Banding Together

Trying to synchronize all your addresses, bookmarks and files on a bunch of computers is like being in a Cirque du Soleil act in which you balance a coffee urn on your head while juggling 20 plates while riding a unicycle on top of a miniature Chinese pagoda. It can get a bit complicated.

The solution is to use one of the free Web-based synchronizing tools, such as Visto (https://www.visto.com). After downloading a small program onto your computer, Visto automatically connects to the Internet and compares the files on your computer with those stored in a password-protected area on Visto’s Web site.

If the Web site file is newer, then it replaces the same file on your computer. If the computer’s file is newer, then it is sent to the Web site, where it can be used to synchronize the other computers when they are connected.

Visto can synchronize files from Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, Lotus Organizer and Palm devices. Users get 15 megabytes of space for free and can buy extra blocks of 25 MB for $25 each.