In case you haven’t seen these in the Clubhouse site, we have two new challenges worth checking out:

• The first is a Windows Live challenge to go on a video treasure hunt and find some great videos that feature Hotmail or SkyDrive.
• The second is all about demystifying the DVR inside your PC, and is focused on Windows Media Center and Windows Vista. 

I’ve alerted our technical team that the challenge text is getting cut off on the main Clubhouse site and they are working on fixing that.  In the mean time, if you click on the links above, you’ll see the full challenge.  We use this “communitymessage.spaces.live.com” as our way of posting new challenges and messages on the Clubhouse site.

Thanks,

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Thank you for your patience over the past few days as we fixed a minor problem with the ratings system in the new Clubhouse site.  Everything is working normally now, and all ratings you make should appear correctly on the posts.  Note that it might take a minute or two for the ratings to get reflected if you view the post again, but they are being counted, averaged, and properly displayed.

Thanks,

Marcus, Windows Community Manager

We’re currently experiencing some problems around the rating system inside the Clubhouse site.  Our technical team is working on a fix for this and we hope to have things back to normal soon.

Thank you for your patience in the mean time.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

With the Clubhouse site launched, we’re ready to start up new challenges within our community.  I’m excited to announce two new challenges were posted today.  The first is all about your best how-to tips for Windows Vista.  The second one is about using Windows Live on your mobile phone. 

If you’re already a member of the Clubhouse, just click on over to the http://clubhouse.microsoft.com and check out the details of these new challenges.  If you’re not already a member, you can find out more information about joining our community on that same site.

Have a great weekend and Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone in the Windows community!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

I’m very happy to announce the Clubhouse upgrade went smoothly last night and the new Clubhouse Site is up and running today.  You can check it out at http://clubhouse.microsoft.com.  If you’re already a member, you can sign in with your Windows Live ID there.  If you haven’t joined our Windows Community, you can learn more on the new site and we hope you’ll consider joining us!

If you have any issues or questions about the new Clubhouse, please let me know with a comment here or a private message to me.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to another member of our Windows Social Media team – Ali@Microsoft!  She’s awesome, and you can read more about her on her blog.

We both look forward to continuing to get to know each of you.  Together with you, we can build a great community of passionate people that love to share how-to tips and stories about using Windows Live, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.  We’ll keep learning from each other and helping others find out more about what they can do too.

Welcome to the party, Ali!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

We’ll be upgrading the Clubhouse Site later today at 10:00PM Pacific Standard Time.  During this upgrade the site might be unavailable for a while, but we will be working to minimize any downtime.  Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you all in the new, improved Clubhouse!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

By now you should have all received your January Windows Live Newsletter, and I hope you noticed two of our community members featured:

Jamie and Robert have both been with us since the early days, and continue to make great contributions to the community.  Thank you, guys!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Interested in what’s coming up next for the Community Clubhouse?  Check out the brief video below to see more about what we have planned.  We’re in the final stages of our renovation, and plan to launch this new version next week, around 10:00pm Pacific time on February 11.

New Clubhouse Sneak Peek:

Please note that the site might be off-line for a little while as we roll-out these changes.  We appreciate your patience during the upgrade.  If you have any questions or problems, please just contact me here at the Clubhouse Space or on my personal blog.

Thanks, and I hope you’re as excited as I am to see these enhancements!

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

The month ahead will be a big one for our community and the Clubhouse.  We’re renovating and expanding!

For the past six months or so, you’ve helped build a great community of people that are passionate about Windows Live.  You’ve been willing to share your expertise and have helped others understand what they can do with Windows Live.

Starting next week, we’re making the community and the Clubhouse bigger and better by including Windows Vista and Windows 7.  For those of you in the community already, here’s your chance to show off your best how-to tips and stories for all of Windows, not just Windows Live.  As part of our expansion, I’m sure we’ll have many new members joining us as well, and we can continue learning from and sharing with each other.

I’ll be posting a sneak peek of the new Clubhouse later this week as well as providing more details of when you’ll see the changes happen.

I hope you’re as excited as I am for our renovation and expansion!  We couldn’t have got here without each of you, and I thank you very much for being part of our community.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

P.S.  There will also be lots of new challenges coming up in February that I hope you’ll participate in and enjoy.  More on those soon.