Synchronise Your Computers and Your Life!

Do you ever find running multiple computers, Operating systems and browsers tedious? Especially now that most people have access to 2 computers or more. Maybe you are using one main computer and need access to certain files from another or you are using portable software or even your mobile phone. Here are a few tips on how to keep organised with a combination of software and web apps. Synchronise your computers and your life!

Bookmarking

This is a great start as you need to access your bookmarked web sites from anywhere including the web. Some great bookmarking sites include Delicious, Diigo and BlinkList. Access is available via the web and there is an assortment of browser extensions and bookmarklets.

Files & Folders

Want to access documents and files and have them synchronised across different computers. Dropbox is one of the most popular. It offers 2GB of free space to store anything you want. It automatically syncs to your computers and your data is still available when off-line. Supports Windows, Mac, Linux (Ubuntu & Fedora) and iPhone. DropBox alternatives are ZumoDrive and SpiderOak.

Passwords

Now if you frequently browser hop there is nothing worse than forgetting a password and then having to open up your main browser to hunt for it. LastPass is an online password manager that will encrypt and store your passwords on the web and sync them across your multiple browsers on any platform and there is no need worry as you can use it in off-line mode too. Passpack is also worth looking at.

Tasks & Calendars

Still lugging that huge diary around with you? Google Calendar is a web calendar that you can sync to all of your devices. Accessible via the browser or can easily integrate with your email or calendar software. Task managers like Doit.im and Remember The Milk can also integrate with your Google Calendar so you don’t have any excuses for forgetting your appointments!

Productivity

Don’t have access to an office suite? Want to store your documents online? Google Docs and Zoho will be your friend. Simply knock up a document, spreadsheet, presentation or form quickly and store it online. You can also sync your documents from both Zoho and Google docs to open office with this extension. Zoho also has a plugin for Microsoft Office and there is also a Google Docs plugin for MS Office with Offisync.

Firefox Profiles

Mozilla Sync is work in progress software to backup and synchronise your firefox profile to Windows, Mac, Linux and Mobile. Currently it backs up passwords, bookmarks, history, tabs, preferences, add-ons and personas. It certainly looks very promising for the future.