Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about choosing a photo-sharing Web site, syncing laptops and desktops and printing photos.

I’m unhappy with the photo-sharing Web sites that I’ve found and I wanted to ask if you’ve found any better ones. One problem I’ve run into is that they require you to sign in (create an account) to view your friends’ photos. They also don’t make it easy to download photos and they don’t allow much privacy.

You might try Smugmug at smugmug.com. It costs $40 a year, but offers unlimited storage, password protection, retrieval of photos in high-resolution format and it doesn’t require your friends to register or to receive spam. It is also a handsome site that allows you to customize the way your photos are presented and to tweak the photos themselves, to a limited extent.

What do you recommend for remotely syncing laptops and desktops?

I use a free product called FolderShare, which is now owned by Microsoft, and can be downloaded at www.foldershare.com. You install the FolderShare software on each computer, and it runs in the background, silently synchronizing all the files in folders that you designate on each computer. If you add or alter a file on one computer, the software matches that change on the others.

For instance, you might set it up to synchronize the files in the My Documents folders on multiple Windows machines. It also works on the Macintosh, and can synchronize files between Macs, or mixed groups of Windows and Mac computers. For instance, you can set it up to keep the My Pictures folder on a Dell synchronized with the Pictures folder on a Mac.

While on vacation I uploaded many photos to my Dell laptop. I also have a Dell desktop at home hooked up to a H-P Photosmart printer. When I get home, how can I print these photos? Do I have to transfer them to the desktop or can I just print them from the notebook? If so, how do I go about it?

Assuming the printer isn’t on a home network, and isn’t accessible from any PC on the network, you have two choices. The simplest method would be to transfer the pictures to the desktop computer, by copying them to a thumb-sized USB drive or burning them to a CD, from the laptop, and then copying them from the thumb drive or CD onto the desktop.

The other approach would be to install the printer’s software onto the laptop, assuming you still have the disk that came with it, and then unplug the printer from the desktop and plug it into the laptop.

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Because of the volume of email I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by email, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about keeping multiple computers in sync, waiting for Microsoft Vista and installing multiple security programs.

I travel among three locations and I currently lug an eight-pound Dell laptop. I would like to change this to having “permanent” PCs (either Windows or Mac) at each of the three locations. What software can I use to keep them in sync?

I recommend a product called FolderShare (www.foldershare.com), which is now owned by Microsoft, or a competing product called BeInSync (www.beinsync.com). Both do the job, though they differ. FolderShare can synchronize selected folders among groups of computers, including mixed groups of Windows and Macintosh computers. For instance, all the files in your My Documents folder on a Dell can be synchronized with all the files in the My Documents folder on an HP, or with all the files in the Documents folder on a Mac. But it doesn’t synchronize contacts and calendar items in Microsoft Outlook. BeInSync doesn’t work with Macs, but it does synchronize Outlook items, in a limited fashion.

I was considering buying a new PC now but was wondering if I need to wait until Microsoft Vista is released. I understand Vista only works on certain PCs. What is your advice?

My advice depends on your needs. PCs preloaded with Vista won’t be available until January, 2007, and possibly later, if Vista’s release date slips again. So if your current machine is essential in your life or work, and is on its last legs, or is seriously failing to meet your needs, you shouldn’t wait. But if you can go another six to nine months with your PC, I’d suggest waiting until you can buy a machine with Vista preloaded.

It is certainly possible to get a computer now that can be upgraded to Vista. But with any major new Windows release, there can be surprises and quirks in the upgrade process. Preloaded factory machines can also exhibit problems with a brand-new operating system, but they are likely to be fewer than what an upgraded PC would experience. A factory-loaded Vista PC may also be cheaper, because you will very likely have to add more memory to a current PC in order to run Vista well.

I have just installed a new security program that has both antivirus and firewall protection. To install it, I had to remove AdAware, Spybot and Microsoft Firewall. My question: Is one program enough, or should you install multiple programs to insure safety?

First of all, two of the programs you removed, AdAware and Spybot, perform a function your new software probably doesn’t — they detect and remove spyware and adware. Antivirus and firewall programs don’t typically do this. So I would re-install them and use them.

However, I don’t recommend using multiple antivirus or firewall programs, and neither does Microsoft or the major security-software vendors. Redundant programs can get in each other’s way and cause conflicts and confusion. The result may be that some malicious software sneaks through or that some innocent files are blocked. So pick one antivirus package and one software firewall and stick with them.

