Windows Live Essentials 2012 is out. But should you install it?

By Andrea Borman
in Poll Station

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Will you upgrade to Windows Live Essentials 2011 or 2012?  

183 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you still using Windows Live Essentials 2009?

    • Yes
      2
    • No
      121
    • I use Windows Live Messenger 8.5
      0
    • I use MSN Messenger 7.5
      2
    • I don't use Windows Live Essentials or Messenger.
      25

  2. 2. What do you think of the forced upgrade by Microsoft to WLE 2011 version?

  3. 3. Will you install Windows Live Essentials 2012?


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Rising Star

Andrea Borman

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Articuno 1au wrote-

It might be worth pulling those images down given that they have your personal email address on them

Midnight Mick wrote-

I can't beleive you posted an image with your Email clearly visible? LOL!

If you look on my profile at Neowin you can see it is the same email address that is on my profile. There is an option on your Neowin profile to add your user name or contact email to the messenger you are using. And in my case it's Aim Messenger and Windows Live Messenger(2009 version of course.)

And there are 2 versions of Aim now. The new Aim Messenger which is different from the old one or the old Aim. Both of which are still supported and can be run side by side each other. I use the old Aim of course. Andrea Borman.

Grand Master

Rigby

Posted
Posted

Why do you sign your name at the end of every post you make? You do realize your name is already shown right?

PS: That purple classic theme makes me want to gouge my eyes out. TRC.

Community Regular

KRazpopov

Posted
Posted

Well when I installed Skype on my netbook. When it came to Skype testing my webcam and video calling software it said my software was not up to it. Well I cannot remember what the error message exactly was.

But that is rubbish. As my webcam and built in mic work fine with Google Talk,Aim Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. So it's not my netbook. It's Skype that was the problem. Andrea Borman.

Bulls**t. A year ago, I talked to a classmate of mine using Skype, and we had both audio and video enabled. He was using a computer with a Pentium 3 processor at the time (i think it was 900MHz) and 128MB of RAM. If Skype can run on that, then it can damn well run on an f'ing netbook.

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

Well when I installed Skype on my netbook. When it came to Skype testing my webcam and video calling software it said my software was not up to it. Well I cannot remember what the error message exactly was.

But that is rubbish. As my webcam and built in mic work fine with Google Talk,Aim Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. So it's not my netbook. It's Skype that was the problem. Andrea Borman.

Right, that's what we've all been telling you to update everything for, but no, even Skype is lying to you.

Wakey wakey

(This thread should be in "It's a conspiracy!" )

Community Regular

Auroka

Posted
Posted

If you look on my profile at Neowin you can see it is the same email address that is on my profile. There is an option on your Neowin profile to add your user name or contact email to the messenger you are using. And in my case it's Aim Messenger and Windows Live Messenger(2009 version of course.)

And there are 2 versions of Aim now. The new Aim Messenger which is different from the old one or the old Aim. Both of which are still supported and can be run side by side each other. I use the old Aim of course. Andrea Borman.

5Ns25.png

I know some people like to cling to old software but this thread is weird. Not sure if crazy or troll.

It's getting really hard to tell at this point. :/

Rising Star

Andrea Borman

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Right, that's what we've all been telling you to update everything for, but no, even Skype is lying to you.

Wakey wakey

(This thread should be in "It's a conspiracy!" )

Of course my webcam software is up to date. I installed Skype on a brand new Windows 7 netbook. Andrea Borman.

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

Of course my webcam software is up to date. I installed Skype on a brand new Windows 7 netbook. Andrea Borman.

Windows 7 is 3 years old, what has being brand new got to do with it being updated ?

  • Skyfrog and Brandon H
  • Like 2
Community Regular

KRazpopov

Posted
Posted

OK, let me just say a few things here:

Firstly, get with the times, Andrea. You can't use WLE 2009 forever. At some point, you'll be forced to use something newer (say WLE 2019) and that rapid jump in versions is going to confuse you a lot. Whereas if you upgrade on each version, you won't have as steep of a learning curve.

Secondly, learn a bit about computer security. By not having an antivirus installed, coupled with using old versions of sotware (which definitely have more exploits), you're just crying to get a virus on your system.

Thirdly, start using operating systems as they were designed to be used. Rather than turning Windows 7/ Windows 8 into a half-a**ed mix of Windows 98 & XP, try using the OS as it is out of the box. I'm sure Windows 7 is more efficient in day-to-day usage without all those XP elements lying around it. Just because you're not comfortable with the way a certain function works in an OS does not mean you need to bring said OS' functionality back by 10+ years.

Fourth: Stop moaning about the ribbon. I'm putting this in its' own paragraph, because it seems to be one of your main reasons to avoid anything remotely modern. As it has been stated at least 20 times in all your threads combined, there is a way to hide the ribbon in almost any application, after which the difference between a ribbon version of an application and its' menu counterpart is absolutely minimal.

Fifth: Stop putting your name at the end of each of your posts. It's already visible in both your username and your signature. You do not need to spell it a third time in the frigging god-damned post! (If it isn't apparent, this has started to get on my nerves.)

If I have to, I'm going to save this post on my PC and copy-paste it every time you start a thread.

