Windows Mail

mitchell64 said:

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

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

poppa bear said:

mitchell64 said:

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

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

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 Win7 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 Win7 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 Win7 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 Win7?
Why not just download the Win7 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 Win7 whether to try the routine suggested here to get Windows Mail running under Win7 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

acensor said:

...Is Win Live Mail client missing some beloved feature of Windows Mail?

Yes. It adds "features" and complexity that some don't want (calendar, contacts on server, rss)

It creates by a complete set of sub-folders for each and every email account which can't be removed and adds a "quick view" set and another storage set as well.

You can't see the Windows Explorer Contacts folder but must import it if you want to use it at all. If you're not logged in to live.com you can't see your contacts. There is a 3rd set of WLM local contacts but you only see them when "working offline".

It constantly asks if you want to put your email pictures on their server or not calling it "photo mail" instead of "server photo mail". If you choose one or the other and say "don't ask again" you've given up a feature that may be useful sometimes.

Basically, they have destroyed the concept of an email client and created a monster that is both local and web based. Good luck trying to back that up to a local hard drive.

Having said that, since I have a working Vista system as my main computer I have been playing with WLM on my Win 7 portable and reading the forums to learn more about it. Since Microsoft is not supporting WM any longer, I'd like to see if I can live with "live". But if you're in a hurry to resume your familiar local email client (WM) but on 7, the tutorial will help you do that.

poppa bear said:

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

Thanks for that PB, might use it. All the folder were my main objection

The current version of Live Mail is known as "wave 3". There is a "wave 4" beta version currently being tested that is has a "ribbon" meny bar. Lots of fancy buttons but not much difference in function. The current version has plain vanilla menu buttons with limited options available. The most obvious is the missing delete button in the junk folder in the quick view option. With the new ribbon interface the buttons are fixed permanently so WYSIWYG applies. None of the objectional functions of the program has changed. If you were unhappy with the way the contacts were stored before with some online and some local the wave 4 version has solved that problem but it may not be to your liking. All contacts are stored online and if you are not online and logged in your contact folder is empty. A big step backwards IMO. Ribbon picture attached.

Ex_Brit said:

For reasons already stated, not all of us have only 1 or 2 mail accounts and for me, with 10 mail accounts, WLM is messy, cumbersoms and, quite honestly, a pain in the you-know-what to use.

It was badly thought out.

I don't want to have to keep scrolling up and down trying to find incoming mail.

In WLM when I go to delete something I have to delete it at least twice before it actually goes into the deleted folder, becuase it appears in at least 2 places.

I would gladly use WLM if it was simply a gussied-up WM with the kinks ironed out but it isn't.

Hi Ex_Brit, at the risk of being a traitor to the WinMail cause, I have been running WinLiveMail as default email client for several weeks to try to find work arounds to the common problems.

In a previous post here I have found a work around that might be acceptable to you for using muliple accounts. By right clicking the "Quick View" folder name in the left pane, and selecting "Quick Views", it has options that can be set so it acts as a master folder similar to Local Folders in WinMail. It allows you to see "All Emails" and when they are deleted from Quick Views, they're gone from all other locations.

Re the messy view of all accounts and sub-folders for these accounts, on the left side of each account name is a small button which hides all the sub-folders, so you only see the names of the accounts. And most times I've not needed to open them but can almost do everything from Quick Views.

roncerr mentioned various problems, such as:

It constantly asks if you want to put your email pictures on their server or not calling it "photo mail" instead of "server photo mail".

For whatever reason I haven't experienced this problem.

Contacts are still stored in the normal location: Start Orb --> User Name --> Contacts. I didn't need to import them to WinLiveMail. It auto picked them up and put them in Contacts accessible via the Contacts button at the bottom left of the main window.

Emails and accounts are still stored on the hard drive in AppData. In contrast to WinMail which has one storage folder named Local Folders for all accounts and emails, WinLiveMail has individual Account Folders. Each individual account folder has one account file, and a complete set of Inbox, Outbox, etc.

This makes importing emails from WinMail a little more complicated. Using a straight export/import approach they are all stored in a set of folders for Inbox, Outbox, etc, which is located in Storage Folders. By using a slight variation on my post for importing emails to WinMail from Vista, found here, it is possible to import them all in one fell swoop into any account folder of your choice. And that folder will be set up with exactly the same folders as was in WinMail.

The variation consists in selecting any account in WLM that you want to use as the destination account in AppData. Delete all the yellow folders, (Inbox, Sent Items, etc.) from the destination folder in WinLiveMail, but NOT the account file.

Now import all the yellow sub-folders, (Inbox, Sent Items, etc.) from Local Folders in the AppData folder in WinMail by copying/pasting them to the empty Account Folder in WinLiveMail in AppData. Do not import the white account file. The account you have chosen will now be set up exactly like the Local Folders in WinMail when you open it in the main window of WinLiveMail.

One other feature is that when setting up accounts all you normally need to put in is the ISP user name and password and it auto fills in the POP3, SMTP data.

Hope this might help. Cheers PB