Download Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh

Recently, Microsoft released the beta 2 of Windows Live Essentials suite that was initially made available to public for testing on June 24, 2010. It incorporates many feature improvements and bug fixes. It’s getting better and better. Want to learn about the new features? Do read our posts on different parts of Windows Live Essentials.

“We’re releasing an update to Windows Live Essentials 2011 beta,” said Chris Jones, Vice President, Windows Live Engineering. “One of the main reasons we release betas is to allow early adopters to enjoy our products and provide feedback on their experience. Your beta feedback and usage has helped shape the many improvements we’ve made and continue to make across Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Mail, and Family Safety,” Jones added.

According to Chris Jones, the initial beta release was a hit for Microsoft with 3 million unique users in Messenger alone, 3.5 million updates to display pictures, 6.2 million video calls, and 7.6 million updates to status messages. Here are some of the many improvements you will see in the new build.

  • A quicker Messenger – The time it takes to sign in, and to refresh contacts and social feeds, as well as animation speed, are all faster than in previous versions of Messenger.
  • More efficient video chat – Messenger video chat uses 30% fewer CPU resources by offloading work to the GPU.
  • Better facial recognition – Photo Gallery facial recognition is improved significantly and works more quickly.
  • Larger movie uploads – Movie Maker will upload higher resolution movies to SkyDrive (480×640 vs. the previous 320×480).
  • Higher bit-rate movies – Movie Maker now supports higher quality (bit-rate) content.
  • Better spell-checking – Writer has significantly improved the quality of its spell-checking.
  • Better integration with Office – Writer is much better at retaining all formatting when you copy and paste from Word and other Microsoft Office programs.
  • Better handling of Gmail – Mail now automatically handles Gmail’s spam and trash folders properly.
  • Faster web filtering – Family Safety web filtering is 35% faster than in the previous version.

The Windows Live Essentials include Live Messenger, Live Writer, Live Movie Maker, Live Mail, Live Photo Gallery, Live Sync, Bing Bar, Live Family Safety and Messenger Companion. Here are the direct and web installer links of Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh. Enjoy!