How-to: Synchronise your IE favorites between Windows XP and Vista
I run multiple computers in my home and I also have one in the office. I often get frustrated that I don’t have the same favourites with me everywhere I go so I have come up with this method to synchronise my machines so that I have the same favourites with me, wherever I am and whichever machine I am on.
I have recently upgraded to Vista, so now I want to receive the same favorites on my Vista machine as I did on my XP machines. The majority of this document is the same as my article “How-to: Synchronise your IE favorites between two windows XP computers” with a change at the end for Vista. If you have already completed the mentioned article, you should be able to complete this How-to in around 2 minutes. It is much easier to make this work within Vista than it was with XP. Skip down to recipient PC.
In this article I will use offline files to ensure that the favourites are the same on both machines. This method is not simple but it is the best solution I have found. This method does require a minor registry hack and also removes network security from your favourites (not that security is all that important for favourites).
One of the highlights for me when Inspect My Gadget upgraded to Windows Vista was that I could now check out Windows Mobile Device Center 6(WMDC) which is Vistas replacement for ActiveSync. While Activesync worked alright and did the job it was designed to do, the interface is old and it was time that Microsoft made an improvement. They have come out with WMDC for Vista which looks after all the synchronising of our Pocket PC/Smartphone with our computer. It offers us a nice new user interface which is easier to navigate, and a few extra features. WMDC replaces ActiveSync and does not currently run on older operating systems.
Activesync is a great little utility to sync your computer to your with your Windows Mobile device. It is fairly easy to get up and running but here at Inspect My Gadget, we want to get the most out of it. 
There are many ways in which you can synchronise two folders between machines in Windows XP. You could use the Microsoft SyncToy or other file browsers with sync functionality. They will all do the job but I have not yet found a setup that works as well as offline files. The advantage of using offline files is that it is automatic. The documents will show up instantly on both machines (as long as there is a network connection) even though the syncing only occurs as the machines are booted up and shut down.
