Windows Live Mail Freezes With Contacts.

[NateZ]

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I use all of the windows live applications except for "family safety" (which is currently not installed).
All of the applications run fine except for Live Mail which freezes when I am signed in and click on contacts.
No problems sending, receiving or writing emails. No problems adding contacts to an email (even if I am signed in to Live).
It simply freezes when I am signed in and click on the contacts option of the application. Or if I am in contacts and then sign in to Windows Live.

I have done a repair of all windows Live products. I also followed another troubleshooting tutorial and changed the "contacts" folder name in order to allow Live Mail to re-synchronize contacts when I signed in again. Neither of these worked.

I would prefer not to have to re-install the application altogether if it can be avoided.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Roderunner]

Hi NateZ, Welcome to Seven Forums.
You say you can sign in to WLM. Sign in to your account directly, thats where your contacts should be stored.

 

[NateZ]

Hi NateZ, Welcome to Seven Forums.
You say you can sign in to WLM. Sign in to your account directly, thats where your contacts should be stored.

I'm not sure I understand. What does signing in directly mean? I do sign in to windows live mail, and then it freezes if I try to use the contacts section. It works fine when I am NOT signed in.

 

[Roderunner]

I'm not sure I understand. What does signing in directly mean? I do sign in to windows live mail, and then it freezes if I try to use the contacts section. It works fine when I am NOT signed in.

Sign in directly from here. Sign In

 

[NateZ]

How does this solve my problem of Windows Live Mail client freezing when I use the contacts section?

 

[Roderunner]

When I send an email, I click in the 'To' Box, type first 2 or 3 letters the select from options given.

 

[roncerr]

...What does signing in directly mean? I do sign in to windows live mail, and then it freezes if I try to use the contacts section. It works fine when I am NOT signed in.

Not sure I can help with the freeze issue. But you should be aware of the significant affect "Signing In" has on your contact list. Windows Live Mail actually has two completely different contact lists: your "signed-in" contact list and your "not signed-in" contact list. You can only see one at a time depending on your signed in status. If you are signed in, your contacts list should match the list you see in your web browser when you go to the page "contacts.live.com". By the way, the "Contacts" list in Windows Explorer under your username actually has nothing to do with WLM, so renaming it should have no effect.

 

[smcc42]

I have a similar problem. I have converted to Windows 7 and imported messages, settings and contacts from OE 6. Large numbers of messages have not cone across, but my contacts list is intact. However, when I click on New Message and try to add one or more contacts no contacts appear. Where have they gone?

 

[roncerr]

I have a similar problem. I have converted to Windows 7 and imported messages, settings and contacts from OE 6. Large numbers of messages have not cone across, but my contacts list is intact. However, when I click on New Message and try to add one or more contacts no contacts appear. Where have they gone?

Which of the 3 contact lists are you looking at: http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/197452-windows-live-mail-freezes-contacts.html#post1660477 ?

 

[smcc42]

I have a similar problem. I have converted to Windows 7 and imported messages, settings and contacts from OE 6. Large numbers of messages have not cone across, but my contacts list is intact. However, when I click on New Message and try to add one or more contacts no contacts appear. Where have they gone?

Which of the 3 contact lists are you looking at: http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/197452-windows-live-mail-freezes-contacts.html#post1660477 ?

There appears to be only one Contact list.

The good news is that, for no apparent reason, I am now able to add contacts to new messages.

 

[roncerr]

...There appears to be only one Contact list...

The three lists are explained in my above post: "signed-in", "not-signed-in", and the one in Windows Explorer under your username which is not used by WLM.

 

[smcc42]

Very interesting. I was not given an option to sign in, as used to be the case with OE 6.

 

[roncerr]

Very interesting. I was not given an option to sign in, as used to be the case with OE 6.

OE never had a "sign-in" since it did not have the "Windows Live" features. However, they both have a "login" to each of your email accounts so that you can access your email service providers. "Sign-in" refers to using your "LiveID" to use the "contacts.live.com" website for duplicating your contact list on-line and for the Photo-email feature where emailed photos are viewed and saved on Microsoft servers (SkyDrive). To enable sign-in you must go to the Connections tab under options.

 

[smcc42]

Very interesting. I was not given an option to sign in, as used to be the case with OE 6.

OE never had a "sign-in" since it did not have the "Windows Live" features. However, they both have a "login" to each of your email accounts so that you can access your email service providers. "Sign-in" refers to using your "LiveID" to use the "contacts.live.com" website for duplicating your contact list on-line and for the Photo-email feature where emailed photos are viewed and saved on Microsoft servers (SkyDrive). To enable sign-in you must go to the Connections tab under options.

I see. I have no wish to use Windows Messenger and Spaces, which presumably explains why I only have one list of contacts. It does seem strange that there is no log in to Live Mail, as this reduces its security.

 

[roncerr]

...I have no wish to use Windows Messenger and Spaces, which presumably explains why I only have one list of contacts. It does seem strange that there is no log in to Live Mail, as this reduces its security.

Go to WLM options/connections/"connecting to Windows Live Services" and push the "sign-in..." button. I don't use Messenger and Spaces either, but if you have WLM then you also have a LiveID and access to PhotoEmail and the Contacts web synchronization feature. You will only see one contact list at a time depending on whether or not you are signed-in.

 

[smcc42]

I accept that OE did not have a "sign in", but it did have the facility to set up a password to access your account, thus making it more difficult for anyone else to access it. I cannot find any similar facility on Windows Live Mail which means that if I leave my computer unattended anyone can read my emails simply by clicking on the Live Mail icon. Not very satisfactory!

 

[Roderunner]

I accept that OE did not have a "sign in", but it did have the facility to set up a password to access your account, thus making it more difficult for anyone else to access it. I cannot find any similar facility on Windows Live Mail which means that if I leave my computer unattended anyone can read my emails simply by clicking on the Live Mail icon. Not very satisfactory!

Wrong! see my image.

 

[smcc42]

I have no recollection of using a Windows Live ID to sign in to Windows Live Mail and I am not able to find the page in your image in order to uncheck the "remember password" box. I do not use Windows Live, apart from Windows Live Mail.

 

[Roderunner]

My image was taken using WLM

 

[roncerr]

I have no recollection of using a Windows Live ID to sign in to Windows Live Mail and I am not able to find the page in your image in order to uncheck the "remember password" box. I do not use Windows Live, apart from Windows Live Mail.

The image shown was the window that shows up if you don't already have your password remembered and you attempt to sign in. In order to stop signing in automatically you need to go to Options/Connection Tab and push the "stop signing in" button. Keep in mind that if you stop signing in your contact list will switch to the "not signed in" list, which may be empty if you have been signing in. So you will have to import your list from an export you make of your contacts prior to selecting "stop signing in". There are two disadvantages to not signing in with respect to contacts: first, you need to backup your contacts manually since they will no longer be synchronized with the "contacts.live.com" website; second, the export copy is unable to save the way your contacts are grouped into categories, so when you use the backup you will have all the contacts but not grouped into categories, so you will have to re-group them. Another less important disadvantage is loosing Photo Email which comes in handy for sending large numbers of photos that collectively may exceed your allowed email file size.