duminică, 9 mai 2010

Windows 7 Utilities: SkyDrive Explorer

Need an extra 25GB of free online storage? SkyDrive may be your answer. For those unfamiliar with SkyDrive, it’s a service offered to Windows Live subscribers for 25GB of free online storage. The only thing you’ll need to gain this extra space is a Live ID or Hotmail email address. Once you are signed up for the Live service, you’ll have immediate access to SkyDrive. The only problem with SkyDrive is the inability to access those files without opening a browser and logging into your Live account. Why Microsoft doesn’t give Windows 7 user’s direct access to this drive via mapping isn’t clear, but for those looking to avoid the logging in-and-out of a browser, SkyDrive Explorer is the solution to this conundrum and best of all, it’s free.

To take advantage of SkyDrive Explorer, you’ll need to download the small explorer extension here.

Setup is quick and easy and you’ll never have a program to open and close. SkyDrive Explorer will just place a folder drive in Computer which will allow you to delete, rename and copy your SkyDrive stored files.

 

Once installation is finished, click on the SkyDrive Explorer folder which will now appear in Computer and you should be prompted to login to your Windows Live account using your Live ID.

 

Once it loads, you should be brought to a explorer view of your folders.

Here are some SkyDrive Explorer Features, taken directly from their site:

Fast – SDExplorer allows bulk operations with files and folders. Such functionality is not available through a web browser. This increases the speed with which you can work on SkyDrive™.

Examples of bulk operations are:

• Renaming objects;

• Deleting objects;

• Copying folders with files and subfolders;

• Changing folder share types.

Easy – You don’t need to know how to work with the SkyDrive™ service through your web browser. To work effectively with your data in SDExplorer, just perform the basic file and folder operations in Windows Explorer.

Secure – SDExplorer uses the standard Microsoft library for working with Windows Live ID™ services. Your personal information does not leave this library and is not even passed to the SDExplorer engine. Additionally, all of your online storage-related traffic is transmitted using the HTTPS protocol, protecting your data from snoopers.

Cross-platform – SDExplorer works both in 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft® Windows OS. The minimum required OS is Windows XP, and SDExplorer will successfully work on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, and Windows 7.

I use a lot of different Office 2007 files both at home and work and have recently started using SkyDrive to easily access them in both places. It’s actually a handy little Explorer extension which replaces my need to save documents to Google doc’s all-together. There are certainly some missing features in SkyDrive, but if you are a current user, you may find this easier than opening your browser all the time. Hopefully this tool is helpful, let me know in the comments if there are any other programs the readers have tried which gives more in terms of SkyDrive editing and access.