I am looking to find the most popular software for automaticfally
synchronizing Desktop and Laptop files as well as Outlook email and
contacts.

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Request for Question Clarification by livioflores-ga on 11 Oct 2004 18:48 PDT

Do you need to know which one is the most popular way to sync or which
are your better options to do that?

REgards.
livioflores-ga

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Clarification of Question by wilbersdad-ga on 12 Oct 2004 05:42 PDT

I would like to know which are the better options to sync my files on
an ongoing basis. I am looking for an automated solution.

I assumed that the most popular would be the most effective...

Thanks for your question and thank you for working on this.

Honestly? Get a PDA. 
Or a server.

The former is cheaper, the latter is simply any third computer that
holds data. (OR) use offline sync on your laptop to a shared folder on
your Desktop.

Email and contact sync is easily done with a PDA (Palm or PocketPC),
although if you have 800MB plus of emails to sync, you probably should
look at a server to hold the shared data, it's not going to be easy.

The "Costly/Professional" way is to have a server running Microsoft
Exchange, and Outlook 200x running on your laptop and Desktop PC's,
connecting to Windows 200x server with Exchange (though there are
online hosting for Exchange if you don't want that in-house). This
software is about $1000 for 2003 Server and $900 ish for 2003 Exchange
Server.

If you'd rather go Open Source, Novell's SuSE Linux Professional 9.1
at around $70 is one way to go. It runs on the third PC and really
doesn't care about licenses and such. It is itself a robust operating
system and environment, having a built-in mail server and file server.

Why the big deal about the file server and mail server? If you store
information at a central location, you don't have to worry about sync
problems.

This is a free comment.

Windows itself has a Briefcase program that can synchronize files
between two machines; search for "Briefcase" at support.microsoft.com
for instructions. Several third-party file synchronization programs
are available to ensure files and folders on the desktop and the
laptop are up to date. One such program, Laplink Gold ($130;
www.laplink.com), comes with a U.S.B. 2.0 cable to connect laptop to
desktop. Another is Save-N-Sync ($30; www.peersoftware.com).

Some U.S.B. flash drives are even getting in on the file-synching
feeling, like the Migo, for example (www.4migo.com). This pocket hard
drive comes with software that not only keeps your files and e-mail up
to date when you swap them between your desktop and laptop, but it can
also transport your wallpaper and other preferred Windows settings to
any machine you're working on, whether it's yours or not.

For Palm-like docking with your desktop, Sharp Electronics
(www.sharpsystems.com) has a lightweight laptop that may fit the bill.
Its Actius MM series of thin notebook computers all weigh around two
pounds and come with a docking cradle that lets you plop the portable
into a cradle connected to your desktop machine and synchronize files
in designated folders.

To sync Outlook emails and contacts, you need Exchange Server. But,
it's too expensive for you to buy it yourself. Instead, outsource it
to http://www.123Together.com . We've been using for 1.5 years with no
problems - I love their customer service.