Why has Windows Live Communications stopped working?

windows live mail stopped working

• My windows live mail stopped working two days ago. When I start the program the message says "windows live mail has stopped working and will search the web for a solution." I have searched the web to find a solution and have tried what I found was suggested: going to the windows live essentials file and repairing it. I tried this three times and it still won't work. I am running what I assume is the latest version of explorer and windows live essentials 2011. Everything was fine until two days ago.For what it is worth the latest windows update version is KB2913152 as of 12-12-13. But everything worked until the 1st of January.Assuming I could download an updated version of the essentials, and assuming it would fix the problem, I am concerned about losing my contact list, as I can't get to them at the moment.

• Answer:

  Have you tried http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/essentials-other#essentials=overviewother and re-running the installer? Maybe try uninstalling first if that doesn't work? I don't know if that will do anything to your contacts, but since it's not working at all for you, it might be worth a shot. Just so you know, MS has basically stopped doing any development on Windows Live Mail, so you're unlikely to see much future support happening there. I'd recommend looking at other http://alternativeto.net/software/windows-live-mail/. If you move to Thunderbird, there is an https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/ (some http://superuser.com/questions/431439/how-to-import-windows-live-mail-mails-into-thunderbird). I'm unfamiliar with other clients and whether they'd be able to import anything or not.