It does a decent job – though I feel it skips a bit too many faces. Maybe it’s just a bit slow and that they are coming? There are also other tools like Google’s Picasa or Adobe Light Room that can find faces and using a tool like AvPicFaceXMPTagger they can be converted to EXIF-info and accessed by WLPG. Anyway, I have thousands of faces in there to process already so I can worry about that later.

The other day I ran into trouble – the faces started to pop up with black icons like in the image below:

The green is what its supposed to look like.
The red X is what I’m currently seeing for thousands of pictures.

Opening the image they come from looks correct, except for the faces icons still being black. The selection boxes in the image are correct and the name in the people tag but not the icon.

The real trouble begins here. Having selected a person with a black icon all other black icons seems to pop up as suggestions for this person as in the previous image. There is no obvious – Rescan these faces/images button to be found anywhere in the GUI.

I had some similar problems with the Photo Gallery’s thumbnails under Vista where the only solution was to delete the thumbs database for it. So browsing to the AppData folder to find the Gallery; hit Start and type the following into the search:

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Photo Gallery

And yes, there it is: FaceThumbs.fd1

I just renamed the file to .old and started WLPG again and voilà, it is rescanning the face icons. WLPG show gray icons instead of black icons for the faces it has to rescan – including the earlier black ones.

Just hope this time they show up as good icons and not black ones…

Works for me! (Kind of)

Changes being made at Cima are also going to be part of my blog updates on my next run.  Things are happening that I really like.  Good changes.  Anyway, I’ve got some things that have to be done ASAP, so I’ve got to go now.

Keep the shiny side up!

I have a temporary solution until one of the Microsoft agents escalate this case, the solution is myuninstaller from www.nirsoft.net found at this address myuninstaller.

The program analyzes all of the programs that you have installed, including some that just have an install entry like the issue you are having.

The program not only analyzes your software, but in true Nirsoft style, you can determine its location and other properties that are important.  I feel that if you look for the entry "Windows Live Essentials and it has a Beta somewhere in the title, you will have found the entry.  Another way to determine if it is correct, is to try repairing the installation. 

If you get any errors, sometimes it means that there are incorrect entries in your installation, which means you should uninstall the program completely.  I hope this helps you out a little bit at least.  Since this is not an escalated post, I will also post this reply on my blog, so that you can stay updated with my findings.

Source:  http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=3ecdfbe8-ae6a-4e04-842c-3e1f03096b89&page=4

Tomorrow have to have a repairman in because the 55” LED TV upstairs is having a problem and I need to get it taken care of before the warranty is up on the 25th of this month.

My prayers and condolences go out to Linda Schaibley who’s mother passed away last week.  Linda is the wife of my nephew Rick.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

I recently came across an interesting computer blog post. It’s entitled Don’t Let Thieves Ruin Your Life with This Computer Crime at identitytheftfixe… .  This is a frame-up.  Wiki discusses a frame-up on Wiki at secure.wikimedi….  Some thief accessed his work computer and downloaded child porn on it. It’s a disaster of the highest making. Let me summarize some key article points:

1. His reputation – along with that of his wife – lies in ruins.
2. He spent $250,000 in legal fees defending himself.
3. He suffered health issues due to the stress.

This man was completely innocent. But he’s male and a work technician found child porn on his PC. As Curly Stooge used to say, “I’m just a victim of circumstances.”

Let’s look at some way to prevent this scenario. Let’s focus on the Windows operating system

Image via CrunchBase

I here to tell you this: “Don’t be a victim of circumstances.”

Let’s start with a router…even for one computer

I first shared this technique in a blog post entitled NetTalk and MagicJack – Some Leftovers at b2b-techcopy.ne…

There’s an interesting answer to why use a router, found in the newsletter at terryscomputert… . The author recommends using a router to enhance security, even if you only have one computer. Here’s what they say – in part:

“A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily ask your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not start a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.”

Let’s talk about anti-virus and firewalls, shall we?

There’s really no reason not to have a firewall and anti-virus installed. Many Internet services ( like AT&T and Comcast), offer a commercial solution for the client. The one I use is Norton Anti-virus, which Comcast supplied.

If you don’t get a free commercial solution – don’t despair. There’s a few good free ones available. I would recommend reading the article entitled Best Free Anti-virus at freebies.about…. .