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Because of the volume of email I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by email, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Inside big corporations, these tasks often are handled by internal networks, which store files centrally and back up computers nightly. But consumers have had to resort to time-consuming and imperfect methods. These include emailing files to themselves, manually synchronizing their phones and computers, and manually copying files among their computers.

Over the next year or so, I expect that one of the big trends in personal technology will be the introduction of services and products that make this job easier.

Both Google and Microsoft are reportedly preparing new services that will back up all of a consumer’s data to their servers. Apple already offers a service called .Mac, which, for $99 a year, gives consumers storage space on an Apple server, allows backups to that remote server and synchronizes selected data among multiple Macs. And Microsoft has recently acquired a small service called FolderShare, which I reviewed last year, that can synchronize and back up selected folders on any mix of Windows and Macintosh computers.

Now, a small Silicon Valley start-up called Sharpcast is introducing an impressive, free service that synchronizes data among PCs, phones and a Web site at lightning speeds. I tested Sharpcast for several weeks, and found that it works really well. You can try it out at www.sharpcast.com.

In this first incarnation — a beta, or test, version — Sharpcast works only with photos. But it plans this year to add synchronization of contacts and calendar entries and, eventually, other types of data. If the service can handle these other data types as well as it handles photos, Sharpcast will be a real boon to consumers.

With Sharpcast Photos, any change you make to an album of photos on one of your devices is replicated within seconds on your other devices. If you add a photo to an album on your PC, it shows up within seconds on your phone and on your Sharpcast Web page. If you rotate a photo on the phone, the same photo is rotated within seconds on the PC and Web page. If you delete a photo on the Web page, it’s immediately deleted on the PC and the phone. And if you take a photo with the camera on your Sharpcast-enabled phone, it will show up in seconds on your PC and your Web page.

You can also share your albums with other Sharpcast users, and receive shared albums from them. By synchronizing your photos among multiple devices and a Web site, Sharpcast is also backing them up, so the loss of one device won’t mean the loss of your prized pictures.

In its first version, Sharpcast works only with photos.

On your PC or phone, Sharpcast works through a software program you download from the company’s Web site. You can also access the service, and your photos, from a personal Web page Sharpcast provides, without using any Sharpcast software.

For now, the Sharpcast Photos software works only on PCs running Windows XP, and on a few high-end phones, like the Palm Treo 700w and the Motorola Q, that run Windows Mobile 5.0 software. The company plans to support more phones soon. It is also working on a Macintosh version. Today, Mac owners can use Sharpcast via the Web page, which isn’t quite as capable or fast as the Windows software, but still works well.

Sharpcast’s phone software is in an even earlier stage than the PC software or the Web site, and lacks all of their capabilities, especially the ability to share albums and view albums shared with you by others. But it works.

I tested Sharpcast using three devices — a Windows PC and a Palm Treo 700w running Sharpcast’s software, and a Macintosh computer logged into my personal page at the Sharpcast Web site.

Using the Windows software on a PC, and the Web site via my Mac, I easily created 10 albums. I added and deleted photos, rotated them, and created and edited captions on all three devices. In every case, Sharpcast faithfully and rapidly replicated my changes on the other devices.

In this first version of Sharpcast, you can’t edit photos or comment on shared photo albums or print pictures. The company says it will be adding some of these features next month and others in the fall. Also, Sharpcast currently compresses your photos before storing them, but future versions will store pictures at full resolution. As it gains more capability, Sharpcast plans to continue offering a free service, but will also add paid tiers of service.

Sharpcast also plans to extend its synchronization technology to other kinds of data besides photos. At The Wall Street Journal’s annual D: All Things Digital conference last month, the company demonstrated a future product that will synchronize contacts.

Sharpcast is a very cool and compelling service that solves a real problem. And it promises to get even better.

• Email me at mossberg@wsj.com.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about converting video clips for use with the new iPod, different DVD formats and finding the FolderShare program for a Mac.

If you have a question, send it to me at recommended a program called FolderShare, which can automatically synchronize files among multiple Windows and Macintosh computers. Now the company has been bought by Microsoft, and the Mac version of the software has disappeared from its Web site. Do you know if they are abandoning the Mac?

