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Microsoft Windows XP and Vista have an “offline folders” facility which allows you to take copies of files away from the office network on your laptop so that you can work with them on the move. All great in theory but we advise you to steer clear.

Offline folders are a frequent source of frustration amongst our laptop users, who assume that the automatic synchronisation of files will just work. In a perfect world it would, but in the real world people lose patience with long log off times while the synchronisation is catching up, so they turn off their laptop and rush off to catch a train. When they turn on the PC again they don’t have the latest files on their laptop. Not only that but if it was stopped while in the middle of something it will take a while to recover itself

ISN’s view is that automatic syncing is all very well, but is better if you can see it happening and you know when your synchronisation starts and when it is done

We recommend that you turn off offline folders for your laptop and then download and install Microsoft’s free Synctoy synchronisation utility. It is very flexible and will allow you to be confident that you have the latest version of your files. It can sync between computers and/or USB flash drives and disks.

I use it to keep web favourites and my file data synchronised between my office and home desktop and laptop. I use a 4GB USB Flash drive like this one to transfer the files around.

As with offline folders, please be careful that you do not set up any shared files for synchronisation: there is always the risk that someone else will have made a change to a file later than you and you might lose a lot of work.

Have a look at the help before you start using SyncToy or call ISN if you have any questions.