Microsoft introduced Windows Live Mail as a great free offline email client and copious communication application. Whether you’ve made the jump to Windows 7 or if your still a die-hard XP or Vista (not likely) fan, the good news is you can still use the new Windows Live Mail client which I personally thing is a great upgrade over Outlook Express.
Even more good news is that Windows Live Mail will work with any internet email provider including the popular Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail service. Let’s take a look at how to set it up and a few of its key features.
The first question I like to ask about any software is, what can it do?
- Windows Live Mail is similar to Office Outlook in many respects, it can manage your email, calendar, contacts, RSS feeds, and newsgroups.
- Use any email service; Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Live Mail, Comcast Mail, or any other groovy email provider you may have. Windows Live even auto configures to work with many of them.
- You can easily integrate Live Mail with your Live (MSN) Messenger, your online Live Profile, and the your Live People.
- Archive your RSS Feeds and make them searchable.
- Create email slideshows, color code messages, and organize mail into folders.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you out while using Windows Live Mail.
Add an email account to Windows Live Mail
1. Click Add e-mail account
2. Enter your Email address and Password you use to log in to your email account. The display name can be whatever name you would like people to see when you send an email.
Unlike Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail is smart and will usually configure the correct settings for your email provider automatically. To add a second email account to Windows Mail, just repeat the above process as many times as you need. You’ll notice the layout is very clean and simple, great for any computer user whether beginner or advanced.
Add an RSS feed to Windows Live Mail
1. Click the Feeds button to switch to the Feeds window, then Click Add feed.
2. Paste or Type in your 
Feed URL and then Click OK.
Import Google And Other Calendars into Windows Live Mail
In order to import calendars you’ll need a Windows Live Account. You can signup for one at https://signup.live.com/.
1. Once you have a Windows Live Account, sign in to your Live account using the button at the top right of Windows live Mail.
Now that you are signed in to your Live account through Windows Mail, Windows Mail can sync with all of your online live data.
2. In your web browser, visit http://calendar.live.com/. You may be required to sign in to your live account again to visit it. Once there, Click the Subscribe button.
3. Here if you know the ICAL web address to the calendar you would like to import, you can enter it using the exact URL. If you have the ICAL file saved, you can also upload the file to import the calendar. Click Subscribe to calendar to when done.
Note: For information on how to retrieve your Google Calendar ICAL address, see the first 3 steps of this groovy article.
4. Back in Windows Live Mail, Click Sync then Click the Everything option.
Windows Live Mail will now be synced with whatever calendar you added online. On the left-side of the calendar screen you’ll see a list of your subscribed calendars. There you can change the color of each calendar subscription. Just remember, you won’t be able to write sync your Live Mail calendar with external calendars as they are read only.
Hopefully this get’s you started with the Windows Live Mail and some of it’s best features. The rest of the features in this groovy little email app are pretty self explanatory however if you need any help, feel free to drop a note below or post your question in our groovyPost community!
http://download.live.com/wlmail