Many years ago, back when I had only dial-up connections, I tried both AVG and Avast (from the article list). My favorite free software is Avast. Avast and AVG were the first 2 on the article list. The third one listed shows potential, and is one Microsoft created. It’s called Microsoft Security Essentials.

Another open source solution showing potential is Clam Win. I have experimented with it and they have been around for years. I wouldn’t use it now, as it lacks real-time scanning. However, if you visit their site, they are working on it. I’ll definitely look at them, after they build the real-time scanning capacity. Make sure they work all the kinks out first.

If you don’t have a commercial firewall in place, I would endorse Microsoft’s Windows Firewall.

Beam me up Scotty

I first learned about this clever software from the newsletter, giving the router tip. You can find the free and pay versions of Win Patrol at winpatrol.com/…. The software comes alive at start-up and informs you when Windows changes something. If I upgrade software, I usually get a Scotty message. There’s a Scott terrier icon associated with it. For the record, I use the free version. It suits me just fine.

The registry and spyware please

Finally, I need to recommend a good registry cleaner called CCleaner (along with other software tools), available at Piriform.  And a plus for the fine spyware scanner called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (malwarebytes.or…).

Lessons Learned

There’s many lessons to be learned here.  Let me list a couple:

• In the U.S., it’s a federal crime to have child pornography on a computer.  What disturbs me here is this: neither the company’s computer staff, nor the FBI cyber staff – checked for cyber viruses.  If they did, then the man wouldn’t have a legal bill mounting to $250,000.
• In this news article http://is.gd/gubD3, it mentions Michael Flora was cleared of the charges, after he hired computer forensics expert Tami Loehrs.
• Not sure about a work computer.  But I do know this: if you take these precautions I’ve outlined for your home computer, it will decrease cyber crime.

Related Articles

• Spyware Frequently Asked Questions (faq) | Pre Switcher’s Guide (preswitcher.com)
• Can you protect your computer for free? (guardian.co.uk)
• How to Effectively Combat Spyware, Adware, Viruses and other … (wp.evaporshop.com)
• The Do’s and Don’ts For Avoiding Spyware – Technology Articles (softwareobjects.net)
• The Best Firewall/Spyware, Malware, Virus, Trojan protector? | HPVAC (hpvac.com)
• What Free Anti Malware, Spyware and Firewall do you recommend? | HPVAC (hpvac.com)

you changed the permissions in the registry for all the Windows Live entries

Mike

Thank you Mike,

As far as your comment, I may need to look it over a couple times to see where I may have confused you, that you need more clarification, but I will do my best.

Here is my response…

Actually, there are still a few other registry entries that need permission changes, but it has become so long of a task that I wish I had never installed this program.  Granted, I love the finished product, but I do not find these problems to be helpful in any way (are they ever).  What I mean is that I was wondering if you could find a way to speed up this process of changing each individual key:

Here is my request

check to see if a registry key has permissions set to certain tick marks without having to dig deep into the registry.

Here are some tools I use to somewhat solve this problem or at least save myself some time:

All descriptions except for WinUtilities and Procmon64 and RegDllView are taken from www.social.wakoopa.com

RegScanner

RegScanner is a small utility that allows you to scan the Registry, find the desired Registry values that match to the specified search criteria, and display them in one list. After finding the Registry values, you can easily jump to the right value in RegEdit, simply by double-clicking the desired Registry item. You can also export the found Registry values into a .reg file that can be used in RegEdit.

WinUtilities

Registry Search: Searchs the Windows Registry by a specific wildcard. then you can delete or export them.

Procmon64 AKA (Process Monitor v.2.93)

Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity. It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities, Filemon and Regmon, and adds an extensive list of enhancements including rich and non-destructive filtering, comprehensive event properties such session IDs and user names, reliable process information, full thread stacks with integrated symbol support for each operation, simultaneous logging to a file, and much more. Its uniquely powerful features will make Process Monitor a core utility in your system troubleshooting and malware hunting toolkit.

RegDllView

RegDllView is a small utility that displays the list of all registered dll/ocx/exe files (COM registration). For each registered file, you can view the last date/time that it was registered, and the list of all registration entries (CLSID/ProgID).

RegDllView also allows you to unregister dll/ocx files that you don’t need on your system anymore. If you have dll/ocx files that don’t exist on your system anymore, but their registration entries are still exist in your Registry, you can manually remove these entries by using ‘Delete All Entries For Selected Files’ option.

