Helmers Blog

It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s good to know that it’s possible : Changing you’re Windows Live Messenger e-mail address without having to tell all your contacts that you’re going to change the address.

Let’s say I want to change the Windows Live ID I use for Windows Live Messenger, but I don’t want to e-mail everybody my new Messenger address. In this example my current Messenger address is and the address I’m going to use is .

Below I will describe the steps you will have to take to change you’re Live Messenger e-mailaddress and update your contacts automatically (updating your contacts can take 48 hours to complete).

Step 1 : Log on to https://account.live.com with you’re current Windows Live ID ( in this example)

Step 2 : Click on the Change button next to your current Windows Live ID (see picture below)

Step 3 : In the password field you have to enter the password for your current Windows Live ID ().

Step 4 : At Change your Windows Live ID select the appropriate radio button and enter your new Windows Live ID ( in my example) and click Save.

You’re all set and within the next 48 hours you’re Windows Live ID will automatically be updated in contact lists of you’re messenger friends.

No sooner has the Windows Live Wave 2 suite been released than the first Wave 3 beta begins – Windows Live Messenger v9. Unlike the betas that have just finished, the Messenger v9 beta is being run from Microsoft Connect as a private beta, meaning that, for the moment at least, unless you receive an invite, you won’t be able to participate.

For the moment it looks like most previous Windows Live testers are getting invites, so stay tuned to your inbox. With such a popular beta like this, you better sign up quick.

So what’s new? While the goodies aren’t yet available, we’ve heard about Multiple Points Of Presence (MPOP) support, which allows you to signin from multiple devices, ie be online at two places at once.

More coming soon!

Source : LiveSide.NET

Microsoft launched a Superb cool Messenger Control Tool today! The people who know me in real life know that I just love interaction, so that’s why I’m going to implement the tool right away!

The following was found at liveside.net during my daily RSS-Read-Session :

The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control lets people on the Web reach you in Messenger by showing your Messenger status on your web site, blog, or social networking profile. The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control runs in the browser and lets site visitors message you without installing Messenger first. The IM Control is supported in IE6, IE7, and Firefox 2.0 on Windows and Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS. The IM Control is supported in 32 languages.

So how does this work? First you got to http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/websettings.aspx, sign-in with your Live ID and enable the feature (so people that do not want to use this will never be bothered by people they do not know). Then you can either choose a simple status icon (that will link to a webpage where you can then start a conversation) or the web IM control itself that can be added to your blog or website. For Windows Live Spaces this requires a Custom HTML module right now but I imagine that you will eventually be able to simple choose the IM Control from the existing module list or that it will even be integrated in all of the contact cards that are used on Windows Live Spaces, etc.

When someone wants to talk to you he either has to sign in with his Live ID or as a Visitor (name can be modified) and has to pass a HID verification (the ones with letters and numbers, also called captcha) before he can send you a message in order to avoid spam.

Angus Logan has more info and a detailed walkthrough over on his blog.

You can just contact me directly (if I’m online at Live Messenger) through the panel at this post or through my About page.

As you could read at my earlier post from this morning today the @Live.com e-mailaddresses will become available! On the comments on Liveside.net (where I found the news about the @Live.com addresses) I found when registration is open :

Open http://get.live.com or http://get.live.in or http://get.live.cn (just where it’s available earlier) at : Nov 06th, 2007 22:00 GMT (What time is that in my zone?) and be the first to register a @live.com address!

Source : meraTechPort

Nothing can stay quiet for long, thanks to Microsoft’s early preparations the Windows Live Wave 2 applications are available for download now!

Messenger is now 8.5.1302.1018 and Mail is now at 12.0.1606 . If you have any problems installing/upgrading from the betas, the following support article should help.

Download the new Windows Live Applications Installer (Downloads automatically the localized version)