How to avoid mandatory upgrade to Windows Live Essentials 2011.

I have got Windows Live Essentials 2009 on all of my Windows Vista,Windows 7 and Windows 8 laptops. I have never upgraded to WLE 2011 version.Because I tried WLE 2011 including Messenger and I knew right away,I did not like it. I hate the Ribbon in WL Photo Gallery 2011 and WL Mail 2011.

On WLE 2009 there is no Ribbon. And WL Messenger 2011 is slow,buggy, and is just not the same as WL Messenger 2009 and previous versions. And so for this and too many other reasons to mention I have just stuck with WLE 2009,which I am happy with. And from what I read on the web,a lot of other Windows 7 users hate WLE 2011 version.And have stayed with WLE 2009 instead.

But a few days ago when I re-installed Windows 7 on one of my netbooks.After WLE 2009 had finished installing,WL Messenger opened. And I got that message that I must upgrade to the latest version and it would not let me log in.
This was because,as you know when Messenger installs for the first time,it is set by default to start right away,when Windows starts. So first of all I changed that setting,not to start up with Windows, then logged out.

A lot of people including me are unhappy with the forced mandatory update by Microsoft to WLE 2011. But if you want to avoid upgrading to the hated WLE 2011 version,here is how to avoid it. And stay with WLE 2009. And this works on Windows Vista,Windows 7 and Windows 8. Read on.

The answer to this problem is simple. What you need to do is go to the Windows Live Messenger program exe. You will find this in your start menu or in your Windows Live Programs folder on C/Drive.

Right click on the program exe file and click properties,and select,"change settings for all users," under compatibility settings.

Then select "run in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3 or Windows XP Service Pack 2." Save settings,then exit.

Now when you open WL Mesenger 2009,you will no longer get the annoying update and you will now be able to log into Messenger and use it again. The same as you could before.

Also it is much better to run WLM 2009 in Windows XP compatibility mode, because you then get the icon in the taskbar notification area.Like in Windows XP,not in the middle of the taskbar.

WLE 2009 and WL Messenger 2009 is now working again on my re-installed Windows 7 and I also have WLE 2009 on Windows 8 and on Windows Vista.And it is working without any problems.

I hope this helps other users who hate WLE 2011 version and want to stay with 2009 version. Well now you can stay with WLE 2009. Andrea Borman.