What is Windows Live?
The lowdown on a new suite of products and services
By Kirsten Ballweg
Windows Live
is a growing group of
Microsoft products and services that work well together, and work even better with
Windows. Some of them are on the web, like Hotmail, Spaces, and SkyDrive;
others are programs that you download to your computer, like Messenger, Photo
Gallery, and Writer.
What pulls the products and services together is how they
help you keep in touch with people, share ideas and photos, and stay safe while
doing it.
One more thing they have in common is the price: free!
Let's take a look at how to get Windows Live and what you can do
with it.
Windows Live, defined
Windows Live is a suite of products and services that work
together to make it easier to communicate, share, and stay protected online.
Some are programs you download to your computer, while others are available on
the web. They work together to help you get the most out of your online experience.
Like me, you might already be using some of Windows Live, like Hotmail and Messenger—they've been around for a while but have some new, cool features. Some
things, like Writer and Photo Gallery, are brand new.
The following table highlights some of the products and services in Windows Live.
 Mail—read and reply to all your e-mail accounts in one place |  Hotmail—stay connected anywhere with your web e-mail account |
 Messenger—connect with family and friends with text, voice, and video |  Spaces—share your world online with a blog, photos, and more |
 Photo Gallery—get creative and share your photos and videos |  Events—plan an event, send invitations, and share the memories afterwards |
 Writer—easily publish pictures, videos, and other rich content to your blog |  Gallery—customize Windows Live and Windows with gadgets, emoticons, and more |
 Toolbar—easy access to Windows Live services from any webpage |  SkyDrive—store and share files online with password-protected access |
 OneCare Family Safety—Make your family's online adventures safer with website and contact filters you create and manage |
Whether I'm sharing photos, publishing to my blog, or communicating with friends and family, when I use Windows Live I frequently find myself thinking, "Wow, that was easy!" That's the beauty of Windows Live—the suite of products and services work together and with Windows on my computer to help me accomplish what I want to online.
Here are some of the things that I like to do with my Windows-based computer and Windows Live.
Share your stuff
Sharing things online is a piece of cake with Windows Live. Instead of calling my parents, my brother, and my friends to fill them in on what I've been up to, I publish stories and pictures to
Windows Live Spaces.
 |
| My Windows Live space |
A space is your place on the web where you can share your stuff online. You control who can see your space: you can let anyone on the Internet see it, or you can make it available to just people you know.
I add a lot of my stories to my
blog
on Spaces, and I use
Windows Live Writer
to compose and preview my blog posts before I publish them.
 |
| Use Writer to compose your blog post, add photos and videos, and preview it before you publish to the web |
To set up Writer, all you need is the web address for your space and your Windows Live ID. When you add your information, Writer gathers all the formatting you're using on your space so your new blog posts fit in perfectly—you don't have to do any extra formatting work! Writer also works with SharePoint, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Moveable Type, Community Server, and other blogging sites. It's really easy, even for first-time bloggers!
Say "cheese"
Photos are a big thing for me. I love taking them, and showing them off (at least the good ones, meaning any photo where I don't look like a member of the living dead).
Windows Live Photo Gallery
is great because it works with my computer to make getting the photos off of my camera a snap.
All I do is plug in my camera to my computer using a
USB
cord. The AutoPlay window opens, and I click Import pictures and videos using Windows Live Photo Gallery.
 |
| AutoPlay automatically detects your digital camera and gives you options for importing pictures and videos |
That's it! The photos are copied over to my computer and into Photo Gallery—automatically organized by date and time.
With Photo Gallery, I can add tags (descriptive words) to photos to organize them the way I want to, fix any not-so-perfect pics, and even order prints for my wall-worthy shots. I can also quickly add photos to my online albums so my friends and family can see them and add their own comments.
 |
| A few clicks in Photo Gallery and you're publishing your pictures online! |
It used to take me weeks to get my vacation photos online to share with people. Really, it took an hour or so, but it was such a hideous process that I would procrastinate for a few weeks first. But now it takes just a few minutes. It's pretty slick and one of my personal favorite features in Windows Live.
Stay in touch
MSN Messenger is now called
Windows Live Messenger, and it's how I like to stay in contact online with friends, family, and co-workers. I've been using Messenger since the mid-1990s, back when grunge bands were in the Top 10 and Twin Peaks was must-see TV, and I have to say, I'm still pretty amazed by how I can have a conversation from Seattle with someone who's in Austin without picking up a phone. I can even play games, share photos in real time, or make a video call from my computer. And now with the contact card, Messenger is also a great way to see what your contacts are doing online without starting a conversation—just look for the gleam:
The gleam lets you know when a contact's done something new. When I see a gleam, I know I can click the contact icon
to see what's new with my friend.
 |
| I can see what my friends are doing online by checking out their contact cards |
The contact card shows a preview of the new things that person's done online, including updates made to their space. It's a super easy way to get a quick snapshot of what's new with my friends and family. If I see something interesting on the card, I can click it to get the details. I also can directly contact the person in lot of different ways right from the contact card, including sending an e-mail using Hotmail (it's under Contact information).
Speaking of
Hotmail, it's been around a while too, but it's gone through some pretty dramatic improvements over the past several months. First off, there's 5 GB of storage space—my mailbox usage indicator hardly ever goes above 1%.
 |
| Even my hundreds of e-mail messages typically only use 1% of the 5 GB of storage space in Hotmail |
Now it's a lot easier to find old messages. You can sort by date, size, subject, and who sent the message, and you can filter by subject, sender, and e-mail messages with attachments.
