1. Start Windows Live Mail.
2. Right-click on its icon in the notification area.
3. In the opening context menu, check the item Hide window when minimized.
4. Now minimize Live Mail’s Inbox window—done!

You can connect multiple computers to a personal folder, but each one must have a unique computer name. Only you can synchronize files in your personal synchronized folder.

You can connect to someone else’s shared folder, if the owner gave you permission. Just sign in using your Windows Live ID.

1. If Sync isn’t already running, on the Start menu, click Programs or All Programs, click Windows Live, click Windows Live Sync, and then sign in using your Windows Live ID.
2. In the notification area on the taskbar, click the Sync icon .
3. Click Sync website.
4. Under Personal folders or under Shared folders, click the name of the folder that you want to connect with the computer you’re using.
5. Click Add a computer.
6. In the list of available computers, click the name of the computer.
7. Select the folder on the computer where you want Sync to synchronize the files, and then click Sync folder here.– or –To create a new folder, select a location, click Create new folder, type a name for the folder, and then click Create and sync.
8. Choose the synchronization setting that you want, and then click Finish.

Notes

• Your computer must be online for files to synchronize. You can’t view files or the contents of a folder on the Sync website.
• If you created a folder for synchronizing, and you delete a file with a .p2p extension from the folder, the placeholder, as well as the actual file, is deleted from every computer that shares the folder.
• Synchronizing Microsoft Office Outlook .pst files between computers is not recommended because these files constantly change. This can result in frequent sync errors and files that aren’t updated.
• Keep in mind that Sync can’t merge data between database files. If you use a Microsoft Access, SQL, or ACT! database, you can synchronize database files to another computer so that they can be edited and viewed on multiple computers, but a database itself can’t be opened or modified on two computers at the same time.

Source: http://windowsliveblog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!720E46AE746458F7!5810.entry

Hrm, nice. You can actually recognize the icon! Let’s sign in.

(Click the images to enlarge them.)

What is that?! You see the normal design, but very many magenta pixels are spread in all dark user interface parts. In the sign-in window, that is not a problem, but looking at the contact list header, you cannot actually read your personal status message properly nor distinguish the toolbar icons. Highlighted items in the contact list are also very hard to read (see “Favorites” in the screenshot).

What about the system notification area? There, the icon is rendered quite fine, and the icon is good enough for you to see your status.

Let’s ask Lonn for his opinion. Lonn is a Senior Product Manager in the Messenger team.

(Click the image to enlarge it.)

Compared with the sign-in window and the contact list, this window is much better to read. I would consider the conversation window to be the only one truly accessible with 8-bit (256) colors. Due to a special resource just for 256 colors, emoticons are also very good to recognize. But look yourself:

(Click the image to enlarge it.)

Summarizing this little experiment, I can say that Windows Live Messenger 2009 is not optimized for low color depths. Most of it is usable, some parts are very hard to read, and some are quite fine. Messenger does not contain any special resources for 256 colors, except for emoticons. Are the 8-bit times really over?

Chaitanya Sareen, senior program manager on the Windows Core User Experience team, says:

With more developers leveraging its functionality, the Notification Area has grown in popularity over the years. Some may observe that it has changed from a subtle whisperer to something louder. Based upon the feedback we’ve collected from customers, we recognize the Notification Area could benefit from being less noisy and something more controllable by the end-user.

The problem: Messenger might be in your way

If you have recently downloaded Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 and installed Windows Live Essentials on it, especially Messenger, you might notice that it reacts differently from previous versions of Windows when you minimize its main window, that is, the Contact list. Instead of moving the Messenger icon to the notification area like in Windows XP and Vista, it just minimizes to the taskbar—following the guidelines the Windows team has set up, in order to keep the notification area clean and tiny.

However, if you are running Messenger quite frequently, perhaps even permanently, the rather big Messenger icon in the “normal” taskbar might get into your way rather quickly. How would it be to force Messenger to act like in previous versions of Windows—that is, to “minimize to tray”? Here is how you can.

The solution: Move it out of your way

1. Click , then choose Computer.
2. Double click Local Disk ( C: )
3. Browse to Program FilesWindows LiveMessenger.
4. Right click the file msnmsgr.exe, and choose Properties from the appearing context menu.
5. Switch to the Compatibility tab.
6. Check the check box next to Run this program in compatibility mode for.
7. Open the drop down field, and choose Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).
   
8. In the dialog box msnmsgr.exe Properties, click OK.
9. Close Windows Explorer, and start Messenger from the Start menu.
10. When you minimize Messenger’s main window now, it will silently minimize itself to the notification area again. If you cannot see the Messenger icon there, try unfolding the expanded view, using the arrow button pointing upwards.

Sources:

• Engineering Windows 7: User Interface: Starting, Launching, and Switching
• Life Rocks 2.0: How to Minimize Windows Live Messenger to System Tray in Windows 7

Start Menu Tasks

The first thing I noticed was that Messenger introduced a popup menu with an arrow to the right in the Start menu panel, when I was signed in. It allows the easy changing of your status and access to other options otherwise accessible only through the notification area (systray) icon.

Multiple Messenger instances in the Superbar

When I apply the trick to allow multiple instances of Messenger running at once (polygamy), the task bar icon changes to a multi-icon, like you’d open 2 Explorer windows, and the popup allows easy access and signout of both of those instances. It also shows the Messenger status (signed out, Available, Busy, Away) in the icon, just like the systray icon did in previous Windows versions.

Sadly, the start menu tasks don’t split into multiple views when more than 1 Messenger client is signed in, but always show the menu items of the last started client.