One piece of software that I've found to be extremely versatile is one made by Microsoft, called Windows Live Essentials.
It is a collection of programs that I have found to be very useful. In it contains Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Live Mesh, Writer, Family Safety, Mail, and Messenger Companion. I will only talk about the first four programs, as they are the meat of this package.
Starting it off:
Windows Live Messenger is an instant messenger client for users who have a Hotmail/Live account. It is essentially MSN Messenger polished up, for you people who remember that back in the day. However, Microsoft has taken their instant messenger to the next level by incorporating the use of interacting with friends through social networks (e.g. Facebook). This is incredibly and surprisingly useful and very easy to use. By adding your social networking account details, you can view news updates, pictures, almost anything from your social network through Windows Live Messenger. Furthermore, you can chat with people through your social network. This is very helpful for those who get frustrated with Facebook's chat program. You can also do audio/video chats with those who have Live accounts! Very simple, pretty, and easy to use.
Viewing Facebook updates through Windows Live Messenger, along with those who are online. Incredibly easy, intuitive, and simple to use!
My good buddy Miles wasn't online, but this is an example of how the chat window looks like through Windows Live Messenger.
Windows Live Photo Gallery is a photo organizer for your computer. Windows fans, rejoice! We finally have a photo library program that doesn't have to be incorporated through Windows Media Center/Player! :) This program is similar to Google's Picasa program, and it works very well. You can organize your images, edit them, share them with friends, tag people in pictures, add tags; just about anything you need to do to an image. The editing tools are nowhere near as sophisticated as Adobe's Photoshop, but they are solid for a free program. From straightening the picture, to adjusting the color or exposure, you have many common editing tools at your fingertips. And if you're lazy, you can even use the Auto Adjust feature, which edits the image based on its conditions. It's proven to be pretty accurate, but I prefer to edit my images manually. Also, if you don't like your editing, you can simply revert the image back to its normal state! Windows Photo Gallery keeps the original copy in hand in case you ever need to go back to the original. Fancy, huh? There's also tools, such as creating panoramic images, fusing multiple pictures together (very useful post about this tool here), and many more options. You should definitely check this out if you're into organizing and editing your images.
Photo tagging in Windows Photo Gallery; so useful to find pictures of me or anyone else!
Oh no! I've edited too much and I'm not happy with the results! No matter, after pressing the "Revert to original" button...
The photo is back to normal!
Windows Live Movie Maker
Windows Live Movie Maker is a movie maker/editor; plain and simple. Like the other products in this suite, it is nowhere as amazing as advanced movie editors, like Sony's Vegas Pro or Adobe's After Effects; still, for beginning to intermediate users, this software works very well. I haven't used it very much (if at all) since I use After Effects for video editing, but I do know that it is extremely easy to use. Need to add an intro? It has it. Need to add text/video/audio effects? It's there. Need to add credits? Done. You can record video from your webcam for an easy vlog entry, or you can incorporate multiple videos from your digital camera and music from your media library. You can also pause videos and take snapshots of them; very useful tool. It also has transition effects for combining multiple videos to make your movie more smooth. There are certain visual effects you can apply that will change the tone and color of the movie. Again, very common but powerful tools used by many, brought to you in one simple program.
Editing in Movie Maker; very simple to use! Let's change the color...
Gives our video a completely different feel! Looks cool, and all I had to do was press a button!
Windows Live Mesh
Last but not least, Windows Live Mesh is a synchronization program that helps manage files from multiple computers. This program is incredibly helpful for those (such as myself) who have more than one computer and need to keep things synchronized. I personally use this to make sure that I always have access to my college stuff on any computer. As long as that computer has Live Mesh installed with your credentials, you can specify which folders you want to keep synchronized. You must have a Live account in order to to this (it's simple and free!). It's very versatile and I highly recommend it if you have multiple computers. You could also use this to keep files synchronized with other users if you wanted to use a Live account to share files in real time (of course, using Dropbox would be much easier to use for this type of purpose). You must be wondering; how does this work? Microsoft stores your files securely in the cloud. With a Live account, you get 5 GB of free space to store your data in the cloud. Then, when you register another computer with your credentials to use Live Mesh, the program retrieves the data from the cloud and places it onto your computer. It's very useful for keeping documents in sync everywhere! You can also access these files online, which is great if you're using a computer without Live Mesh.
Windows Live Mesh syncing my files into the cloud!
I can view the computers that are syncing certain folders. Anyone see the Final Fantasy XIII references?
That's Windows Live Essential in a nutshell. These programs are highly intuitive and easy to use. All it takes is a simple installation and you're good to go! To download this for your Windows computer, just click here! Windows Live Essentials is available for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista. There is also a separate link for the Windows XP version here. Note that the XP version does not contain Movie Maker and Live Mesh.
If you have any questions about these programs, place them in a comment and I'll answer them!
Until next time,
Corey
Eh I don't know, I like previous windows live messenger better. It's too big for me. I like it just simple as it was before. I haven't used it, but I just didn't update it because of it. Cool post though. I didn't know about Mesh and photo gallery tagging system.
ReplyDelete@sungjin0213 Yeah, the new Messenger is a bit bigger. The whole social networking aspect is completely optional, and I just enjoy seeing it through the messenger.
ReplyDeleteI totally have these things on my computer but never use them. Pretty cool! Maybe I'll start. :)
ReplyDelete@Corey Roberts Oh nevermind. I updated and now I see how you can just use it as like old version. Cool. I like it.
ReplyDelete@Cheryl Yeah! Definitely try 'em out, they are very fun to play around with. :)
ReplyDelete