , some features don\’t even work. 2 – can\’t see "My Network" from "Home"3 – How about a video tutorial on "Home" which explains, what all services are available and what/how can be used. How intuitive it is in your mind that says, hey you can find screen-shot based help in "Live Team\’s Blog" ? Not even in my dreams.4 – More intuitive UI. Something what a teenager would like to use. You see, it\’s people from 12 to 35 who are into socials.. others are only into sharing pics. We need some jazz. Not a techie UI.Work on thse, Will add more laterz.keep up the good work guys…c ya
The stuff you care about, like Classic Hotmail. SHA…ZAM! GONE!
@ Crystal: It sounds like your friend Margie probably has a virus that is sending IM messages to all the people in her contact list automatically. Don\’t ever click on a link like this unless you are sure you know what it is and that it is safe! Without clicking the link, respond to your friend and ask her to confirm that she sent the link and that it is safe. If she says she didn\’t send it, delete the conversation immediately, and let your friend know that she has a virus.You and your friends can use this free OneCare online safety scanner to scan for any viruses on your computers: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm.
Not managed at all well. I have to change my privacy settings in about 20 different places. Allow us to simply adjust our overall privacy settings and make individual adjustments as needed. And default settings to PRIVATE not public please. If I wanted to be part of a social network I\’d join FailBook
Please help. When i look at your internet exporer windows live toolbar I see you have the buttons for mail and messenger that show the counters. After i loaded essentials my toolbar lost these buttons how do i get them back
The live favorites sync in this new version really stinks! It doesn\’t sync between computers correctly or into the favorites in skydrive. The old version is much better and work flawlessly. It was so easy to view them at favorites.live.com but the new version doesn\’t seem to sync them there.
The previous windows toolbar I was able to see the buttons for mail and messenger that show the counters. After I loaded windows live toolbar I no longer see these buttons, how can I get them back.
Form Fill is missing from Toolbar……..
Windows Live is porn:http://profile.live.com/Results.aspx?q=+Fisting results???Prohibited Uses:http://help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt=en-us&project=tou&querytype=keyword&query=coc#PUWINDOWS LIVE IS HYPOCRITEBut also have all pedophiles in your network.Stop Pedophiles in Windows Live.Don´t stop bloguers.Return http://mmadrigal.spaces.live.comhttp://lacomunidad.elpais.com/mmadrigal/2009/5/15/el-descontrol-las-redes-sociales-permite-incluso-se-hagahttp://solidaridadconmarcelinom.events.live.com/
Windows Live is porn:http://profile.live.com/Results.aspx?q=+Fisting results???Prohibited Uses:http://help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt=en-us&project=tou&querytype=keyword&query=coc#PUWINDOWS LIVE IS HYPOCRITEBut also have all pedophiles in your network.Stop Pedophiles in Windows Live.Don´t stop bloguers.Return http://mmadrigal.spaces.live.comhttp://lacomunidad.elpais.com/mmadrigal/2009/5/15/el-descontrol-las-redes-sociales-permite-incluso-se-hagahttp://solidaridadconmarcelinom.events.live.com/Stop Pedophiles in Windows Live. Don´t stop bloguers.Return http://mmadrigal.spaces.live.comhttp://lacomunidad.elpais.com/mmadrigal/2009/5/11/la-impunidad-con-que-actuan-pedofilos-las-redeshttp://solidaridadconmarcelinom.events.live.com/