Windows 7: Windows Mail

Vulnerability in Outlook Express and Windows Mail Could Allow Remote Code Execution (978542) XP-Vista-7 are all affected.


Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2010 MS 10-30

Saw a passing ref. More than a passing problem. Have Windows XP-Vista-7? Using Winmail or Live?? Take a look at the below. As a Technet geek, here ya go.

Vulnerability in Outlook Express and Windows Mail Could Allow Remote Code Execution (KB978542) or MS10-30-same thing. Make sure you have it!

"Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2010" MS10-30 is ref

Roncerr,

Basically he said that MS has no plans to make a stand alone Windows Mail available and that they were committed to the Live Mail program. Then a sale pitch for the Live Mail. He went on to say that MS does listen to the feedback and he would pass my comments on to the Live Mail team.

My recommendation would be to use the contact to voice what you would like to see to make Live Mail acceptable to you as a replacement for Windows Mail. Enough complaints with specific requests for features just might lead to some changes. The sqeaky wheel gets the grease......

Good post roncerr. Could not agree more.

The question is how to alert people to get them to respond so we get a ground swell of consumer pressure? For me the main problem remaining is having no option to combine all accounts into one master account.

I know quick view does this, but you're still left with umpteen accounts in the left panel, which not only bloats it, but is confusing as well.

Cheers PB

Hi guys, firstly thanks for all the hard work you put into keeping this tutorial a viable option as well as up to date. I truly appreciate your efforts as i am sure many others do.

I will keep it brief as i just have a couple of questions and have backtracked about 20 pages of this thread and really just need confirmation.

I probably used the downloads from about 3-4 months ago & last night updated to the current msoe.dll

My questions are i have never unlike others in this thread been offered Windows mail updates via Windows Update i would assume this would be because i don't have Outlook or Live Mail or am i missing something?

And i assume it is OK not to have the update installed so long as i have changed to the current msoe.dll

I am sorry if my questions are causing you guys to have to repeat yourselves.

The only Windows 7 file changed in the Windows Mail folder using the tutorial steps is the msoe.dll. All the other original Windows 7 files remain intact. Consequently any updates applicable to those other files will be covered by normal Windows Updates. So as long as you run the Windows Updater periodically you will be OK.

Re your second question it is best to have update KB978542 installed in case it also affects any other files to protect them from security breaches. So if you haven't got it installed this is what you need to do.

Run Windows Update to get KB978542. Installing it will bork the msoe.dll as this is a Vista file. So you will then need to replace the msoe.dll again using Step 4 of the tutorial. Don't forget to reboot to activate it.

Note that the msoe.dll in Step 4 of the tutorial comes from a Vista system in which the msoe.dll has been modified by KB978542, and hence is not vulnerable to the potential security breach. Also once the update is installed, Windows Update machine will not try to download it again in the future, which would bork msoe.dll again.

Hope this answers your question. Cheers PB

Thank you for your response i have got KB978542 installed

Everything is working ok, thanks again

Experiment to combine all accounts into one folder in left panel of WinLiveMail

In Windows Mail all Accounts, Emails, and folders for Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items etc, are stored in a folder named Local Folders found via the following pathway.

Start orb --> User Name --> AppData --> Local --> Microsoft --> Windows Mail --> Local Folders

This is a picture of Local Folders, containing two accounts.





Start orb --> User Name --> AppData --> Local --> Microsoft --> Windows Live Mail --> Poppa or Bern

This is a picture of Windows Live Mail folder containing the two accounts, Poppa & Bern.




As an experiment to see if it is possible to combine all accounts into one master account, starting with zero accounts, I created a new folder in Windows Live Mail, and named it Local Folders. I then copied and pasted two account files from Windows Mail Local Folders into the Local Folders folder, in Windows Live Mail.

When Windows Live Mail was opened, these still showed up as two separate accounts in the left panel.

Upon re-opening the Local Folders folder, it was empty. Two new account folders had been created in Windows Live Mail, named Bern and Poppa, with a complete set of Inbox, Outbox folders, etc, in each account folder. And the individual account files had been moved out of the newly created Local Folders into the corresponding individual account folders it had created. Also mail sent to either account went to the correct folder.

So obviously it's programmed to auto revert to multiple account folders.

Anyone else got any other ideas how it can be hacked to only show one set of Local Folders with all accounts in that folder?

Amending Accounts View in main window of Windows Live Mail.

The main objection I have come across against Windows Live Mail as an alternative to Windows Mail is the compulsory inclusion of all Accounts in the left panel of the main window. Microsoft never told me, and being a bit slow on the uptake, I have only just discovered it is possible to alter the view of the accounts in the left panel to come fairly close to simulating Windows Mail. The following picture shows how I have my main window set up.



1. Expand/Contract Entries in Left Panel.

Although it does not show in this snipped image, on the left side of the name of each entry in the left panel is a button which expands/contracts the entry view to display or hide sub-folders.

In this view of my main window I have hidden all sub-folders of Inbox, Sent Items, etc, for the accounts Poppa and Bern, and also in Storage Folders.

2. Customise viewing options for "Quick Views" folder.

By choosing suitable view options for the "Quick Views" folder, it can be used as a master folder to see all emails in all accounts, similar to the "Local Folders" folder in Windows Mail.

To set up viewing options for "Quick views" folder: Right click "Quick views" name --> Select Quick views --> Tick options as desired.

This allows all emails from all accounts, news and feeds to be viewed in one folder. In my personal set-up in the above pic have opted not to include News or Feeds.

3. Amend position of each entry in left panel.

To move entries in the left panel up or down, simply right click the name and choose Move up/down.

This makes Windows Live Mail fairly close to a viable alternative to Windows Mail. Once you become accustomed to the new positions of various command buttons and folders, etc, it does have several advanages over WinMail. It is more flexible, and has a lot more options not available in WinMail.

Hope this may help those who can't/don't want to use WinMail anymore.

Cheers PB

My primary machine is Vista (where I use Windows Mail), but I will eventually migrate to Win 7 -- and have set up Win-7 machines for several people and, whether they had been using Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows Mail, had to address the issue that Win 7 had no built in mail client. I don't remember each situation (in at least two we gave up on a local mail client and just migrated the user to Windows Live Mail web-base mail. In at least one case I downloaded and installed the optional Windows 7 local email CLIENT version also called "Windows Live Mail." (Thank you Microsoft for this unbelievable naming confusion of having two totally different tools with the same name out there.)

Having for decades used Outlook express, then with only slight annoyance/dislocation migrated to Windows Mail when I got Vista, I was flumoxed and annoyed whenLike others I was annoyed that Windows 7 not only had ditched the perfectly good Windows Mail but didn't come with any mail client installed.

But once I jumped through a few hoops and got (on my friend's Windows 7 system) the Windows Live Mail client installed it looked OK and functionally seemed to be about the equivalent of Windows Mail from Vista.

So here, finally, is are my questions:
Why are folks here jumping though what appears to me to be extra hoops to get Windows Mail running in Windows 7?
Why not just download the Windows 7 client version of Windows Live Mail?
What am I missing here?
Is it too difficult to migrate Windows Mail data into the Windows Live Mail client?
Is Win Live Mail client missing some beloved feature of Windows Mail?

I'm going to have to decide when I finally migrate to Windows 7 whether to try the routine suggested here to get Windows Mail running under Windows 7 or some other route. (I have over 30,000 stored emails in Windows Mail on my Vista)
So all answers appreciated BEFORE I start down what one way or other is a more convoluted path than I appreciate ;-( .

Alex