Starting from version 1.35, RegDllView also allows you to register dll/ocx files (like regsvr32), simply by dragging one or more files from Explorer folder into the window of RegDllView.

As you can see by the length of the list, I have put some serious thought into finding a practical solution for this issue.  What isn’t practical, however,  is having 6 programs to fix a problem that shouldn’t have been there in the first place (registry permissions).

Here is my thought, if you know a way to solve either issue please notify me via comments or www.windowslivehelp.com 

To clarify, the first issue is the registry permissions and the second is having to waste time digging into the registry to find if I have the correct permissions.

Here is what I propose:

1. Faster, more convenient way to determine if I will have the appropriate permissions or not.
2. Bug with registry permissions is fixed.

Thank you and I look forward to your reply

Jon E

Note:

I will provide an overview of how I use each tool in a future post:

I use Windows Live Mesh which can sync virtually unlimited files directly between my PCs and up to 5GB of files between my PC and SkyDrive. So no more flash drive transfers – whether I’m using my desktop or laptop, I have the current version of my files.

Install Live Mesh

Windows Live Mesh comes with the latest version of Windows Live Essentials.  Once we install Windows Live Essentials, all we need is a Windows Live ID and Internet access.

Sync a Folder

• Click Windows Live Mesh
• Click Sync a Folder (located next to the icon of your computer).

• Choose from the folders on your computer.
• Click Sync button.

• Select Devices dialogue will appear and we can select which devices we want to sync the folder to.
• Click OK button.

• Once the folder is added, Windows Live Mesh will sync the files with the other machine.

Go to the other PC and make sure Windows Live Mesh is launched.  That’s all we need to do. Windows Live Mesh will automatically keep the folder up to date as long as both machines are on and connected to the internet.

We can also sync folders between our PC and SkyDrive, a free online storage from Windows Live. SkyDrive provides 25GB online storage but we can only sync up to 5GB of space on SkyDrive.   Once our files are on SkyDrive, then we can access our synched files from any computer that has an Internet connection.

Andrew Chan is the owner and founder of ALG Inc.

We help you to make better and faster decisions!

Primary Machines

Dell XPS 400

A late 2005 model, my Dell XPS 400 includes an Intel Pentium D Processor @ 2.80GHz, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, nVidia Graphics Card, and a few other bells and whistles that I’ve added throughout the years. It’s an older machine, but it gets the job done.

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

An early 2008 model, my ThinkPad T61 is my primary mobile workhorse. It comes with me almost wherever I go and as such, it’s been put through quite a bit of abuse, but still looks and works as if it was brand new. It houses an Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 Processor @ 2.10GHz, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, and integrated Intel Graphics Chipset.

Secondary Machine

Dell Dimension 8200

This old beast is used primarily to do tedious tasks that I don’t want done on my other two computers, such as disassembling code, performing network routine tasks, etc. It houses a Pentium 4 Processor @ 2.4GHz, 512MB of RAM, and two 80GB hard drives. It does what it needs to and I couldn’t ask for more.

Software

Operating System

I currently maintain Windows 7 with SP1 Beta on my two primary machines. I also, from time to time, test the latest Ubuntu version and have Windows XP and Vista running in a virtual machine on both of my primary machines. I use VMWare Player for most of my OS virtualization needs.

Productivity Software

I use Microsoft Office 2010 quite a bit and more specifically, Word and OneNote for a lot of my projects. I’ve started using Microsoft Visio 2010 for coding projects, but find that it works better if I just have an idea in my head versus trying to lay it all out (instead of how it’s supposed to be done).

I also use and recommend the free online version of Microsoft Office, dubbed Office Web Apps. I don’t use it primarily, instead from time to time as I need to access or edit Office documents on the fly. I also use SkyDrive to host my Office documents that I need to sync or have access to anywhere.

Coding

I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for most of my coding projects. I usually code in Visual C#, Basic, or C++. However, for school, I use Eclipse to write the required Java programs for school projects. I also use HexRay’s IDA Pro (free version) for my disassembling needs.

Multimedia

I use a slew of multimedia programs and web clients, so I’ll probably miss a couple in this category. I use Zune for all of my music needs and have a Zune Pass which allows for unlimited music downloads, while I use Windows Media Player 12 is used for videos. I also have a Netflix subscription which allows me access to a host of movies and TV shows that I watch on a somewhat regular basis. For other TV shows that can’t be found on Netflix, I use and recommend the free TV service, Hulu.

