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Windows Live Mail 2012: WHAT IS GOING ON???

Anonymous
2016-01-01T02:15:23+00:00

I got the message below in one of my Outlook.com inboxes. The last time this happened, in 2013. WLM deleted thousands of my precious old emails, causing me huge personal stress, business and other serious issues, even removing them from my hard drives. I had recycled all my old computers, so couldn't even retrieve them from there. The whole idea of using a "cloud based" service is that it provides safe, reliable permanent storage - which I was and am paying for, and am happy to continue paying for. It almost gave me a stroke last time - I lost important documents and photographs forever, because I relied on Microsoft. I still do. WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT? Is this for real?

If I follow their recommendation and go to the Windows 10 Mail app, which I have already tried on one computer, it does not transport over the thousands of messages in my folders. I tried syncing a couple manually, and it did not work. Is Microsoft going to blow up my life again, and kill me with this stress?

If I back up the AppData storage file folder that supposedly holds all the messages onto a new external drive, if WLM doesn't work, it will probably delete it the moment I try to connect the drive, or it will not be usable.

Here is the message. I did not, and will not click on the link or update anything until I have reasonable assurance that it won't destroy my files again, and then go sync out every machine that has the messages stored.

![](https://sc.imp.live.com/content/dam/imp/surfaces/email/fy16/2015-11_ol_wle_sn_email/images/en-us/outlook_logo_double.gif)
Important information about your email service
Dear user,
In a few weeks, we will be making some changes to our email services that might impact your @outlook.com, @hotmail, @live, or @msn email account. Those changes will prevent your email from being delivered to the Windows Live Mail 2012 application you use.
In order to continue using Windows Live Mail 2012 to send and receive email for your account, you need to install the latest update published<br>here.
If you use Windows Live Mail 2012 on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, we recommend that you switch to the built in Mail app in Windows to stay connected and get the latest feature updates on<br>Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and<br>Windows 10.
Windows Live Essentials 2009 and 2011 are not supported anymore, and you will need to update to Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 and use the Mail app, or use<br>www.outlook.com. To learn more about the Mail app, please<br>click here.
We also recommend all Windows Live Mail users on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 to<br>upgrade to Windows 10 and use the built in Mail application to stay connected and get the latest feature updates.
We suggest saving this email so you can refer to it later.
Thanks for your understanding and continued use.
Sincerely, <br><br>The Outlook team
![](https://sc.imp.live.com/content/dam/imp/surfaces/email/general/mslogos/ms_logo_g_double.png) <br> --- <br> Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our<br>**Privacy Statement**.<br> <br><br> <br><br>Microsoft Corporation <br><br>One Microsoft Way <br><br>Redmond, WA 98052

Windows for home | Other | Email and communications

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-02T23:57:54+00:00

    Neither have ANY new or useful information. 

    Microsoft has yet again screwed their customers ... in a long list of similar mail debacles over the years.

    They rolled out an update system that was seriously flawed - told people to perform upgrades that were NOT WARRANTED (no one who has not been updated to the silly new Outlook Preview acct should update as it will break their WLM 2012 system).

    As is too often the case MS was seemingly not smart enough to insure the update was applied across the board to all servers, was unable to insure it would not cause serious disruption to users who rely on their products and don't really seem to give a **** about any urgency in a repair. 

    Which is exactly how it goes all too often.

    In my case I stupidly followed the email suggestion. I updated ... and as of 12/24 I have received NO emails from my MSN account. I tried adding a POP 3 msn account - which downloaded emails for a day or so then quit. The upgrade has now cascaded to the point where my Yahoo account only works intermittently.

    And by all indications MS has been aware of this situation for a month or more ... most

    now for over 2 weeks.  And yet ZERO official response. And nothing remotely close to a fix. 

    A complete disregard for their customers. 

    Rollback the disastrous changes until you can provide a stable platform. We all had systems that worked - and now we don't and there are so many different issues its hard to tell what to try.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T19:45:08+00:00

    IT amazes me that MS makes the changes and causes it's loyal clients to spend literally dozens of hours and endure massive stress to keep their email service, and takes away the product to replace it with something inferior.

    This is all incredibly complicated stuff that will take hours of my time. I will wind up with something not nearly as good as what I had,

    The last time they did this, MS deleted tens of thousands of my old messages, causing me incredible problems and losses that I am still dealing with.

    It's obvious this rollout is not fully debugged or ready - look at the forums.

    If there is an update, it should be a one-click, failure-proof, fully-tested protocol, simple for the user.

    Look at these answers. You'd have to be an IT pro to have any idea what half of them mean.

    WLM was the best email program available. Fast updates, easy searches, great storage and organization. I would happily pay $500 a year to maintain exactly what I have. INSTEAD< I will spend hours backing up stuff that takes 3-6 hours to transfer, countless more hours to uninstall and reinstall things that I don't understand, and in the end, it's pretty much guaranteed will have a product that is inferior.

    I got sick of MS and went to a Mac years ago, but came back because of the awful Mac mail program. Windows  10 Mail is garbage, and slow as ****. It will waste countless hours on my time when I need to find old messages. Your own help chats have NO IDEA how to use it. NONE. I can't even delete accounts I added to it. IT IS NOT READY FOR ROLLOUT when you can't do the simplest thing. God.

    Thanks for your replies. I will do my best to follow these multiple recommendations.

    Sometimes, when it isn't broken, you don't need to fix it.

    Why make your best clients suffer?

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T19:49:16+00:00

    When you say backup the WLM file, which one are you referring to? The entire Windows Live folder in Programs(x86) or something else?

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T09:07:11+00:00

    Hi Mike,

    Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

    I suggest you to refer the discussion thread created by Firedog about the Windows Live Mail 2012 patch update on “**Important information about your email service”**using the below link and check if that helps. 

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/livemail-wlinstall/important-information-about-your-email-service/dee64671-a2a4-443b-84c3-16f1785fb99f

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/livemail-wlinstall/important-information-about-your-email-service/dee64671-a2a4-443b-84c3-16f1785fb99f

    Please refer to the Discussion created by Sharief K on Stability Issues with the Windows Live Mail 2012 Update – KB3093594 and check if it helps.

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/livemamobileil-program/stability-issues-with-the-windows-live-mail-201mash2/03dcc533-6e6b-429a-93aa-3aacddd208c9?tm=1450308035040

    Please feel free to contact us, if you need any further help we would be glad to assist you.

    Thank you.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T03:54:21+00:00

    I do understand your reluctance and to some degree it is warranted.

    The message is because Microsoft is changing the server end of Hotmail and outlook.com mail users to Outlook "Preview" which uses the Office365 backend.

    If you do not use the contact and calendar portion of WLM updating should be seamless but if you value your data it never hurts to have several copies of it backed up.  Copying the WLM folder (in its entirety) to a different location effectively backs it up.

    If you want to back up your data you must configure your account on a Mail Client. Follow the steps in this wiki

    After which you need to update to WLM version 16.4.x and remove and re-add the Hotmail/outlook/live accounts in it.  When you add back you need to configure it as IMAP and that will allow the mail bit to work with the new backend.  The calendar and contacts are currently broken in WLM

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