The past week, Microsoft released a collection of updates for all the clients under the Windows Live Essentials brand umbrella but failed to provide details on what the refreshes brought to the table. It took the Windows Live mail team a couple of days to make public the information related to the introduction of Windows Live Mail 2009 14.0.8089.0726. While end users had access and could download Build 14.0.8089.0726 of Windows Live Mail since August 19, 2009, only later the past week did Microsoft provide information on the update. Still, the Windows Live Mail team is an exception; additional teams, including the group building Windows Live Messenger, continue to keep mum even at this point in time.

Rodger Benson, lead program manager, Windows Live Mail, revealed that the Build 14.0.8089.0726 refresh was designed to solve some incompatibility issues with the email client that was stripped from the Windows client OS and moved into the Cloud. In addition, the latest Build of Windows Live Mail also introduces fixes for bugs reported to Microsoft by end users through feedback.

“Windows Live Mail can now properly import Outlook Express mail account settings that were transferred from a Windows XP to a new Vista or Windows 7 system using the Windows Easy Transfer wizard,” Benson explained. “Some users had problems launching Windows Live Mail and we have addressed this. In some cases, after you closed Windows Live Mail, the application would appear to close, but the wlmail.exe process would continue to run in the background. That process would prevent Mail from launching in the future. On Vista and Windows 7, Windows Live Mail wouldn’t connect properly to POP email servers using SSL. In particular, this affected some users of Yahoo! Mail.”

As I have told you since last week, applying the update to Windows Live Mail will take the version number of the email client all the way to Build 14.0.8089.0726. Microsoft has said nothing yet about distributing the updates automatically to all the components of the Windows Live Essentials but the version number of Windows Live Mail can be checked through the About Windows Live Mail dialog.

Windows Live Mail 2009 14.0.8089.0726 is available for download here.

Windows Live Family Safety is available for download here.

Windows Live Writer 14.0.8089.726 is available for download here.

Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009 14.0.8081.709 is available for download here.

Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) 14.0.8089.726 is available for download here.