Microsoft will pull the plug on popular Windows Live Mail and Movie Maker tomorrow

Tomorrow Microsoft will end the support of popular applications such as Windows Live Mail, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Live Writer and Photo Gallery. They are part of Windows Essentials of which the software giant already announced it would reach end of support on January 10, 2017.

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Ending support of the software means it will no longer receive security updates. This makes the software more vulnerable to malware and other attacks in the future. Microsoft will also remove the possibility to download the software from its website, but Windows Essentials will continue to work for current users.

While the software was already no longer officially supported under Windows 10,  it was still possible to use applications like Windows Live Mail and Windows Movie Maker on Microsoft's latest operating system.

Windows Essentials, or officially Windows Live Essentials 2012, also contained Photo Gallery,  OneDrive and Windows Live Writer.

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For Windows Live Mail and Photo Gallery,  Microsoft recommends the built in Windows 10 apps Mail and Photos. Movie Maker will become available in the Windows Store and Live Writer has become open source as Open Live Writer. OneDrive remains a separate application.

Microsoft previously tried to discourage the use of Windows Live Mail. In May last year the company removed the integration with Hotmail and Outlook.com accounts. The mail application can still send and receive mails through POP3 and IMAP servers and will continue to do so, even now it's no longer supported.

The last version of the Windows Essentials Suite is 2012, earlier Microsoft also released Windows Live Essentials 2011 for Windows Vista and Windows Live Essentials 2009 for Windows XP.

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