Windows Live Essentials
is a software suite released by Microsoft that works through
integration with the operating system. Windows 7 has a handful of Live
Essentials pre-installed, and you can download more from their web site.
Most users do not realize how much Microsoft contributes to the
everyday use of their computer, and Windows Live Essentials is one of
the ways they help consumers interact without having to find other
software to use.
Windows Live Essentials have been released in four waves with the
current wave – Wave 4 – having been released in September 2010. Windows
Vista or 7 is required to take advantage of everything Windows Live
Essentials has to offer.
The following are Windows Live Essentials programs:
Bing Bar, Family Safety, Mail, Mesh, Messenger/Messenger Companion, Movie Maker, Outlook Connector, Photo Gallery, Silverlight and Writer
We will take a brief look at each component of Windows Live
Essentials. You can pick and choose which ones you use, and some do not
come by default when you begin using the Windows operating system.
Windows Live Essentials
Bing Bar:
The Bing Bar is a toolbar for Internet Explorer that allows you to
take advantage of its search features. It also offers a variety of
visual effects, themes and more to make searching the Internet more
exciting. You can customize it to offer sports scores, breaking news in
your area and the local weather. The Bing Bar also incorporates data
from other Windows Live services, such as mail, so that you are alerted
when you receive a new e-mail from Hotmail, Gmail or even Yahoo.
Family Safety:
Windows Live Family Safety is a parental monitoring system and is
free for consumers to use to help keep their children safe. It allows
for web filtering, allow lists, child friendly sites, online
communications and warnings for sites that have adult content. Parents
can also monitor their children’s activity and be proactive in adding
content to lists to keep prying eyes away from areas of the web that are
less than savory.
Mail:
Windows Live Mail is an e-mail client that is considered the
successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail. It works for Vista and 7
and is a continuation of the hard work put into Outlook Express. Mail
offers support for many different e-mail accounts online, such as Gmail
and Yahoo. It allows you to sync your Windows Live contacts for easier
e-mailing. It also supports RSS feeds in conjunction with Internet
Explorer.
Mesh:
Windows Live Mesh allows you to sync files over the Internet between
two computers. This is only available for Windows Vista or Windows
7-based machines. However, it can also sync with a variety of Mac
operating systems, too. Mesh uses the technology of SkyDrive to allow
the sync to take place.
Currently, you can sync 200 folders and 100,000 files up to 40 GB a
file. You can also sync a limited amount to SkyDrive itself. Internet
Explorer and Microsoft Office can be synced via Mesh between two
computers to make it easier to share bookmarks and documents.
Messenger/Messenger Companion:
Windows Live Messenger
is one of the most commonly used instant messaging programs on the
Internet. It works with a variety of Windows operating systems as well
as mobile platforms.
The Windows Live Messenger Companion is an add-on for Internet
Explorer. It detects shared content in Windows Live so that uses can see
where people are browsing, what they are up to and allow folks to
comment.
Movie Maker:
Windows Live Movie Maker is a fully functional video creation and
editor. This software has been one of Windows’ staples for years and has
increased its ability to do just about anything you ever would need
with a movie on your computer. It also allows users to post finished
masterpieces to Flickr, SkyDrive, Facebook and YouTube. You can even
create HD video while working with it.
Outlook Connector:
The Outlook Hotmail Connector is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that
allows those using it to have access to Hotmail and Office Live Mail
through the program. It can only be used in Outlook 2003, 2007 or 2010,
and you must be using Windows XP, Vista or 7 to take advantage of it.
This is the only way to get access to Hotmail and Live Mail without
paying for an upgrade with MSN.
Photo Gallery:
Windows Live Photo Gallery is a similar to other photo management and
sharing software. It offers facial recognition, geo-tagging, blemish
removers and noise reduction tools. It is based on the Windows Photo
Gallery technology and offers improvements in managing, tagging and
publishing to sites such as Flickr or Facebook.
Silverlight:
Microsoft Silverlight is a background framework application that
allows your browser to run certain programs and services when surfing
the Internet. For example, if you use Netflix online, Silverlight makes
that possible on a Windows-based machine. Silverlight often runs behind
the scenes and unless you know it is necessary to use a certain feature
of a web site, most Windows users would never know it existed.
Writer:
Windows Live Writer
is a desktop publishing application focusing on making it easier to
upload, edit and maintain blog content. It is a what you see is what you
get (WYSIWYG) application that allows users to do just about anything
they would need to create an effective blog post. It offers
compatibility with the majority of blogging sites out there, such as
Blogger, BlogPad and WordPress.
Are the Windows Live Essentials worth your time?
There are a handful of Windows Live Essentials you probably did not
know existed until today. Some of the Windows Live Essentials are
beneficial to use and can make things easier for users, especially when
they do not want to hunt down software to use on their own.
Since these can easily be downloaded from Microsoft and often come
bundled with a Windows operating system, you can use them from the get
go if you know where to look and that they are there. Windows Live
Essentials offers tools that can make your life much easier on a
Windows-based machine.
Are you currently using any of the Windows Live Essentials? If so,
let us know which ones and how you use them. Also, let us know what you
do not like about them. We will cover each Windows Live Essentials
program in greater details down the line so we want to know what stands
out for you as users.
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