Internet and E-mail

For general Internet purposes I use Internet Explorer 9 Beta; however, I do maintain a current version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari on my computers for comparison or other testing purposes.

For online syncing purposes I primarily use Windows Live Mesh 2011 (formerly, Windows Live Sync) which is free. This allows me to synchronize freely to all of my PCs and 5GB worth of storage on SkyDrive.

I use Twitter to keep up with fellow Microsoft enthusiasts; however, I try to keep away from the online service and instead use a variety of Twitter clients. I haven’t found one that I’ve been able to completely enjoy; although, it seems like TweetDeck and MetroTwit are the top two contenders.

No, I don’t have a Facebook, and no I don’t know of any good programs to use for it with the exception perhaps of TweetDeck.

I used to use Microsoft Outlook exclusively for all of my e-mail interactions. However, this has changed a little of late as I’ve been slowly transitioning to the newly updated and excellent Windows Live Hotmail service (I’ve always had a Windows Live account, but am now using the online service versus Outlook). I’m not sure how long this will last, but for now, I’m very pleased with the new Hotmail. Though I’m not a big fan of Gmail for several reasons, I do have to use Gmail for my school e-mail account. I have considered forwarding this mail to a separate Live account, as I cannot stand the Gmail service. It is slow, bothersome, and just plain annoying. (Of course, I’ll probably get a lot of whiplash for that statement).

That’s all folks…

Sort of. I’ve missed a lot here and will continue to update this section as I see fit. Check back from time to time to see if anything has changed!

Windows Live Essentials 2011 full setup:

Windows Live Movie Maker 2011:  With Movie Maker  in Windows Live Essentials 2011, you can create movies from your photos, video collections and customize it with sounds, and effects and transitions.  Windows Movie maker lets you import photos and video files from an external storage device or from you hard disk and edit them in a wizard driven process. You can split or join videos, edit or and sounds and animation using the tools provided. The created movie files can be uploaded Windows Live SkyDrive and share it with Facebook, Messenger or YouTube friends.

Windows Messenger 2011:  Windows Live Essential 2011 offline installer includes the latest Windows Live Messenger with social network integration. The new Messenger has a redesigned interface  which includes MSN services and social sections in one single window. In Windows Live social, you can add Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, LinkedIn, WordPress, Digg, Blogger and several other services and get live update from friends and read the feed of their activities. Windows Live Messenger 2011 lets you  chat with Yahoo Messenger, Facebook friends and make HD video calls with contacts. There is an MSN tab where you can read news and weather updates  from Microsoft MSN web portal.

Windows Live Writer 2011: The Windows Live Writer is one of the best features of the  Windows Live Essentials 2011 pack. It’s a desktop blogging software that  supports WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, and other blogging platforms. With Windows Live Writer, you can create, draft and publish blog posts without opening the web interface. The Word like ribbon interface in Windows Live Writer is  pretty familiar and easy to use. Apart from this, Microsoft has a web library, where we can find several plugins that will improve the functionality and features of the Live Writer.

Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011: Photo gallery as the name indicates is a photo management application includes in Windows Live Essentials 2011. You can import your photos from a digital camera or any external store device, organize and edit them with effects and corrections. There is also an option to publish selected photos directly to social networking websites.

Windows Mail 2011: The new version of the WLE helps users to manage their multiple mail accounts from the desktop using Windows Mail.  The Facebook and  Live integration in Windows Mail will load contact email IDs directly from online profile of friends.   Windows Live Mail also has Calendar, Feed and Newsgroup management tools.

Download Windows Live Essentials 2011 standalone installer here (direct link)

Other important software tools in WLE package are Windows Live Family Safety 2011 (Parental Controls), Windows Live Mesh (Free backup and sync), and Microsoft Sliverlight (Flash alternative).

Ben and Lisa talked about the new Windows 7 Phone, about Windows Live Writer (the best tool for bloggers), and about how Microsoft likes to work with bloggers. They tell you what to do to build a good relationship with a brand, and  – even more important – what you shouldn’t.

Plus, Ben riffs on the best PC’s for busy bloggers.  And I gotta tell you – - it’s kinda scary.  He knows the model numbers and gigabytes of every machine on the market by heart.

