When Microsoft renamed Windows Live brand, everyone wonder what will be the fate of Windows Live Essentials after separation from web services, and new versions of Messaging, Mail, Calendar and Photos etc. are introduced as part of Windows 8; which miss lots of features present in Live Essentials counterparts.

The only question was “Will we see a newer version of Windows Live Essentials anytime in the future?” and today Microsoft replied, “Yes.”

In a recent blog post on Windows Experience blog, Microsoft’s Brad Weed has announced new version of Windows Live Essentials 2012 packed with new Movie Maker and Photo Gallery for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Movie Maker: With major advancements in hardware accelerated graphics in Windows 8, Movie Maker has advanced to include Video Stabilization to smooth out shaky videos. And besides now H.264 format is default video format in Movie Maker which is rapidly becoming popular format among devices and video sharing sites.

Photo Gallery: With advanced features like Auto Collage, Photo Fuse and Panorama, Photo Gallery has become more multipurpose photo tool than ever and it will definitely save some bucks for you!

Windows Live Essentials 2012 (16.4.3503.728) includes Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, Family Safety, Microsoft SkyDrive and Outlook Connector Pack.

Both web installer and offline installer (weighting 131MB only) of Windows Live Essentials 2012 are available in 48 languages and English version can be downloaded from links given below:

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Windows Live Essentials 2012 Offline Installer

Windows Live Essentials 2012 Web Installer

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Note: To install Windows Live Essentials 2012, your PC must be running on either Windows 8 or Windows 7. This release doesn’t support Windows Vista, so if your computer is still running Windows Vista, you have to continue the Windows Live Essentials 2011 software.