Windows Live Mail end of support date

Just seen a note on Microsoft's website that Windows Live Mail will be axed on 10 January 2017: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17779/downl...

I've never once seen WLM updated in all the years I've had it. So it's not gonna make much difference.

microsoft the company that keeps abandoning its products,

never commit to any of their services.

To be fair to Microsoft, the world keeps moving. Just as Outlook Express became dated and was replaced by Windows Live Mail, it probably made more sense for the free e-mail program to become a Windows Store application. Mail and Calendar on Windows 10 (and possibly Windows 8.1 - I never used Windows 8 or 8.1) is functional but basic.

If you want a 'full feature' offering, there is Microsoft Outlook 2016 - at a cost, of course. It's not perfect, especially when used as an IMAP client, but it works. There are free alternatives, such as Thunderbird. It's probably time for Windows Live Mail to disappear. It doesn't work with outlook.com any more, it hasn't received any attention for many years, and there are better free alternatives.

There has been an industry-wide move to more aggressive deprecation of old, end of life, software - something that has particularly concerned Microsoft, with the high number of Windows XP installations still in active use at the end of life date. Microsoft is now much more prominent about product lifecycles and typically removes downloads for end of life products on the EoL date. Microsoft have also taken to archiving support content for end of life versions is archived.

So many security issues arise through old technologies and implementations. Thankfully the industry has moved on from not deprecating anything for fear of the resulting compatibility issues. I'm waiting for the day when I can remove Flash Player from my machines and feel secure in not breaking any web sites.

Since when did Windows live mail stopped working with Outlook.com? My brother phoned me up a couple of days back to say his windows live mail was not picking up the mail from his hotmail, I told him as a temp thing to do it via the browser, He knows very little about computers apart from turning them on and using the software he uses and I have never used Windows live, even if I did set it up for him, so I know very little about it, so trying to explain things on the phone would be difficult.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Since when did Windows live mail stopped working with Outlook.com?

Windows Live Mail stopped working with outlook.com earlier this year, as this Microsoft blog explains (click).

In reply to a post by David_W:

So many security issues arise through old technologies and implementations.

I'm still using 2 desktops and a laptop printserver with XP on them. No virus' or malware on them and as far as I know I have not had any intrusion.

AVG antivirus (free) and ZoneAlarm firewall (free) work wonders.

the difference is the examples you gave lasted a lot longer than 4 years.

In reply to a post by David_W:

Windows Live Mail stopped working with outlook.com earlier this year, as this Microsoft blog explains (click).

What they didn't explain though is that you can still use WLM with Outlook.com with POP3 or IMAP, albeit losing calendar and contact synch which requires EAS. Possibly they omitted mentioning this solution in the knowledge that the software would be fully retired soon.

In reply to a post by David_W:

Windows Live Mail stopped working with outlook.com earlier this year

Not for me it didn't! Nor did Outlook with its Hotmail Connector. I can still access my Hotmail (aka Outlook.com) emails using both.

Altho' I'm anticipating a change as given in Outlook.com migration changes; What do I need to know and do? but even this is surmountable .

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by David_W:

Windows Live Mail stopped working with outlook.com earlier this year

Not for me it didn't! Nor did Outlook with its Hotmail Connector. I can still access my Hotmail (aka Outlook.com) emails using both.

Microsoft are gradually migrating outlook.com accounts to the new platform and these legacy connection methods will stop working once your account is migrated.

The fact that some outlook.com accounts still work with these legacy connection methods does not undermine the general statement that Windows Live Mail has stopped working with outlook.com.

It's all smoke & mirrors. WLM hasn't really stopped working with Outlook.com a/c's. I can continue to use it as that bulletin says under POP3 Connectivity. This is exactly the same way as I always used it. So when my Outlook.com a/c is migrated I will see no change with WLM. With Outlook, I will need to change to IMAP or POP3 & Uninstall the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector.

In reply to a post by David_W:

Windows Live Mail stopped working with outlook.com earlier this year, as this Microsoft blog explains (click).

Cheers, it must have took a while for ti to stop working for my brother, i have to sort his computer out at some point anyway, so will stick Fossa mail on it or something like that.

Action required for users of Windows Live Mail 2012 and
Windows Live Mail 2012 synchronization with Outlook.com: Frequently Asked Questions


http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/action-requir...

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

Action required for users of Windows Live Mail 2012 and
Windows Live Mail 2012 synchronization with Outlook.com: Frequently Asked Questions


http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/action-requir...

That's a different issue relating to WLM support for Outlook.com.

Microsoft have this month announced the complete discontinuation of support for Windows Essentials as of 10 January 2017.

Edited by Oliver341 (Tue 13-Sep-16 19:02:58)

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

Action required for users of Windows Live Mail 2012 and
Windows Live Mail 2012 synchronization with Outlook.com: Frequently Asked Questions


http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/action-requir...

That's a different issue relating to WLM support for Outlook.com.

Microsoft have this month announced the complete discontinuation of support for Windows Essentials as of 10 January 2017.

That is indeed end of support. however you may still wish to use it as it is very reliable when entered with manual settings and some my prefer to keep it or go with outlook or Thunderbird or just keep what is built in to windows 10

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

That is indeed end of support. however you may still wish to use it as it is very reliable when entered with manual settings and some my prefer to keep it

Although as someone who regularly posts Microsoft support bulletins to this forum, I'm sure you are aware of the dangers of using unsupported software.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

That is indeed end of support. however you may still wish to use it as it is very reliable when entered with manual settings and some my prefer to keep it

Although as someone who regularly posts Microsoft support bulletins to this forum, I'm sure you are aware of the dangers of using unsupported software.

Well as one of the main team leaders at Microsoft for the official postings of security updates as well as most developers software i would agree with you

however i need to be able to show the way forward in a constructive manor and not just dismiss a product that is no longer supported

My own personal view as i use the software is to wait till nearer the time to see how the land lies with what is advisable at that time and not before

I use most software for testing and with regret most can be very buggy so one needs to be very careful when evaluating it's successor

currently only outlook is a strong worldwide contender 'but that as you know is shareware and not free

Windows 10 Mail client isn't bad but still needs improving as does windows 10 in general' but we'll get there of that i'm sure

Edited by NICK_ADSL_UK (Tue 13-Sep-16 20:50:24)