How about having a status button showing your Windows Live Messenger status? It’s pretty simple, and this mini-post explains how you can accomplish this.

 To get the HTML code for Windows Live Messenger IM Control, login here with your Windows Live ID. First thing to do is log in to your Windows Live account. Then, confirm that you are in Windows Live Messenger > Web Settings and choose the “Create HTML” option, in the left menu.

 You’ll be taken to a page where you can select the kind of integration you want to achieve. You can select a Messaging Window to enable conversations, a windows live status icon, and a windows live status button, each of them with customizable colors. All your changes are reflected in the generated script that you can copy and paste onto your website. You can see an example on this blog, on the left menu.

Microsoft has silently removed the Windows Live Help Community service. The link is now redirecting to Windows Live Help. This is just one of the many Windows Live services dropped in recently. Just like Windows Live for TV, Help Community never made it out of beta.

For those of you who don’t remember, Microsoft released Windows Live Help Community in December 2006, providing another channel for users to get help for their Windows Live services. However, throughout the lifetime of the service, only three services ever utilized Help Community – that is Windows Live Admin Center, Windows Live Call for Free, and Help Community itself.

As noted back then on LiveSide, there seems to be too many help and feedback channels for Windows Live services, including:

• Windows Live Account – Help Central
• Windows Live Account – Feedback
• Live Search QnA
• Windows Live Help Community (now removed)
• Windows Live Message Boards
• Windows Live public newsgroups

Seems like Microsoft is finally getting their hands on to clean up the mess they’ve created with Windows Live and Live Search.