FolderShare removed its Macintosh version for a couple of weeks to rework it, but now has restored it. Not only that, but Microsoft has converted FolderShare to a free, instead of a paid, service. However, one advanced feature has been removed, and the number of files you can synchronize has been lowered, though at 100,000 files, it’s still a lot. It is available, for both Windows and Mac users, at www.foldershare.com. I should note that, in addition to working in mixed groups of Windows and Mac computers, FolderShare will work in groups with only Windows, or only Macintosh, machines. I use it daily, and find that it works well.

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Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Some people place files on a portable device, and then manually copy the files to all their PCs. Others email selected files to themselves. But these methods are time-consuming and imperfect.

Now, new services can automatically keep certain folders and files synchronized among your multiple PCs, without any work on your part.

These file-synchronization services aren’t free, and they do take a little effort to set up. But once they are up and running, the effect is like magic. Within minutes, or even seconds, after you have added or deleted or altered a file on one of your computers, the change is perfectly replicated on all your other machines.

There are three main contenders in this budding field. One, called Groove, available at groove.net, is owned by Microsoft. It’s mainly designed for collaboration work in big corporations. Two others, BeInSync and FolderShare, are aimed directly at consumers and small businesses. BeInSync is from an Israeli company called BeInSync Ltd., and is available at beinsync.com. FolderShare is from an Austin, Texas, company called ByteTaxi Inc., and is available at www.foldershare.com.

The best choices for consumers are the two consumer-focused offerings, BeInSync and FolderShare. Either will work well in most cases. But for this review, I concentrated on FolderShare because it’s faster and more flexible. In particular, it’s the only one that works on both Windows and Apple Macintosh computers.

Here’s how FolderShare works. Starting with one computer, you select the folders you want to keep synchronized. You link these folders to companion folders you select, or create, on the other computers, and install the service’s software on each machine. The software, which runs quietly in the background, transfers files, as needed, among the machines so the contents of those folders remain up-to-date and identical on every computer. The transfers, done over the Internet, are fast, invisible and encrypted for security.

Over the past few months, I’ve been using FolderShare on six of my computers — three Windows PCs and three Macs. Two of these computers are in my office; three are in my home; and one, a laptop, is often with me on the road.

I set up FolderShare to keep five different folders, containing over 36,000 files, synchronized, and it did so without breaking a sweat. For instance, I linked folders called “columns” on every machine, and linked the “My Music” folders on my three Windows machines to the “Music” folders on my three Macs.

Now, all the latest versions of my columns and notes — including those in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and Adobe PDF files — are on all my Windows PCs and Macs. So are all my music files, my photos and my videos. After I wrote this column on my laptop in California, it was instantly replicated on all my other machines on the East Coast. (The use of broadband is highly recommended for speed.)

FolderShare did all this without slowing the performance of my computers, except for the first few hours, when it was moving thousands of files around in a short period.

FolderShare can handle older versions of Windows back to Windows 98. BeInSync works only on PCs running Windows XP or Windows 2000.

There are three versions of FolderShare; each can be used with an unlimited number of computers. The free “basic” version allows you to synchronize two folders, with up to 500 files in each. The personal version, at $50 a year, expands this to 100 folders with up to 20,000 files in each folder. The professional version, $100 a year, allows 250 folders with up to 50,000 files in each. It’s also speedier than the others.

FolderShare also allows you to invite groups of other users to share some or all of your synchronized folders. I tested this and it worked well. In addition, in the top two versions, you can tap into your computers from any Web browser on any computer to retrieve any file. This feature also worked fine in my tests, but you can disable it if you are worried about outsiders gaining access to your files.

If you have desktop search software on your computers, FolderShare can do a unified, combined search for files across all these machines.

FolderShare doesn’t keep copies of your files on its servers, but it does keep records of your computers, and the folder and file names being synchronized. It can provide a form of backup; your key files are on other machines if one fails or is stolen. But take care to guard your password, as anyone who learns it could access your files by logging into your account.

BeInSync has one major feature FolderShare lacks. In addition to synchronizing files, it can synchronize some of your email in Microsoft Outlook, and your contacts in Outlook and Microsoft’s Outlook Express. BeInSync also costs less. Its top version is $60 a year, or $100 for two years.

FolderShare is so useful and works so well that I recommend it or BeInSync for anyone who needs key files kept up-to-date.

• Email me at mossberg@wsj.com