Windows Live mail

camdave · Dec 13, 2011, 15:22:33

Hi all

I realise that Windows Live Mail has been discussed recently but please bear with me.

I am running Vista on a three year old PC and intend upgrading to to Windows 7 early next year when Vista support ends. My understanding is that a complete re-install will get rid of all the cr***** and is the best way to proceed despite having to re-install all programs etc.

My question is; I currently use Windows Mail for my IDNet account, plus a Yahoo.co.uk and old Pipex accounts which are both configured to forward to IDNet . Is Windows Live Mail as troublesome as I hear reported or can I expect it to work in much the same way as at present including attaching photos and documents to emails?

Rik · Dec 13, 2011, 15:47:26

Sorry, Dave, I use Outlook so can't help.

Lona · Dec 13, 2011, 19:38:26

My hubby has a windows 7 laptop and uses windows mail and was able to transfer all his emails from his old XP PC and finds it much the same as windows mail on my Vista machine

dudwell · Dec 13, 2011, 20:00:51

For the first time ever on this forum I find myself offering advice instead of seeking it!

I know nothing about Windows Mail but I have tried Windows Live Mail as you may have seen in the thread about emailing photos. WLM is not exactly troublesome, it's rather that SkyDrive (which is an integral part of it) dictates the way in which photos are handled and there's no way, or no easy way, to get around it.

I suggest that you experiment with emailing to yourself and observe the way photos are received, ideally with computers using different operating systems. You might decide that you don't care for the way some experiments turn out. The recipient's first sight of a photo may be a small version, brutally cropped top and bottom if in portrait mode. If the recipient wants to see it properly he has to download the file which has been compressed to the degree SkyDrive imposed.

Even with my dismal computer abilities I found it easy to download and install other email clients. I didn't get on with Thunderbird – simple to use for a single email account and it delivered photos the way I wanted but I failed to add more accounts.

Sobranie suggested eM Client. Problem solved! Easy to install and use. It delivers the goods the way I want. Only two accounts permitted with the free version though.

It's very easy to uninstall unwanted email clients. I've zapped Windows Live Mail (and the rest of Windows Live Essentials while I was about it) and Thunderbird too.

camdave · Dec 14, 2011, 10:16:31

Thanks to all for your replies,

Having done a bit of research I find that Outlook 2003 is compatible with Windows 7 (in theory anyway) I have an 'old' copy so I will try that first when I change the OS.

David

Rik · Dec 14, 2011, 10:34:05

Good luck.

sparky · Dec 14, 2011, 15:24:13

QuoteI know nothing about Windows Mail but I have tried Windows Live Mail as you may have seen in the thread about emailing photos. WLM is not exactly troublesome, it's rather that SkyDrive (which is an integral part of it) dictates the way in which photos are handled and there's no way, or no easy way, to get around it.

I suggest that you experiment with emailing to yourself and observe the way photos are received, ideally with computers using different operating systems. You might decide that you don't care for the way some experiments turn out. The recipient's first sight of a photo may be a small version, brutally cropped top and bottom if in portrait mode. If the recipient wants to see it properly he has to download the file which has been compressed to the degree SkyDrive imposed.

I don't know what you are doing here, but I use Windows 7 and Windows Live Mail. I emailed a photo to several people yesterday, a jpg, at the size I required, using Windows Live Mail and sending it as a file attachment. I have never used this so called Sky Drive and it worked perfectly for me. Sorry, but you must be doing something wrong, or have allowed Windows Live Mail to set up something that I haven't allowed it to do. It can work, just as Windows Mail on Vista did.

Edit:- Second Thoughts on this. When I installed Windows Live Mail, that is ALL I installed, (Mail). I made sure that I de-selected all of the other Windows Live Components. Maybe, that is your problem.

The only down side to Windows Live Mail is the way it handles News Groups! Yuk!

Ray · Dec 14, 2011, 16:03:03

I agree Sparky, I've just installed the program to try it and it behaves in a similar way to Outlook, you can have the photo as an attachment, or embed the photo in the body of the email.

dudwell · Dec 14, 2011, 19:41:58

SkyDrive is built in to the latest (2011) Windows Live Mail which came with my new laptop. I'm not alone in disliking it as you will see if you Google "skydrive uninstall" - see for example http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/123555-downgrade-windows-live-remove-skydrive.html - and I think it isn't easy to uninstall although one can revert to an earlier version of WLM which won't have it.

It's not so much the sending of photos that's the problem. It's the way they may look upon receipt, to judge from experimental emails I've sent to myself.

So, to go back to the original post, it's actually very simple. Try WLM and if you like it that's fine. If you have been happily using an older version then think twice before updating because you'll find yourself with SkyDrive and you might regret it. Otherwise it's really easy to experiment with other email clients and to uninstall any that are unwanted.

wecpcs · Dec 14, 2011, 20:17:19

Quote from: camdave on Dec 14, 2011, 10:16:31
Thanks to all for your replies,

Having done a bit of research I find that Outlook 2003 is compatible with Windows 7 (in theory anyway) I have an 'old' copy so I will try that first when I change the OS.

David

Outlook 2003 works perfectly with Windows 7 as I have been using it since Windows 7 (64-bit) first came out. I think you will find that it is the previous version Office XP that is incompatible.

Colin

sparky · Dec 15, 2011, 10:54:51

QuoteSkyDrive is built in to the latest (2011) Windows Live Mail which came with my new laptop. I'm not alone in disliking it as you will see if you Google "skydrive uninstall" - see for example

That's the version I am using, but with no SkyDrive, or at least if it's there I don't see it. I think that the difference may be is that I only installed Windows Live Mail, not Windows Live and I do not have a hotmail account?

Plus, this quote is from the thread on the link shown -2 above:-

"Note that just because you have Skydrive doesn't mean you have to "put things" in it. You can still "insert" and "attach" photos as you did before and Skydrive won't be involved. The new problem with 2011 is the default action for the right click option is to use Skydrive. Skydrive is used whenever you choose "Photo Email" instead of "attach" or "insert".