Update for Windows XP – KB897663 — Install this update to ensure that a firewall exception created via the registry is listed in the Windows Firewall interface the same as if the exception was created in the interface itself. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.

Synchronizing Images and Files in Windows XP using the SyncToy — Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store and retrieve files. There are new sources of files coming from every direction: digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to move files from one place to another; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping a mental card catalog in their heads. Others use one or more applications of one sort or another to provide this functionality for them.

SyncToy v1.0 for Windows XP — SyncToy v1.0 is available as a free download on the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers. We added this feature between the beta release and the current v1.0 release. Features we added in response to customer feedback include:

  • The ability to type in a UNC path;
  • Support for longer folder pair names and ability to widen the left pane to see those longer names;
  • The ability to support the maximum length for folder paths, and documentation was added to the help file about how to set up a share to be able to sync deep folder pairs;
  • Better handling of the difference in precision between NTFS and FAT timestamps;
  • More discoverable link to the help file for information on how to schedule SyncToy using the Windows XP Task Scheduler;
  • Support for 800x600 screen resolution;
  • Added a warning for users if the selected action will take some time to complete;
  • Added brief explanations of the actions in the user interface;
  • Improved behavior when choosing folders to include or exclude when there are large numbers of folders involved;
  • Improved support for accessibility modes.

Cheers!