The development of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 (2011) has finally came to a close, with the final RTM version of Windows Live Essentials suite of software products been released to general public for free download. Windows Live Essentials 2011 needs no more introduction, as most people should know that it’s a suite product that includes Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, Family Safety, and Windows Live Mesh, plus Bing Bar, Messenger Companion, Microsoft Silverlight, and Outlook Connector Pack (which includes Outlook Hotmail Connector and Microsoft Outlook Social Connector Provider for Windows Live Messenger).

Windows Live Essentials 2011

Windows Live Essentials 2011 is available for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2 with the Platform Update for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 SP2 with Platform Update for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, which system has all the latest updates installed, and is releasing in 48 languages. According to Inside Windows Live blog, Windows XP users will unfortunately have to stick with current Windows Live Essentials Wave 3 with Messenger 2009 with no upgrade path available.

Windows Live Messenger 2011

Windows Live Essentials 2011 system requirements also requires a processor of 1.6 GHz or higher, memory of 1 GB of RAM or higher, and minimum resolution of 1024 × 576. In addition, Windows Live Movie Maker requires a video card that supports DirectX 9 or higher and Shader Model 2 or higher.

Windows Live Mesh

Features and Highlights of Windows Live Essentials 2011, as released by Microsoft Press:

  • Windows Live Messenger provides HD video chat so you can share photos and videos and see your friends’ reactions in real time.
  • Take the best parts of several photos to make one great picture with the Photo Fuse feature in the new Windows Live Photo Gallery.
  • Create movies with just a few clicks using the new Windows Live Movie Maker to combine photos, video clips and music.
  • Share your photos and movies directly to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or SkyDrive from the new Photo Gallery and Movie Maker.
  • Send virtually all the photos you want without having to worry about attachment limits or clogged inboxes. Hotmail works with SkyDrive, the free online storage space from Windows Live, so you can send up to 200 photos, each up to 50 MB in size (10 GB total), in a single message.
  • Facial recognition automatically finds and tags people in your photos. When you share your photos online, such as publishing to Facebook, Photo Gallery will keep them in sync.
  • The new Windows Live Hotmail integrates content and functionality from partner websites into the e-mails you receive, saving you from having to hop back and forth between messages and websites.
  • Windows Live Mesh keeps folders you choose, such as documents, pictures, music and more, in sync across your computers and on Windows Live Skydrive. Users can store up to 5 GB by syncing their files to the cloud.

Windows Live Movie Maker

Windows Live Essentials is now available for free download from live.com

The download from the official Windows Live is a web installer in the name of wlsetup-web.exe, which is small in size and requires Internet connection during setup installation. For users who prefer to download full version standalone installer, which can be used to install Windows Live programs offline, use the following direct download links (indicated with “full”) instead.

Download Windows Live Essentials (Messenger) 2011 – English (web)
Download Windows Live Essentials (Messenger) 2011 – English (full)

Download Windows Live Essentials (Messenger) 2011 – Czech (web)
Download Windows Live Essentials (Messenger) 2011 – Czech (full)

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Download Windows Live Essentials (Messenger) 2011 – Danish (full)

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Note that Windows Live Messenger 2011 has removed several features such as handwriting support, blocked contacts, unable to send instant messages while in offline mode, cannot change display name (nickname), sound clips and other customization options. Users who feel that Windows Live Messenger 2011 sucks can download and downgrade fallback install to Windows Live Messenger (Essentials) 2009.