Weird.

So stop on by The Blogging Angels and listen.  And then leave a comment to let us know what you think.

On their blog (via WMPoweruser.com), Miyowa (a mobile software company out of Marseille) discusses briefly that their 250-man (no women?) software company has already produced the Messenger clients for various other platforms, although it’s unknown if this list includes iOS and Android. Miyowa also states that it’ll be releasing WP7 applications for other social networks (including Facebook and Twitter) in the marketplace.

Here at Miyowa, we’ve had the pleasure of being able to play around on it for the past few months, as Microsoft have enlisted Miyowa to create a Windows Live Messenger app for the new OS.

We’ve long been partners with Microsoft, and are their number 1 mobile Windows Live Messenger provider. In fact, it is the success of our mobile WLM app that long ago helped us grow from a company with a couple of people working away in a tiny office, to the multi-national we are today!

And, now that we’ve expanded our expertise, and become market leaders in mobile Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (and, of course, official partners of each) you can look forward to seeing Miyowa clients for those networks in the WP7 Marketplace too.

While this is good news for those that want nice looking and functional applications for their shiny new WP7 devices, one has to wonder why Microsoft couldn’t code this application themselves, especially given the simplicity of coding within Silverlight. It could be that Microsoft’s Windows Live team have been too busy working on the recent Windows Live Essentials 2011 release or that is was less expensive to outsource, although you’d think that getting all core Microsoft content and services onto WP7 would have been a priority from day one.

The application is expected to be available for free on the marketplace at launch.

UPDATE:

Miyowa does indeed employ women (Thanks to Mairi McCallum at Miyowa for confirming this):

Miyowa girls in tech: http://twitpic.com/1zj3et

About Miyowa

Miyowa is the global leader in unifying the mobile social experience.
Its foremost solution, InTouch5™, aggregates a user’s social networks, IM & Mail in one interface at the heart of the mobile device.

A global company with an exemplary track record of innovation and delivery, Miyowa has established a loyal customer base that includes more than 30 mobile operators across the world.

A reputation built on easy-to-deploy, easy-to-use products, Miyowa prides itself on delivering the ultimate end-user focused solutions across the industry’s widest portfolio of mobile devices.

Miyowa makes it easy to deliver, manage and monetize mass-market mobile social network and messaging solutions.

Miyowa also holds several interesting patents worth noting.

Source: Miyowa, Neowin, Daniel St-Louis

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Thing to ponder (Google stuff)

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Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Why doesn’t onomatopoeia sound like what it is?

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Quote of the day (Refdesk stuff)

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“The Internet is so big, powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life.” Andrew Brown

I do not fear computers.  I fear lack of them. – Isaac Asimov

“Happiness is a function of accepting what is.” – Werner Erhard

“A free society is a place where it’s safe to be unpopular.” – Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

“He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” – Viktor Frankl

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Today’s links you may enjoy

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http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Click-jacking-is-spreading-on-Facebook-1207312.html Click-jacking is spreading on Facebook

Wholesale prices rise fastest in 1-1/2 years

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-usa-economy-prices-idUSTRE72F3WV20110316?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/safarimacbook-first-to-fall-at-pwn2own-2011/8358?tag=nl.e539 Safari/MacBook first to fall at Pwn2Own 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_he_me/us_med_us_life_expectancy_1 will you still love me when I’m 78?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110312/ap_on_re_us/us_japan_earthquake_pacific Calif., Ore. sustained most US damage from tsunami

http://www.cwbuyonline.com/store/splash.action?id=1000 why not spend less to print?

http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/arpa-e-researchers-dig-deep-for-energy-innovation-photos/6199341?tag=thumbnail-view-selector;get-photo-roto innovative Energy Summit

http://www.smartplanet.com/people/blog/pure-genius/ecovative-the-new-plastic-is-made-from-mushrooms/5717/ biodegradable plastics ?!

http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/transportation/teslas-model-s-will-go-300-miles-and-cost-77400/183/ Tesla’s Model S go 300 miles and $77,400

http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/wmp-extension-for-chrome H.264 for Chrome 10 (plug-in by Microsoft)

http://www.zdnet.com/news/number-of-infected-sites-double-in-the-past-year/6200596?tag=nl.e539 Number of infected sites double in the past year

http://tinyhacker.com/hacks/60-years-of-operating-systems-via-muo/ OS over 60 years…windows 91%, apple 5%, everything else 4%

http://www.space.com/11006-air-force-x37b-space-plane-secret-launch.html Secret ! – X-37B Space Plane

http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/science-scope/molding-metal-like-plastic/6986/ metal…that’s like plastic but stronger than steel 2x

