Is Windows Live Mail as much of a PIA as I've been reading?

If you don't mind paying for it, you would probably like Outlook. It does it all and integrates with Office. I've been using it since 2004 and like it. :)

I decided to use Windows Live Mail (WL Mail).

Essentially, WL Mail is Outlook Express (OE) in new wrappings with some new features. Underneath it's still OE - it still use msOE.dll, msOEres.dll, etc.

You can use WL Mail locally on your PC, you don't have to use the cloud.

It's built in so that if you decide later that the services might be of some benefit you. MS is planning that you will want to use the cloud. Large attachments are a good example of using the cloud - you can't send much more than 20 megabytes through mail servers - but if you wanted to, you could load that large video of your vacation up on a cloud and tell folks where to go.... to see it that is.

There is one feature I like a lot-Safe Senders. I was going to write a Spam filter once and this seems as though MS finally embraced the simple solution. Other clients should too. I know who I trust - they're in my contact file - everyone else should be suspicious until I add them as a contact. Safe Senders are an extension - you don't have to have them in your contacts but they're still trusted.

The new interface - well, I too am stuck in my ways, but as the Dodo bird has taught us. Adapt or suffer extinction.

grits said:

@Slartybart, I never even tried WLM. I don't like all this 'cloud stuff', but have tried several other clients & wasn't happy with them. I'm used to Outlook Express for so many years & being a senior citizen am stubbornly stuck on my ways. I'm also not computer literate as you can see over at the tutorial where I see you just recently posted between endeavor & me. So, are you using both WM & WLM?

Peace!

If you have MS Office, you can use Office Outlook.

Grits,

I'm writing 'simplified' instructions to reinstate WinMail - not that the tutorial is overly difficult. I need a day or two to double check stuff before I post it. Endeavor created a new WinMailEdit.reg partly based on our conversations - I or someone else should take a look-see. I have a question or two regarding the original tutorial
1) There's a warning about not copying the 64 bit msoe.dll into the 32 bit program folder - that makes sense. but it leaves me to wonder.... should the 32 bit version be put there. I believe it should and I'm fairly certain that is what I did when I ran the exercise. I think I even tried not doing it - if my memory serves me, it didn't work unless I copied both versions to their proper locations.

Well I guess I only had one question, didn't I, otherwise thre would have a number two above.

Of course you should keep in mind, that I had to back track because I missed step one - lol

anyway, I've already typed a lot of the instructions and tested the easy stuff. I just want to make sure my fat fingers weren't well...... fat. and that my +2.0 reading glasses were sufficient. So I'll get back to you before the end of the week.

In the mean time, why not give WLMail a try - really, you might like it after a while. You can always uninstall it. You might have to anyway based on a caution in the Tutorial - so you might as well take it for a spin, kick the tires and see whats what.

Peace!

grits said:

Thanks to all, but I really don't think I'll go with WLM. If I can't get WM re-instated, which is looking pretty iffy after several tries with both the long way & the batch file way, I'll just go with Incredimail.

grits said:

...@roncerr, so you never got through the tutorial about getting Windows Mail to work in Windows 7? I saw your name in some of the posts over there...

I tried it a long time ago when the Tutorial first came out. Even had some PMs with Poppa Bear. It did work fine. But there is always the nagging problem that one of the monthly updates to Windows 7 will bork it, since it's unsupported on Windows 7. (That's exactly what happened with SP1.) When Microsoft issues an update to Vista and 7 that affects Windows Mail, they include an updated msoe.dll file on Vista to keep Windows Mail working but they don't include it on 7. So if you see that your WM stopped working, you have to go back to the tutorial and hope that the file has been updated and made available there, then swap out the old for the new. At the time WLM was using the less buggy and more straightforward looking WLM 2009, so I tried it and, after learning the differences between them, I decided to stick with WLM. However, with the 2011 version, there have been even more problems and lost features reported in this forum and on the WLM newsgroup that I have not yet upgraded beyond WLM 2009.

Thanks Ron,

I'll check it out.

Endeavor contributed an updated WinMailEdit.reg - I have some questions about the original tutorial. I'm not sure why there was so much emphasis placed on running the WinMailEdit.reg before replacing msoe.dll. I'll look at both .reg versions and see if I can pick up on the reasoning. The order shouldn't matter, but there must have been a reason. Perhaps, the batch file you pointed to might shed some light on that question.
This might be a moot point anyway - I just read that WLM is being replaced in Win8 by Mail App. Great!

Early adopters say mostly good things about Win 8 and replacing the entire Live brand. After 5 or 6 years I'm still getting used to the ribbon. I don't think I like it though - never did. Some apps make ribbons usable, others take up far too much real estate and to be of any use, I have to hide/show it. I know, I know..... mouse clicks are cheap. It's the carpal tunnel surgery that's costly - all of those extra repetitive movements -lol

Peace!

roncerr said:

You may want to incorporate the batch file provided by EKMantis: Windows Mail