Setting up your Permissions, part 1.
Profile details.
The next area of Windows Live that you need to set up is Permissions, and this has been made fully customisable so that you can stipulate for each separate area who can see and access your information when they view your Profile page. YOU can see all of it of course because its your own profile, but they will only be able to see what you allow them to see and have access to. Want it all kept private? You can set that. Want only those on your Network to view some areas but not others? You can do all of this in Permissions so let’s set everything up shall we?
1. Go to your Profile page by clicking on the Profile tab at the top of your Home page, and then left click on manage permissions in the grey box area.
2. You will now be in the Permissions page. As you can see, each area that you set up previously such as your Name, your Contact Info, Profile Picture, About you, your Network etc, all have a separate Permissions choice. This means every area can be ‘fine tuned’ to suit you so that you have total control over who sees what, and who you are sharing your details and information with.
3. Left click on the first blue permissions under the Name title to set up the permissions for who can view your last name. NOTE. Everyone can see your first name, this cannot be altered. TIP. If you don’t want everyone to see your real first name then use a nickname instead. When you are finished, click on SAVE.
4. Now move on to the next heading in the list which is Contact Info and click on the blue permissions as before. As this information contains your e-mail address, mobile number and other methods of being able to contact you, you need to be careful who you allow to see this information, so for now it might be wise to restrict it to just family and very close friends by typing in their e-mail addresses individually. You can of course let your Network have access to your Contact Info, if you wish at a later date once you are comfortable with any new friends that you make in the future. TIP. You can also set up Categories of people so that you can filter out those on your Network into individual groups such as Family, friends, contacts, etc. This will then enable you to be even more precise about just who you allow to have access to your personal contact info, and we will be tackling the area of Categories in a later post. When you are happy with your settings click on SAVE.
5. Next move onto your Profile picture, and click on Permissions. The settings that you choose for your Profile picture will also change the settings for who can view your information about you. So if you set your permission for your Profile picture to be accessible and viewable by no-one, then no one will be able to see the information about you that you did previously. NOTE. Quite a few users on Windows Live will only invite someone to their Network if they can see a photo or picture, and also some general information about yourself, because this then indicates that you intend to stick around Windows Live and have made some effort with setting up your Profile. It also gives some indication that you are not a ‘spamming bot.’ Once you are happy with these settings then click on SAVE.
6. The next area About you is really a repeat of your Profile picture and uses the same settings, so if you have already set that up you can skip this setting. For now we can also skip setting up the permissions for Your Network because at this point in time seeing as you are new to Windows Live, you don’t have anyone in your network. You can always return later to set up the permissions for this area.
7. Next down the page is your Personal Message and deciding who do you want to see it. Just your Network or everyone on the Internet? NOTE. Everyone on your network can see your personal message, and this same message is also viewable inside Messenger if you use that program. Once you are happy with your setting then click on SAVE.
8. Now move on next to Social and set your permissions up for that area. Remember that includes your favourite quote, what type of humour you possess,etc. Once set up, click on SAVE as always and then move on down to the next area.
9. The next area is Favourite Things. This consists of your choice of Music, films, books that you enjoy reading and it can be very important for other users to be able to access because if they can see that you enjoy some of the same music or films as they enjoy, it will encourage them to invite you to be in their Network, so it is a really good idea to let those on your Network have access to your Favourite things at least. When you have completed setting up your permissions, then just click on SAVE.
10. The next two categories at the bottom of the Profile permissions list are self explanatory and your choice of permissions will obviously be governed on whether or not you wish to be able to allow others access to your work details such as any business contacts for example, or enable old school and college friends to be able to find and contact you, so just set these up to suit you personally and then click on SAVE.
Because of the multitude of settings that need to be set up under preferences, I have decided to split this how-to into two separate posts to make it easier to work through for someone new to Windows Live. The next part will cover Invitations and Communication Preferences, and Your Stuff.
See you in the next post!
TG 
