Windows 7 / Getting Started

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SkyDrive

In previous versions of Windows Live Messenger, you could share files with another user via the sharing folder window. When files were added to the sharing folder for that particular person, the file automatically was transferred to the corresponding computer when the other computer was online. This meant that the folder was available to both computers. If a user deleted a shared file, for example, that file was also deleted from the corresponding computer's sharing folder.

The Sharing Folder feature has been discontinued in the latest version of Windows Live Messenger (2009) and is replaced with access to Windows Live SkyDrive instead. SkyDrive is a separate downloadable application that lets you use a shareable 25GB space elsewhere (an example of "cloud computing") for files and folders, including photos, that you want to share with others.

Password-protected and bundled with an antivirus program, SkyDrive keeps track of other users you've identified as people with whom you're willing to share files, and it lets you know of any new additions, deletions, or changes to the material in your shared folders. You can choose people from your lists in a number of social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Hi5, and Tagged, among others.
SkyDrive provides the following features:

• 25GB of storage
• Individual file sizes up to 50MB
• Folders
• Permissions at folder levels
• Permissions at file levels
• Shared folders
• Public folders
• Access permissions within social networks
• Addition of photos directly from Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Prints that can be ordered directly from SkyDrive through HP Snapfish