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OT: Synchronising desktop and laptop ???

Sorry for the OT post, but I know you guys in here and the other newsgroups are a big black scary place :-)

Basically I've got a laptop (Thinkpad T20) and Desktop (Dell Optiplex), both running Win98, and I want to synchronise a few aspects of both systems. Mainly the contents of Outlook Express - yeah I know there are better programs about, but it does the job for me at the moment so I'll stick with it.

Basically if my room's in a mess and there's so much crap around that I can't get over to the chair by the desktop then I'll use the laptop. I've set up Outlook Express on the laptop to leave the messages on the mail server, which means after about a week my ntl mail space fills up (I get a hell of a lot of spam), and if I haven't bothered to turn the desktop on to download them all onto that (I like to have a complete record of them on one computer) in the time it's taken to fill up my mail server space then I won't get any mail and people's mail to me will bounce. There's a potential knock-on effect of this, in that lists etc. that I'm subscribed to may be getting bounced emails and unsubscribe me (though I wouldn't have thought this would happen unless it had happened several times).

Also, when browsing newsgroups, I might have been using the laptop for days on end, and then when I go to the desktop (less back and neck strain!) each newsgroup might have 500-100+++ messages to download, and it's a pain to trawl through which ones I've already read and which ones I haven't.

Also, it'd be nice to have the "sent items" folders of both PCs combined, so I've got a complete record of stuff I've sent.

Anyway, what I'd like to do is be able to synchronise the two, even if they're not connected all the time - just connect them, maybe via some sort of direct USB cable connection or something, and click "synchronise", and anything that's changed in either one since the last update would be transferred onto the other one. Some sort of similar feature for the "My Documents" folder (and subfolders) would be nice as well.

Does the "My Briefcase" function do this, and does it extend it's functionality for Outlook Express folders? Is there some easy solution to what I want? Can it involve Bluetooth, as I quite fancy doing it without cables.

Any help would be great, plus if someone could suggest the most useful computery newsgroup (or crosspost this to it) then that'd be cool.

Cheers,

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan
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Yea, same here, how does one go about this? Running Win XP Pro on both machines. I'm sure its very easy, i've just never been arsed to check :)

Reply to
Dan405

easy f*ck off this is microsoft :)

Reply to
Vamp

thinking about it (and i don't often) i think it can't be done unless your gonna run a server of some kind

Reply to
Vamp

What are you on about? ISTR reading it can be done with IR, and this was years ago. It can be done with Bluetooth now if you're feeling flash. You'd be amazed what you can do with 5 minutes and the F1 key...

Reply to
Doki

Find your Outlook Express folder. In WinXP, it's in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{blahblah}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

It contains a file for each folder/newsgroup - so it's contents will be something like this :

21/04/2004 16:59 17,627 cleanup.log 22/04/2004 09:06 139,376 Deleted Items.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 60,116 Drafts.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 9,123,796 Folders.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 139,376 Inbox.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 9,656 Offline.dbx 22/04/2004 09:10 191,188 Outbox.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 9,404 Pop3uidl.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 17,047,664 Sent Items.dbx 22/04/2004 09:06 21,657,476 uk.rec.cars.modifications.dbx

All you need to do, is copy the files from one machine, over the top of the files on the second machine. Each time the files change (ie, you use one of the two machines) on one machine, then send them to the other machine.

Either do this manually, or grab a piece of software to do it (there's PLENTY out there - you just need anything that will sync the contents of a folder between two machines).

Finally, STOP USING WINDOWS 98 AT ONCE. Compared to XP (and to a lesser extent, 2K), it's a steaming pile of turd. Once you've upgraded, you'll wonder how on earth you managed before !

Reply to
Nom

Have you got a way of connecting them?

Easiest way is to connect them together using a hub, assuming they both have network cards. plug them into the hub & setup the IP addresses. you can buy hubs & cards from aria (

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Then you can either share a folder (Right click, sharing...) and drag your outlook files across or use something called briefcase which claims to sync certain files every time you connect (I haven't used it)

If you're not already networked there's a bit more to it. Wireless is more expensive than a hub unless you've got it built in.

Do you have a tame geek that you know? probably the easiest way, or a school kid, (It's like programming VCRs ;)

Dunk

Reply to
Dunk - del SAFETYNET to reply

Yup, agreed. I swore by 98 and ME for ages until i used XP for about 10 minutes, no comparison whatsoever.

-- Chet

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Reply to
Chet

hey that's like me except i swore AT 98 and ME :)

Reply to
Vamp

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