Using Windows 7 With Live Downloads

Microsoft provides with a slew of downloads under the banner of Windows Live Essential Suite or WLES. Many of these were part of prior versions of Windows but to avoid any duplication as well as to make sure that the customer has the most up to date version at hand, Microsoft decided to take them out and replace them by WLES.

The bundle is made up of the a number of free applications that come with an integrated installation package (hence the word "suite"). Note that all these applications can be installed independently from one another.

Family Safety is a special feature from Windows Live which help families protect their kids online. You can, for example, limit searches, monitor and block or allow websites and decide who your children can chat with either in Windows Live Space, Messenger or Hotmail.

Note that this the Family Safety Filter must be installed on each computer your children use or otherwise, it will be ineffective.

Windows Live Messenger is the new name of MSN Messenger. This instant messaging client has already reached its 14th version and is one of the most popular IM clients around.

This new version doesn't bring much except perhaps the fact that the user's data is now automatically and seamlessly synchronised with the online section of the user's account.

Live Messenger also puts more emphasis on the social networking aspect with the user encouraged to upload photos, organise their contacts and change their online status, like on Facebook or Twitter.

Windows Live Mail is the successor of Outlook Express and Windows Mail, the mail clients that came with Windows XP and Vista respectively.

But we'd rather compare it to Microsoft Outlook as it comes with a rather calendering functionality. Since this is an application, rather than web-based service, it does not need to be constantly connected to the web, which makes it ideal for a mobile computer.