Around mid-January this year, the weather gadgets stopped updating on all of the PCs in our building. First symptom was that the temperature became a 'forecasted' range. Then a week later, 'unable to connect to service.'
I researched the problem on the internet. It seemed no one knew why and all sorts of speculation about MS killing the service due to security problems.
Then I found one post that was confirmed as a fix for the problem. The content of the post essentially stated that you need to open a XML file and simply re-save it:
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache\Config.xml
I tested it myself, and when I reopened the widget, it soon reappeared with the current temperature.
However, 2 days later, it went to forecasted temperatures again. I'd open, re-save and restart the widget and it'd work for another two days.
Then I thought about it.. what is happening when I open and re-write the file: I'm updating the modification date stamp on the file. It dawned on me that maybe MS has coded a cutoff date for the file in Windows and that after that date, the file is considered 'dead'.
To test that hypothesis, I used a date/time stamper utility to change the date to April of 2016. That was over a week ago. I am happy to report the widget has continued to display current temperature for the entire week, not just two days.
This fix seems to work as long as the file and folder exists. Not every Win 7 installation has this file/folder, as I discussed it with a friend who tried to fix it on his machine and he didn't even have the Windows Live folder. So it may not work for everyone, but perhaps it will help a few.
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