An email reminder was sent out today by Windows Live to Live Mesh beta participants, reminding them that the beta will be completely shut down on March 31, and any data stored on the Live Mesh beta servers will be lost. LiveSide readers will remember a similar email from last October, this one is just a bit of a more urgent reminder:
Dear Live Mesh beta participant,
You’re receiving this message because you used the Live Mesh beta from Microsoft. On March 31, 2011, the beta of Live Mesh will end, and the Live Mesh beta will stop working. After March 31, you won’t be able to access any files stored online in your Live Desktop or connect to your PCs remotely using the Live Mesh software. Microsoft will not be able to help you retrieve any files you have stored online after this date. Your files will also stop syncing between your computers and your Live Mesh online storage. Please read below for actions we recommend you take.
Just to clarify, this is for the Live Mesh beta, and not Windows Live Mesh, which is available today via Windows Live Essentials. If you still have blue Live Mesh folders on your desktop, you’re in the Live Mesh beta, and need to take action:
What you need to do before Live Mesh beta shuts down
To prevent loss of any of your files, please sync all files from your Live Desktop so that you have them on your computer when the Live Mesh beta service is shutdown. To do this, follow these steps:
- On your Live Desktop, right-click any Live Mesh folders not yet synced with your computer, and then click Sync with this computer. Make sure all the folders on your Live Desktop have desktop shortcuts.
- Select where you want each folder to sync, and then click OK. If a folder has a lot of files, this might take a while. Open each folder and make sure all the files are downloaded.
Hopefully you’ve already moved off the Live Mesh beta, if you’re still hanging on, time to get moving or risk losing data!