The whole interface is a lot more robust—there's a preview pane, you can drag e-mail messages to different folders, and right-click to see many other options.
And if you have multiple e-mail accounts like I do and don't want to visit several different websites to check them, you can download
Mail
to your computer. Mail is one of the sweetest parts of the Windows Live suite. After you download Mail to your computer, add the account information for your different web mail accounts to receive and send e-mail from all those accounts.
 |
| With Mail, I can check different e-mail accounts all in one place |
Mail works with Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo! accounts (although you'll need a Yahoo! premium account for it to work with Mail).
Also, with Mail you can store your messages on your computer—perfect if you want to save e-mail long-term. Mail replaces and is an upgrade from Windows Mail and Outlook Express. It's been a huge time-saver for me!
Protect what's important
Phishing and other e-mail scams are all the rage these days. I'm glad Windows and Windows Live is doing something to help protect us.
I love the new security features in Hotmail because somehow I just can't seem to get off the mailing lists for inexpensive designer watches and refinanced mortgages. Hotmail now uses a color system to warn you of suspicious mail: red is a potential
phishing
e-mail message, yellow is a message from someone not in your address book. And reporting phishing or junk mail is easy—just click Junk or Report phishing scam from the Junk menu.
 |
| Get rid of unwanted junk and phishing messages fast with the Junk menu |
Windows Vista has some great security features. Windows Defender automatically scans for
spyware
on your computer. Phishing Filter in Internet Explorer 7 warns you if you're visiting a suspicious website. User Account Control lets you decide whether or not the software you download or install can make changes to your computer. And if you have children, Parental Controls helps to protect them. You can set time limits and approve the games and programs that your children are using. I don't have any kids, but maybe I should set up Parental Controls for my game-loving boyfriend (just kidding, honey).
Windows Live offers two ways to help protect your PC and the people who use it: Family Safety and OneCare.
If you're concerned about your children's online activity, try
Family Safety. You can manage or monitor your children's contact lists so you feel safer about them taking to their friends in Messenger and through Hotmail. You can also block specific websites, or just categories of sites, and generate reports on your kids' web surfing habits.
 |
| Help protect the kiddies with Family Safety |
You can get notified of your kids' activity through your personal Hotmail account. This is especially handy if your children have to request permission to visit certain websites. And if you also use Messenger, you'll know right away when junior wants to visit his favorite sites.
For comprehensive protection of your PC (and the peace of mind that comes with it), check out
Windows Live OneCare. It can help protect your computer from all the bad stuff on the Internet: spyware,
viruses, phishing scams, and hackers. It also manages maintenance items for your PC, including tune-ups, file backups, and
firewall management.
OneCare performs complicated maintenance tasks automatically, but it lets me know what the status is in a really simple way: the color of the icon in the notification area (also called the system tray).
 |
| The color of the OneCare icon tells you the status of computer maintenance tasks |
If the icon isn't green, I just double click it and OneCare tells me what to do to get back into the green zone.
All this protection doesn't come for free though. OneCare is the only Windows Live service that you pay for, but there is a
90-day free trial.
Getting started: We'll need to see your ID
To start using Windows Live, you need a Windows Live ID. If you have a Hotmail or MSN e-mail address, if you use Messenger, or if you ever signed up for a Microsoft Passport account, you already have a Windows Live ID (it's your e-mail address and password).
If you don't have a Windows Live ID, it takes about a minute to
sign up for one online. Once you have it, you can use it for everything in Windows Live, and use it to sign in to a bunch of non-Windows Live services, like
Zune
and
Xbox LIVE, or anywhere you see this icon:
. You don't need a Windows Live ID to get the downloadable products from the
Windows Live website.
Try Windows Live for yourself
I've shared some of the things I like to do with Windows Live and Windows Vista, but there's even more you can try. To keep up with all the latest Windows Live news, including new features and services, visit the
Windows Live Wire blog. Or better yet, get a Windows Live ID (if you don't have one already), and
sign in!
About the author
Kirsten Ballweg is a writer on the Windows Live team at Microsoft. She enjoys playing vintage Farfisas, consuming perfectly toasted and buttered English muffins, watching squirrels and bunnies frolic, and writing about herself in the third person.
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Firewall
Software or hardware that can help protect a computer from hackers or malicious software. A firewall helps prevent malicious software (such as worms) from gaining access to a computer through a network or over the Internet, and helps prevent a computer from sending malicious software to other computers.
Phishing
A technique used to trick computer users into revealing personal or financial information. A common online phishing scam starts with an e‑mail message that appears to come from a trusted source but actually directs recipients to provide information to a fraudulent website.
Virus
A malicious computer program designed specifically to replicate itself and spread from computer to computer. A virus may damage hardware, software, or data.
Blog
A frequently updated online journal or column. Blogs are often used to publish personal or company information in an informal way. Short for web log.
Universal serial bus (USB)
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Universal serial bus (USB)
A narrow, rectangular connector used to attach a device, such as a keyboard or a mouse, to a computer.
Spyware
Software that can display advertisements (such as pop-up ads), collect information about you, or change settings on your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent.
Help and How-to
