Can’t sign in on WLE 2011/12

I am having a number of issues with Windows Live essentials (WLE) on a Win 7 Home 64-bit system.

A few days ago everything was working fine.  I am not sure if I had WLE 2011 or WLE 2012 at that time.  One day, I could not sign into Windows Live Mail with my Hotmail login info.  I logged into Hotmail (Outlook-web) via the web and changed my password.  Still could not get to my Hotmail account via WLM.

I uninstalled WLE and installed WLE 2012 via web-installer, again I could not log into WLM.  WLM would download and list my new emails, but I could not sign in to view them.  Messenger would not work either, after trying to log in, I ran the troubleshooter, which gave a 'key ports' error.  I tried several online recommendations with respect to IE settings, none of which worked.

I then uninstalled WLE 2012 and installed WLE 2009.  This did work.  It allowed me to get to my Hotmail account and view/send email.  It shows my log in account, but not my profile pic.  However, I still cannot log into Live Messenger 2009, it always asks for permission to update.  Which, I assume is the Messenger/Skype update.  I tried setting Messenger to run in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode, which is supposed to disable the update prompt, however it still asks for the update permission.

I kind of like the 'ribbon' menus of WLE 2011 and 2012, but neither of these versions seem to currently work for me.

I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I am really not interested in the hassle of upgrading, only to have the apps not function, and have to uninstall/re-install or perform a system restore.  I'm getting tired of all the research and various work-arounds required to make things function.  I seem to remember the first time I installed WLE, months ago, it installed and worked like it was supposed to.  Although even then, I could not print from Photo Gallery.

Any advice on how to proceed, would be nice.  Either to get Messenger to work in WLE 2009 or to get the various logins working in WLE 2011/12.

Thx