How to make Windows Live Mail look and feel like Outlook Express
If you switched from Outlook Express to Windows Live Mail you may have used a set of features you liked but just don't seem to be there anymore. While Windows Live Mail does bring improvements in some areas, some other "improvements" are arguable. Fortunately, some features are only hidden and some require a different approach - this article lists all the tricks and features I've discovered so far (the article will be updated from time to time).
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1. Getting back the main menu
Get it back by clicking Menus icon on the toolbar (or press Alt + M) and select Show menu bar.
2. Getting back the message view on the bottom
Click on Menus icon on the tool bar (Alt + M) and select Layout. Then select Reading pane and choose the option At the bottom of the message list.
3. Show progress bar when downloading messages
Old Send/Receive is now called Sync on the toolbar. Double click this button to show window with progress bar. This is not intuitive but definitely useful. If you single click it - then synchronize will not open a window with progress bar.
4. Show Junk e-mail in preview pane
I really cannot comprehend why Microsoft chose to hide preview pane for junk messages. They say it is safer that way. Well, guess what, spam can end up in Inbox folder so it's not really safer. You can do a workaround though.
a) Select all messages (CTRL + A) and drag them to another folder you created just for spam. Only junk folder does not display preview pane while all others do.
b) Double click first message to open it in a window. Press CTRL + D to delete if it is a junk and move on to the next message. If it is not a junk close the window and double click next message.
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