Download Windows Essentials 2012

Posted August 8, 2012 – 12:11 pm in: Freeware

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Microsoft just released Windows Essentials 2012 (formerly known as Windows Live Essentials) for Windows 7 & Windows 8, and is now ready for download. The latest update brings new features to Movie Maker and Photo Gallery and also includes the new SkyDrive desktop application.

With this release, Microsoft has dropped “Live” and it’s now called Windows Essentials. In addition to the new SkyDrive for Windows app, Windows Essentials 2012 also includes Windows Writer, Outlook Connecter Pack, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Family Safety, Mail, and Messenger.

Video stabilization, H.264 support, text effects, ability to search AudioMicro, Free Music Archive, and the Vimeo Music Store are the new features in Movie Maker. Users can now also upload and share movies to Vimeo right from the Movie Maker and Photo Gallery.

Windows Essentials 2012 doesn’t include Live Mesh application as Microsoft has included SkyDrive app in place of Live Mesh. Please note that if you have Live Mesh installed on your PC, it will automatically be removed when you install Windows Essentials and the new SkyDrive works as the replacement.

In simple words, you can’t install and run both Windows Essentials 2012 and Live Mesh on the same PC. So, avoid this upgrade if you want to continue using Live Mesh program. Users who want to know the difference between Live Mesh and SkyDrive may visit this page. Obviously, SkyDrive offers many features that are not present in Live Mesh.

As mentioned above, Windows Essentials 2012 is compatible with only Windows 7 and the latest Windows 8 operating systems, and doesn’t support Windows XP and Vista. You can either download the web setup or the full offline installer from the below mentioned download links.

Download Windows Essentials 2012 (web setup)

Download Windows Essentials 2012 (offline installer)