[accesscomp] Fw: Personal Tech: Microsoft's Free Sync Service

From: "Reginald George" <adapt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <accesscomp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Adaptive technology information and support." <ati@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:55:14 -0600
Passing this on without comment here.

Personal Tech: Microsoft's Free Sync ServiceMicrosoft's Free Sync Service
By DAVID POGUE
Last week, I wrote about an underpublicized gem in Microsoft's Windows Live
suite of free online and offline services and programs: SkyDrive. It's a
free, 25-gigabyte virtual hard drive on the Internet, accessible from any
computer.
My readers gently pointed out that I managed to miss an equally spectacular
feature: Windows Live Sync. It's another very good, very free Windows Live
service, for Mac and Windows, that everyone should know about.
The problem: you have a work machine and a home machine. Or a desktop PC and
a laptop that's frequently out of the house. Or a family. Or a small
business.
In any case, you find yourself having to copy certain important files back
and forth after each trip: when you return home with your laptop, when you
get to the office after doing work at home over the weekend, and so on.
The solution: Windows Live Sync. You designate one folder on Computer A, and
another folder on Computer B. Then Sync keeps them synced with each other,
magically, over the Internet, with no effort on your part. Add, change, or
delete a file on your laptop; you'll find it added, changed, or deleted on
your desktop. Edit some chapters or spreadsheets on your Mac at home; you'll
find them edited the same way at work.
There are plenty of services like this online-SugarSync, for example-but
they're not free. I'd venture that they're not even as simple.
Here's how to set it up. Suppose, in this example, that you have a PC at
work and a Mac at home. Suppose, furthermore, that you've already signed up
for a free Windows Live account (www.live.com).
On each computer, visit https://sync.live.com/clientdownload.aspx. Download
and install the little Live Sync app. It puts a tiny Sync icon on your menu
bar (Mac) or system tray (PC).
Now sit at the PC and sign into the Sync Web site (http://sync.live.com).
Click "Create a personal folder." Navigate to the folder on your hard drive
that you want to sync; select it by opening it, right there on the Sync Web
page, and then clicking "Sync folder here." (You can also create a new
folder at this point.)
You're shown a list of the computers on which you've installed the Sync
program (and that are turned on and online). Click the one you want this
folder to sync with, and then, on the "Select a folder" screen, specify
which folder on the Mac you want synced with the PC folder you chose.
Finally, choose either Automatic or On-demand synchronization, and click
Finish.
And that is all. When you add, change, or delete anything in a synced folder
on one machine, it's automatically updated on the other, over the Internet.
It's totally great for keeping the latest versions of everything accessible
at all times. And it has a lot of fans among my readers.
As a handy side effect, Live Sync lets you grab files from any of your
computers, from the Web site, even from folders you haven't set up for
syncing. Left the Smithers presentation at the office, and now you're
on-site at the client's place? No problem. You're covered.
You can also make certain folders available to family members and coworkers,
making the whole thing even more useful.
The fine print: You can synchronize up to 20 folders, each containing up to
20,000 files, max. Files can't be larger than 4 gigabytes each. Files can be
synced with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Macs. Microsoft
recommends that you don't sync your Outlook mail stash, because it's an
enormous file that's constantly changing.
This, by the way, isn't even the end of the story. The next-generation
Microsoft free sycning software is called Windows Live Mesh. It's roughly
the same idea, but it's even more powerful and complicated. It creates a
Web-based "desktop" with 5 gigabytes of storage-and your Macs, PCs,
smartphones, and even authorized friends can sync up to it.
Details are at www.mesh.com
Clearly, Microsoft is aiming to be the leader in giving away that syncing
feeling. And it's doing a darned good job.
Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com »
[accesscomp] Fw: Personal Tech: Microsoft's Free Sync Service

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