Beta the devil you know: Windows 7 needs a patch

Movie Maker was one of the handy freebies that came with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Vista but was culled to make way for the swifter, lighter Windows 7. It has since scuttled over to Windows Live Services and is being quietly improved, which is why it is currently stuck with a beta tag.

While it isn't the most feature rich video editing package (and now isn't compatible with Windows XP), it is still perfectly good for light use and for people taking video on phone cameras it can be a handy way to cut and post footage for free.

However, if you've found the beta of Movie Maker to be useful then when you start it next, you'll need to download a patch to continue using it, as the current beta expired on 30 June. Don't download the patch and you don't get to use Movie Maker, do it and you get another six months until the end of the year to play.


Movie Maker users have a 2.8MB mandatory install to grab

As you can read on the Microsoft Essentials blog, the development team is planning to have a full release at some point this year and are aiming to add some better features commonly found in paid-for products. Easier interfaces, better online publishing could all add up to something that most casual PC users can look forward to.