Windows 7: Windows Live Mail or Outlook.com

Since intalling Windows 7/64 I have been using Windows Live Mail as my e-mail application. It allows me to access mail from my ISP provider (verizon) and from my Hotmail accounts in the one application. Perhaps I am coming a bit late to the game, but I have just learned about Outlook.com.

I do not twitter; I am not on facebook or other social media sites. Is there some advantage in my switching to Outlook.com. Is it in fact an alternative to Live Mail; or am I understanding it wrong? Is it perhaps just a question of "converting" my Hotmail account to Outlook.com and leaving Live Mail in place?

Can someone straighten me out?

In the interest of continuing to use an application instead of relying on a web browser, I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird:

Mozilla Thunderbird

It can do what you're doing now and it may be better than Windows Live Mail in some respects.

That's all I really know though because I actually use Microsoft Outlook 2003.

WLM is only a tool to access your mail for reading & sending. Here's how I use it. WLM Tips.pdf

Outlook.com replaces Hotmail so I would continue to use Windows Live Mail.

Jim

OK, I downloaded outlook.com and elected to convert my hotmail.com to outlook.com.

I can now enter "outlook.com" in my browser (IE9) and it takes me to the nice new mail interface. But it does not display any of my other e-mail accounts.

When I call up my windows live mail, there is no visible change. All of my e-mail accounts appear, Hotmail among them. When I open that inbox the interface is the same as it always was.

So how do I make use of outlook.com while continuing to use Windows Live Mail?

I think you need to setup your Outlook.com account in WLM just like you did for Hotmail.

Jim

I'm not familiar with WLM but I do use Outlook 2010 for all my email accounts except the ones on Gmail.

I feel Outlook really shines when you make use of its PIM functions as well as mail. I use the calendar, tasks and contacts. I also sync with my Android phone - yes, there is now an app that syncs without Google as an intermediary.
BTW, I used Thunderbird for several years and finally uninstalled about a year ago. LIke Firefox, I felt it had become weighted down and clunky.
Madeline

That's because you still have to set it up.


It's not supposed to work that way. Outlook.com is its own thing just like Hotmail is and just like WLM is. You still have to do the work that you're looking to have done.


Use one or the other, not both.

I think you should either abandon WLM and use Outlook.com exclusively, or abandon (forget about) Outlook.com and just keep using WLM exclusively.

Outlook.com is web e-mail, just like Hotmail and it is on the internet (not on your computer). Windows Live Mail is software that is installed in Windows on your computer and all of your e-mails and contacts are actually on your hard drive. Outlook.com is just another option for doing e-mail. If you want to use Outlook.com, then abandon Windows Live Mail and use Outlook.com instead to check all of your e-mail accounts (that is, if it can, which it should be able to do if Microsoft was smart enough to set it up that way).

So you see, signing up for Outlook.com is just like signing up for Hotmail.com or some other kind of web mail like that where you do everything within your web browser. Windows Live Mail is like Outlook Express: it's on your computer. Outlook.com is not on your computer. It's on the internet. You have to set it up just like with any of the other e-mail options out there.

I don't know what else I can say except to say again that you do not have to use Outlook.com. It's entirely up to you. It's just like how you don't have to use Yahoo mail or some other web mail like that.

Two Cables & Others,

Many thanks for your kind replies and efforts to help.

I understand what you have written; particularly about the difference between a web based e-mail server and one that's installed as an application on my computer. With the former one can send and receive e-mail from only that server. With the latter the one application can connect with several e-mail providers and send or receive from all within the one application. So, bottom line, I can configure WLM to connect to my outlook.com account, but I cannot configure outlook.com to connect with e.g. my Verizon account.

My mistake; I though that outlook.com was a substitute for the old Outlook Express or WLM. I am even more happy to abandon this program now that I have discovered that one needs to fork out $20 per month to get an advertisment free interface. Good bye (and good riddence) outlook.com. What the hell was Microsoft thinking?

Well, it's not the server that's on your computer. All e-mail servers are "out there on the internet". It's just that software like Windows Live Mail connects to the server and downloads the e-mails to your computer. Using a web browser to access the e-mail doesn't download: you're just looking at it from a web browser. Sure, certain elements are downloaded to "temporary" locations on your computer, but the e-mails aren't downloaded for offline viewing like they are with an e-mail program such as Windows Live Mail.


I'm not sure, but I think gMail is an exception. I mean, I think gMail allows you to access multiple e-mail accounts kind of like Windows Live Mail does. Outlook.com might even be able to do this too; I'm not sure.


I bet that they were thinking that this would be another way to make more money. Like you said, $20 per month to get rid of the ads. lol If it weren't for the ads, then I would say that Microsoft was just trying to be nice in providing the world with yet another option for doing e-mail (as if we don't have enough already).