I’ve tried in the past some obscure freeware synchronization software. I had to stop using it, because it always confused me and was not user friendly.

Eventually, I switched to long forgotten Windows Briefcase. Yes, it is still available even on Vista. Unfortunately it has its limitations. It sometimes reports that synchronization failed, but in reality it appears to be fine. If you have a very large number of files it may simply run out of memory. Explorer locks briefcase content for only one window at at time. Basically, Briefcase is very useful, but neglected peace of software.

Microsoft seems to have decided to develop Synchronization framework. It is used by Windows Live services. But there is also quite a good GUI tool called Sync Toy for synchronizing any pair of directories.

Download details: SyncToy v2.0

So, at the end of the day I have replaced my Briefcase folders with SyncToy. Another advantage is that 3-way and N-way synchronization is not a problem. Just create another pair or another computer.

Location to download codecs for raw image formats from cameras:

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx

The VBScript referenced here works on Vista with a few alterations:

Adding an HTML Editor entry to the registry and set as the default

To get it work on vista you have to run script from command line as Administrator. This is a good way to setup OpenOffice sweb.exe application as default HTML editor in Internet Explorer.

It takes to much time to create detailed instructions. Don’t hesitate to ask if you don’t know how run script as administrator.

Flash is notorious for having huge wholes that are used to compromise computer. Both Firefox and  Internet Explorer on Vista and Windows XP are exposed to Flash bugs. Keeping flash disabled by default is a preferred solution from security standpoint. However, Flash has become so widespread that it is difficult to keep browse web without it.

Internet Explorer provides a way to manage Add-ons, but Add-on cannot be enabled for a specified set of trusted websites. That was true for every version of IE until IE 8. Internet Explorer 8 allows users to keep Flash enabled while managing list of trusted sites. If default * (star) access option is removed, then the user has unobtrusive prompt to enable Flash on per website basis. This prompt is done similar to download prompts which are easy to ignore.

Here is a blog post that describes 6 unique reasons why Windows Live Search can be preferred over Google or Yahoo!.

I especially like reason #6. Basically one can search based on weight or preference. Here is an example:

holiday destinations prefer:Japan

Another good reason is covered here and it has to do with rolling a Double-6.

I need ability to search within a blog of a specific Windows Live space. Here are instructions from Rob’s post:

1. Go to Live Search (http://search.live.com)
2. Enter “Ms Dewey site:spaceName.spaces.live.com meta:search.pt(blogs)”

Tag site: specifies live space and meta: tag instructs to search only within blog entries.

I really like what IBM has done with user interface. However, I cannot not stand the following product issues on Windows Vista 32-bit:

• Slow startup time
• I could not figure out how to clear formatting of the paragraph
• IBM Lotus Symphony kept updating registry startup location with the same data. That triggered Windows Defender advanced mode to prompt for confirmation. That is annoying.
• Repaint issues while I am working with the text
  • table lines jump sometimes and triggering of repaint is necessary
  • currently edited line looks strange until repainted
  • repaint may take a while sometimes

These quality oriented issues made me stop using IBM Lotus Symphony at least for the moment. I have installed OpenOffice 3.0 and observed none of the problems mentioned above. Startup time was great and no Windows Defender complains. It was pleasant to learn that ODF icons look like a small version of the actual document content.

I have decided to try IBM Lotus Symphony on my home computer for the following reasons:

1. It is a free software.
2. This software uses open document format.
3. Word processor usability.

Here is why OpenOffice 3.0 has not been my choice:

1. Usability of open office is not as good compared to Symphony and that is a very important factor for me.
2. The difference in feature list is not important to me at the moment.

If you need to

1. Synchronize Favorites and other folders on more than one computer.
2. Access your computer remotely. For example you want to do something on your home computer from work.
3. Share files with friends.
4. Work with virtual desktop on a web that represents all of your shared content without installation of any software.

then Microsoft Live Mesh Beta may be a perfect solution. Live Mesh basically combines Microsoft FolderShare Beta and SkyDrive functionality.