Update to the Windows Live Communications Platform

With the recent final forced upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 2009 from Windows Live Messenger 8.5 came an updated version of the Windows Live Communications Platform which hadn’t seen a change since February (the original QFE release).

The existing version of the Windows Live Communications Platform contained a bug wherein in some cases, the contact list would appear empty within the various Windows Live applications (most obvious in Messenger and Mail).  This bug appears to have been corrected in this release and presumably the forced upgrade was delayed for 8.5 until this fix was ready.

As this is a small update to the existing QFE 2 suite, I’ve elected to simply update the QFE 2 entry with this small update. 

Upgrading from the existing Windows Live Communications Platform version
As the only changed component is the Windows Live Communications Platform, the latest Windows Live Installer will not allow you to install this update if you already have all the applications which use this component installed.  To avoid having to uninstall and reinstall the Windows Live applications, you can upgrade by following these quick steps:

1. Shut down down any main Windows Live applications such as Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Photo Gallery and/or Windows Live Movie Maker (this is not a critical step, the installer will prompt you to shut down anything using the Communications Platform).
2. Download and run the new Windows Live Communications Platform installer file (Contacts.msi).
3. After the Windows Installer completes the upgrade and then disappears without any error messages, you can restart any Windows Live products.

Technical Details
Installer package – Contacts.msi
Signed by Microsoft Corporation – Thursday, October 01, 2009 03:00:37 (UTC)
Version: 14.0.8098.0930 (previous version was 14.0.8064.0206)

Files updated (check your version/files in your Program Files’ Windows Live\Contacts folder):

File name	File version	File size	Date (UTC)	Time (UTC)
abssm.dll	14.0.8098.930	531,808	30-Sept-2009	07:58
conproxy.dll	14.0.8098.930	58,720	30-Sept-2009	07:58
consync.dll	14.0.8098.930	128,352	30-Sept-2009	07:58
contact.dll	14.0.8098.930	645,984	30-Sept-2009	07:58
lmcdata.dll	14.0.8098.930	580,448	30-Sept-2009	07:58
wlcomm.exe	14.0.8098.930	26,464	30-Sept-2009	07:58
wldlog.dll	14.0.8098.930	31,584	30-Sept-2009	07:58