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJY-VLoTLjWhXlwPtP6IS-C3Oczw?docId=CNG.7a0509e93accafbdfd4785aad6cc3018.21 Solar flares

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My Browser Home pages (I use Google Chrome 10 primarily)

http://www.google.com/ig (using my free Gmail account to sign in)

http://www.refdesk.com/ (any research or search should begin here (30,000+ links))

My Hotmail account

Microsoft.com

Stuff James Likes

Fresh Rumbling

ZDNet

Facebook

Yahoo

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What I use (Paul Thurrott stuff)

OS                                     Windows 7 Professional 32-bit Service Pack 1

Processor                         Pentium 4, 3.40GHz, Step 10, 64-bit

MB                                    Intel D915GEV

RAM                                 4.00 GB (2.87 usable)

Primary hard disk            WDC, 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA, 3.0GB/s

Graphics                           NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS,  512MB  (EVGA)

Audio                                 Soundblaster Audigy with Breakaway Audio Processing software

MSE v2.0, WAU on, Secunia PSI, IE8, Chrome 10 beta, Silverlight, Office Ultimate 2007, Office Visio Pro 2007, Zune, iTunes, Foxit Reader, CCleaner, Registry Crawler, MyDefrag, Everything;

Hello from the Maasdam. Today we begin our transition voyage to the warm blue waters of the Caribbean. As we visit Montreal for the last time this season, I have some great news! The new version of Windows Live Essentials has officially been released. You can download it by clicking on this address; http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-live-essentials (note that this version is for Windows 7).

One Picture to leave you with. It pretty much says it all –fall in the Maritime Provinces…

Until next time:

Frank Barcelona Techspert for the Holland America Digital Workshop powered by Microsoft aboard the MS Maasdam.

At some point in my blogging career, I had created one blog too many.  It was no longer convenient to update my WordPress.com / Blogger blogs by logging in and writing my posts in the back-end.  So, I started to look for a solution, and I found a “fix” in Windows Live Essentials.

I quickly fell in love with Windows Live Writer.  It’s the best blogging tool out there.  Compatible with WordPress(.com), Blogger, Typepad, Sharepoint(!) and Joomla(!!!) it’s hard to find blog software that isn’t compatible with WLW.  It allowed me to update my blogs from a easy to use program.  What more could I want? 

Of course, there are other programs in the WLE package that are interesting.  Windows Live Messenger, for example, or Windows Live Mail – a free e-mail client which works great with the “big” e-mail providers out there. 

So, when Windows Live Essentials 2011 came out, of course I had to try it.  I first installed it at work; which went smoothly.  All my settings (and, most importantly all configured blogs) were still there.  But back at home, I was less lucky.

As it turns out, Windows Live Essentials is a picky eater.  The software requires you to run Windows Vista with SP2 – anything else isn’t good enough.  Of course, Windows 7 is supported as well.  On top of that, Windows Vista users must download an updated “platform”. 

So you’ve been warned.  If you’re planning to install Windows Live Essentials (remember: best blogging tool on the block!) make sure your OS is up to date. 

• Running Windows 7?  You’re set.
• Running Windows Vista?  Make sure that those service packs are installed!
• Windows XP?  I guess you’re out of luck.  There’s no support for this – let’s admit it – outdated OS.  But you’re still free to use the “old” version of Live Essentials. Hey, live goes on.  Technology advances.  Get with it

What they’ve did is integrated their applications so you can do tasks seamlessly between applications; added integration with popular social networking sites. They’ve added a few themes in Movie Maker; creating panoramas in Photo Gallery (using similar photos); in Windows Live they’ve put some social into the same page, so you don’t have to leave, and integrated it with your favorite browser; then Windows Live Writer that you can use to their newly transferred spaces to WordPress, Blogger, etc. (which I’m using on this article), and of course safety for your kids, and syncing  files and program settings to other computers and even remotely accessing, running programs on them.

Overall, it’s quite impressive for free applications, which will make life more enjoyable. Download it here.