Windows 7: Scared to do the Windows Live Mail Update

I use Windows Live only for email. Windows 7 Home Premium. I have not clicked on the mandatory update.

I just spend 3 hours reading about all the problems.

Please tell me what to do.

Thanks, cb

Don't click on any "update" links. Back up your contacts, if you have not been signing in, to a vcf file. Then follow the advice here about how to do the update: Mandatory (?) WLE Upgrade .

So far I have not been required to update. I not only use only WLMail but it's also the ONLY part of the Essentials suite I INSTALLED. I always sign in to Mail but NEVER to Messenger. I've also never upgraded to the 2011 version.

If I cannot open Windows Live Mail, how can I backup my Contacts. Can I do it by using Windows Explorer?

cb

Perhaps. Here is a rather technical post by MVP winston explaining where the hidden contacts database is in Windows Explorer: Windows Live Mail – Contacts Database « The Field Guide . Once you locate your database, copy it to a safe place (under Documents for example). After the upgrade, you could try to drag and drop it into the proper position in Windows Explorer for your latest version of WLM after the upgrade is successful and you have verified that your "not-signed-in" list is really missing. I can't be sure this will work since you are dragging and dropping between different versions of WLM. A few years ago, when there was only one version I found I could save the 2009 database and drag and drop it into a fresh (blank) install of the same version of WLM.

Successful update.

Perhaps because I had never done any edits to my registry.
I did a System Restore to a few days earlier, opened Windows Live Mail, backed up and exported all of my emails and contacts. Then I did the update and all seems well.

Many thanks to all of you, cb