Microsoft will finally retire the Windows Essentials suite of tools in January 2017, with a notification posted on its website informing of ...
Microsoft will finally retire the Windows Essentials suite of tools in January 2017, with a notification posted on its website informing of the approaching end of support when download links will be removed.
Windows Essentials, previously known as Windows Live Essentials and Windows Live Installer, is a pack of tools offered for free to Windows users, including email, photo sharing, blogging, and parental control applications. The suite was launched in August 2016 and it supports all Windows versions from XP to 10.
More recently, however, Microsoft hinted that a Windows 10 version of Windows Movie Maker, one of the apps included in the pack, would also be released in the store. And with Microsoft focusing all of its efforts on Windows 10, it doesn’t make sense for the company to keep Windows Essentials alive, especially because it includes software that’s mainly addressed to older Windows versions.
Windows 10 alternatives
The majority of apps included in the Windows Essentials suite are already available on Windows 10 as a modern app, so Microsoft has no reason to keep investing in updates and continued support.
Windows Live Messenger, which has been one of the top Windows Essentials apps for a long time, is now replaced by Skype, while the new Mail app in Windows 10 takes the place of Windows Live Mail. The Photo Gallery app is available for Windows 10 as Photos, the pre-installed app in the operating system, and Windows Live Writer is offered as Open Live Writer with an open-source license.
And last but not least, OneDrive and Family Safety are both part of Windows 10, so pretty much every application included in the Windows Essential pack has already been replaced by a modern version available on Microsoft’s latest operating system.
Users who already installed Windows Essentials can continue running the apps after end of support, but it goes without saying that no other updates and improvements would be released, so moving to newer apps is probably the best choice in this case.
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