webDotWiz began urging users to create a free Spaces site for themselves in February last year so they could share photos with family and friends more easily than via email. A couple of weeks ago MSN Spaces as users knew it was renamed Windows Live Spaces to be a part of the Windows Live family of free services.

It only takes a couple of steps to set up your own Live Space to effectively have your own web site: if you haven't already got a Live ID (formerly known as a Hotmail or >Passport account), get one at login.live.com then go to Live Spaces to create your Space.

webDotWiz covered the steps to go through to choose a theme and layout for your Space last year - as well Spaces help will guide you so he won't go through that information again. Rather he wants to point out how permissions work.

Live Spaces is one of many web social networking services, that is you can connect to other people, but unlike others it is not, to use someone's description, the Wild West West. In other words, you decide by setting permission levels who can view your Space, be your friends, view your contact details and invite you to their Spaces' friends list.

The first time you come across permissions will be when you set up your Space - in the majority of cases you'll want to allow everybody to view your Space (an exception could be when you want to use a Space as a business or organisation internal web site).

Once your Space is up, click on Edit profile to see the full set of permissions including that for your Space. If you're going to allow family and friends to download your photos, for example, you need to set permission to view your Space at least to your Messenger contacts but it's more practical to set it as Public or Everyone.

Your profile information is separated into General, Contact info and Social and permissions range from Everybody to Messenger to Custom. For example, if you take a look at webDotWiz's profile on his space at webdotwiz.spaces.live.com, you'll see general information about him and only a limited amount of Contact info. As the top of this page tells you, if you sign into your Live ID you may see more information but only if you're one of webDotWiz's friends (i.e., you're on his Messenger contact list).

When webDotWiz is helping users set up their Space he recommends setting social and contact information to the Messenger permission level. One exception is to allow everybody to view your contact information (e.g., a phone number) if you're going to use your Space for business and you want prospective clients to be able to get in touch.

So thus far you're happy with who can view information about you but what about who can contact you to invite you to their friend's list? This level of contact is just as important, perhaps more so, than who you're allowing to view your profile and it's where Live Spaces differentiates itself from other social networking services.

Click on Options, and from the left-hand menu click on Communication preferences - you can see an example at webDotWiz's Space. For Invite me to Messenger you probably want to set it to Friends or Friends friends of your friends. To start with only allow contacts on your Messenger list to send you a request be on your friend's list. No-one should request access to your Space, that is, be able to edit it. Finally, only allow your Messenger contacts to ask for your contact information (e.g., your phone number and address).

Having your own site on Live Spaces is a fun way to share what you're doing, talk about your hobbies and pass on information to others.

WLMd is the email client that will replace Outlook Express in Windows Vista but you can try it now on Windows XP. Notable features include a much better user interface, a phishing filter, access to your Windows Live mail account is now free, set up as many email accounts as you want, RSS feeds, integration with Live Messenger and instant search.

Remember you can keep up to date with all Windows Live services by visiting webDotWiz's Space or, even better, add a feed from the webDotWiz Space to your Live.com page.