Windows Essentials 2012 included SkyDrive for Windows (later renamed OneDrive), and dropped Windows Live Mesh, Messenger Companion and Bing Bar. Microsoft released Windows Essentials 2012 on August 7, 2012, for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. In June 2014, Microsoft announced that Windows Live Essentials 2011 would no longer be available for download on Windows Vista. Although all applications in Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite will continue to function on Windows Vista, 7, and 8, there will be no significant updates made to these applications in the future. On May 2, 2012, Microsoft announced the re-branding of Windows Live. The applications were updated with a hotfix/QFE (except for Mesh and Family Safety) on December 1, 2010, and that update became available through Windows Update from March 20, 2011. Microsoft released the final version of Windows Live Essentials 2011 on September 30, 2010. The beta refresh of Windows Live Essentials 2011 was released on August 17, 2010. The Wave 4 beta has dropped support for Windows XP Windows Vista or Windows 7 is required for its use. In addition, the ribbon user interface was incorporated into Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, and Writer. It was also announced that Windows Live Toolbar will be discontinued and replaced by the Bing Bar. For Windows Live Mesh, the application has been rewritten to be based on the previous Live Mesh and will allow PC and Mac users to keep their documents, pictures and music in sync across multiple computers. The updated applications include Windows Live Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Mesh, and Messenger Companion.

Microsoft released a public beta for the next major update for Windows Live Essentials dubbed 'Wave 4' on June 24, 2010.

Previous versions were also available on Windows XP and Windows Vista, and included Windows Live Messenger. Windows Essentials applications support installation on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. It reached end of support on January 10, 2017, and it isn't available in Windows 10. We're no longer offering the Windows Essentials 2012 suite for download, but if you already have it installed, it will continue to work as it does today.

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