Of course my webcam software is up to date. I installed Skype on a brand new Windows 7 netbook. Andrea Borman.

Unless you ran a separate driver installer for your webcam, there is no way that the driver is the newest one. Especially considering you're running a new installation of Windows 7.

Mentor

argonite

Posted
Posted

Andrea Borman, you are going to make the life of some IT person very hard if you continue being stubborn about outdated technology and you're frustrating the people on this forum.

Please understand that the new Windows Live (and other software as well) includes:

  • bug fixes
  • security updates
  • performance improvements
  • compatibility with the latest protocol
  • new features
  • a new UI

You dislike 1 out of the 6 things I listed. Seems like you have 5 of 6 reasons to upgrade. If you can refuse all six reasons, you win this thread and I give up.

You mentioned that you don't upgrade IE for the same reason. Look, I stopped using IE a long time ago, and I probably won't go back. But I still keep IE updated and regularly do cleanups. I don't want some nasty virus exploiting a hole in any outdated software on my computer.

Grand Master

Rigby

Posted
Posted

Why is it when I fix peoples PCs there are always full of out of date software and the desktop and taskbar is full of icons.

The icons I can kind of understand since many people don't know how to disable them or even realize it's possible, but mostly it's because they don't care. Same with updates, as long as their computer turns on and they can play Farmville they don't care about that "nerdy" stuff like updates. I always tell them I updated their computer for them along with whatever else I did (which is usually removing tons of malware) and they often seem impressed, like I did something really technical by running Windows Update. :laugh:

Rising Star

Andrea Borman

Posted
  • Author
Posted

XMac wrote-

Firstly, get with the times, Andrea. You can't use WLE 2009 forever. At some point, you'll be forced to use something newer (say WLE 2019) and that rapid jump in versions is going to confuse you a lot. Whereas if you upgrade on each version, you won't have as steep of a learning curve.

Well 2019 is a long time away. And by then they may not have Windows Live.And they may not have Internet by then.Who knows?

But what about Windows Messenger 4.7. That comes bundled with Windows XP. That does not work because it is no longer supported.So you can't even log into it. But Windows Update won't update it.

But Windows Live Messenger 2009 IS the updated version.

But when support ends for Windows XP in April 2014,they may also end support for WLE 2009. Andrea Borman.

Grand Master

Rigby

Posted
Posted

And they may not have Internet by then.Who knows?

Yeah the internet will be replaced by telepathy and we'll all have flying cars. :laugh:

But what about Windows Messenger 4.7. That comes bundled with Windows XP. That does not work because it is no longer supported.So you can't even log into it. But Windows Update won't update it.

Windows Messenger was a completely seperate program and was discontinued. It is not updated because there are no updates for it, it's dead.

But Windows Live Messenger 2009 IS the updated version.

No it's not, nor is it up to date. 2012 is the current version, the 2009 version is OLD. There is no reason on earth to keep using it.

Grand Master

Orange Battery

Posted
Posted

I completely understand your reasons for not wanting to update but you must remember this is a Microsoft real time service and therefore they control what version you use.

You may prefer to use an old version which better suits your needs but that isn't going to happen. Most of the Neowin replies will make out your an idiot but then its very easy to insult rather than understand the opinions of others.

My best advise is to start looking for another service, if your opinion is valid then hopefully enough people will follow suit and another company that listens to its users more when it comes to this service will become the standard.

When MS or any other big company makes it mind up then it doesn't matter what its users think, the limited trials have already been done - but at the same time its a great opportunity for the competition to gain some ground.

Mentor

ArialBlue

Posted
Posted

Skype runs happily on my Single core 1ghz Arm 7 based phone.

I think the 1.x ghz Intel Atoms (or equiv.) you are running can probably handle it..

They can. Without any problem.

Andrea clearly has some sort of psychiatric disorders; you can observe them to some degree through her YouTube rambles.

As frustrating as she may be, she is clearly not and cannot be made aware of her frustrating tendencies. That said, you have two options. One is to entertain it all, like the special kid in class, or to ignore her completely.

She is subscribed - that is why she is avoiding a permanent ban.

Either that, or like me, too many people enjoy her "charms" (that is making fun of the disordered).

Veteran

~Johnny

Posted
Posted

FYI. visually WLE 2011 & WE 2012 are nearly exactly the same - there are no new UI additions, just improved features.

Other than the increased RAM footprint in basically every program over 2008, there's no reason to stick with 2008. 2012 has better performance thanks to Direct2D GPU acceleration, an improved feature set and much better security. Frankly, WLM doesn't look that different either.

If your netbook has 512MB - 1GB of RAM, I can understand avoiding the newer versions (and most certainly the newer versions of Skype too, which have become experts at hogging memory), but other than that, you'll grow to like them.

Grand Master

Tha Bloo Monkee

Posted
Posted

i started using pidgin recently for MSN/WLM cause the official client is way too bloated nowadays :/ (with a-patch it's not so bad).

:s That interface is hideous in those screenshots!! ThaBlooMonkee.

Veteran

~Johnny

Posted
Posted

FYI Andrea, the new Messenger (with a little bit of APatch) looks quite nice and minimal -

Hgq5n.png

Or if you want a super minimal, good looking, and very RAM light client, look into Trillian. It's well worth using.

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