Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Essential Windows Live

How often do you think about the programs you use every day? How many times do you automatically launch the desired application without thinking about it? That has certainly become the case for most people who use Windows Live Essentials programs.

When the Microsoft Clubhouse manager posed the Challenge, What Windows QuesMarkLive product can you not live without? I thought about all the Windows Live products I have installed on my computers and wondered which one I could give up for a day.

Although I have had fun with Movie Maker, I knew I could survive a while without it. I could certainly use another mechanism as a substitute for Writer to create blog posts. I know I would be hard-pressed to not have access to Photo Gallery. However, the answer came quickly when I thought about sacrificing Windows Live Mail for a day.

Windows Live Mail provides the capability of including multiple accounts in one program. The junk filters in place now are extremely good. I very seldom receive any spam in my In Box. The incorporated calendar has become essential for tracking not only appointments but also works exceptionally well for adding reminders of tasks I can put off but do not want to forget to handle.

GotMail With Windows Live Mail you can connect to all your email accounts and manage them in one place. You can still use Windows Live Mail to check Gmail and other webmail services even if you do not have a Hotmail account. (Note: Yahoo! requires a Plus account.) Another useful feature is that it is even possible to reply to mail sent to one account from another one, You can also drag messages from one account to another.

Sharing pictures with family and friends is a snap with Windows Live Mail. Instead of attaching pictures to a regular e-mail, select New > Photo e-mail (Ctrl+Shift+P). The photos are uploaded to SkyDrive and thumbnails are incorporated in the e-mail. When the recipient clicks on the thumbnail, they are taken to a web photo viewer. From there, they can view the images in a slide show, comment and download some or all of the pictures.

To learn more follow the Windows Live Messenger and Mail team at The Windows Blog, Inside Windows Live.

Windows Live Download Links:




Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

No comments: