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Released from beta the new option to make online backups from Microsoft called Skydrive.

This feature is very interesting for several reasons. First of all for people who work on more than one location, for example at home and at work. You can work on the latest version of a document or file from anywhere. The same thing if more people need to access the same file, e.g. pictures, price lists etc. The online backup works like a hard drive of 5 Gb (500 Mb) and it is possible to make a part protected, a part shared, and a part public.

Another advantage of online backup is the safety. A hard disk, dvd or CD can be damaged.

More advantages besides the ease of use are the already mentioned possibility of sharing on a central location files, documents and pictures (with e.g. colleagues, parents or friends in other locations or countries).

Also for people who travel and need to be able to access files from different places like representatives, business men, engineers, presentation for seminars etc.

Other benefits: safety in case of burn down of house or office. And in case of recovery the easy access: easier to find than dvd's, cd's, tapes or other backup media.

Even for people who don't own a computer can store their own data! Imagine countries where computers are still a luxury item and people depend on internet centers. Now they can store their own files without having a computer!

The online file storage service offers password protection and allows users to delegate different permission levels of access to personal, shared or public folders.

Skydrive is available at the moment in 38 countries and you can get an account for free at http://skydrive.live.com/

To access the service, one needs a Windows Live ID. In order to share folders, people who need to access the files also need to have a Windows Live ID.

It works very easy with your actual hotmail/windows live account. As soon as you enter the service you can choose if you want to upload something in your personal folder, your shared folder or public folder. After that you make the choice what you want to upload, which file(s) - click and there they go!

To download - same procedure, it is really easy to use and nobody can have the excuse not to have a backup.

Often people only start making backups after losing a lot of data. Nowadays with these new tools and options it is not necessary to lose any data. It is important to get used to the routine of making backups of important files all the time!

Windows SkyDrive also provides RSS feeds for the shared folders, so your subscribers will know the moment you upload new files. You can also embed files / folders in web pages for your readers to download files directly from your website saving space on your provider and have things centrally located.