Windows Live Mail
A defunct email client software by Microsoft.
Windows Live Mail is a discontinued freeware email client from Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows Mail on Windows Vista, which was the successor to Outlook Express on Windows XP. It is designed to run on Windows 7.
The first version of Windows Live Mail was released on 6 November 2007. The Windows Live Mail version numbering starts at 12 because this application is an advancement of Windows Mail, not an entirely new application. Windows Live Mail is developed by the same team that wrote Windows Mail.
Microsoft announced that Outlook.com was discontinuing support for Windows Live Mail during 2016 by dropping support for the DeltaSync protocol. Microsoft has positioned the Mail software as a replacement for it. Although DeltaSync has been discontinued as of 30 June 2016, Microsoft's Windows Live Mail 2011 and 2012 continue to work with Hotmail e-mail accounts by using IMAP (or, less effectively, POP) in place of DeltaSync. Gmail and other service providers still support DeltaSync as of 2018 so users can still use Windows Live Mail with non-Microsoft email accounts.
Windows Essentials 2012, including Windows Live Mail 2012, reached end of support on 10 January 2017, and is no longer available for download from Microsoft.
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alternatives
There's no super great ideal alternative to Windows Live Mail. Alternatives are either expensive or dissimilar enough that they won't satisfy a die hard fan of Windows Live Mail. We start with the best replacement then move downward.
eM Client
- Limited Free version and Pay version
- Windows and Macintosh
eM Client is a fully-featured email client with a modern and easy-to-use interface. eM Client also offers calendar, tasks, contacts and chat.
Free version only supports two accounts. 30-day free trial of the Pro edition. To switch to the free version you'll need to request a free license from the developer's site. It's straightforward, and you'll be up and running in no time.
The free version of eM Client only lets you manage two email accounts. Any more than that and you'll need to upgrade to the Pro edition for a one-off fee US$49.95 --- NOT SUBSCRIPTION BASED! You pay once and it is yours! This is good.
One of the things that old Windows Live Mail users surely appreciate is the fact that, right after you install it, eM Client asks you whether you want to import data from other software. Moreover, that includes Windows Live Mail. All you have to do is select it and press Next. The user interface is straightforward compared to other email desktop clients and resembles Windows Live Mail.
Mailbird
- Subscription based Payware
Mailbird works with your current version of Windows, it works with all your email accounts. Mailbird works with any email account. In fact, you can even import your email account info from other clients so that installation and setup only takes a few clicks of the mouse or screen. Mailbird works with: Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo Mail, POP3, IMAP
Mailbird works with previous versions of Windows including: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and, Windows 10
Mailbird, however, has a few options for you to choose from but it is not free.
- Mailbird Lite: Free for your first email account.
- Mailbird Pro: $18 / year (incl. all future updates)
- Mailbird Pro Lifetime: $68 once (incl. all future updates)
subscription based. limited trial.
OPINION/REVIEW: Personally I never recommend subscription based software. You should be able to buy it once and keep using it for as long as you want, and always get critical security updates for the life of the software. Mailbird pay model is lousy therefore I would avoid it. The life time option is just a ripoff.
OE Classic
Free trial, payware, more like the classic Outlook Express than Windows Live Mail.
Not Mentioned Clients
Thunderbird is not a very reliable email client software and it doesn't much resemble Windows Live Mail or Outlook Express. Although many online sources recommend it as a replacement, they are generally written by people that don't really do in depth research on the subject. We have tested Thunderbird extensively and found it to be too buggy for business use. I would not recommend it.
Another alternative often mentioned is Pegasus Email Client which is even less like Windows Live Mail and even more buggy and unreliable than Thunderbird. Avoid it like the plague.
Then they say use K-9 Mail, which is great software but it is an "App" or Android, not software for a PC. It doesn't belong in this category.
