I have an announcement to make about Microsoft. Drop your mouses, people! Do not leave, because this is important and could actually benefit you. I know you haven’t been happy with Vista–even if I don’t agree with most of your complaints–I understand your fear and uncertainty when it comes to Microsoft products. But their push toward cloud computing looks very promising. Windows Live Mesh is an online service that allows you to sync devices and computers with each other using shared folders. Syncing and the automatic backup of files is a good thing that can help people move data around. The best part is, once you set it up, there’s nothing to think about after that.

How to get Started With Live Mesh

You’ll need a Windows Live account. When you visit the Mesh Website, register and you will receive your Live account. You will then need to download their syncing utility that will sit in your system tray and run in the background. Once you have downloaded the software, you can Add Devices that connect to the mesh. For instance, if you have a work computer and a home computer, you will add each of those devices to the mesh website.

Adding Folders to Mesh

Probably the best feature of Mesh is the automatic backup of folders, documents, pictures, and music. You have the ability to right-click and add folders to the mesh. So if you want to sync everything in your My Documents folder on your work PC and your home PC, right-click those folders and add them to the mesh. Mesh is always running in the background, so each time you make a change, those changes are reflected in the mesh account on the web.

While there is currently only 5GB of space available on your mesh accounts, it still gives you the ability to easily move data from one location to another. Computer hard drives are massive, so there really isn’t any reason to store all of your data online.