Rick in Seattle

With the recent purchase of a new laptop, I have been searching for a seamless method for synchronizing my iTunes library between my desktop & laptop computers.  My goal is to be able to sync my family of iPods to the laptop when traveling and to the desktop while at home.

I have evaluated both FolderShare and TuneRanger and have found neither to be satisfactory.  In a future post, I will share my findings on both of these solutions and explain why I have decided to develop my own solution.

Please post in the comments if you have come across a good solution for syncing iTunes libraries.  It may save me some time!

OK, I recently sold an older laptop on eBay, and wanted to wipe the HD and install a clean copy of Windows XP Professional before shipping it off to the buyer.  The Laptop was a 2004-era Dell Latitude X300, and came with an XP Professional install disk with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

The initial install of XP was uneventful, however all hell broke loose once it was time to launch Windows Update.  I was unknowingly about to embark on a multi-hour experience fraught with endless reboots and installations of updates upon updates.

Here is a summary of the updates required bring this installation up to date (as of December 16, 2007).  Each item represents one reboot cycle where Windows Update would install updates and reboot the computer.

• 4 updates to Windows Update
• 62 high priority updates prior to Service Pack 2 appearing as an installable option in Windows Update
• Service Pack 2
• 47 high priority updates
• 2 IE7 high priority updates
• 15 optional updates (including updates to 3 hardware drivers)
• 8 more high priority updates required to patch the optional updates
• 3 more optional updates
• 1 more high priority update required to patch the updated optional updates

This totals 143 updates required to make Windows XP Service Pack 1 current (as of December 16, 2007)!!!  The worst part about this update process is that it can not be performed unattended since 9 reboot cycles are required.

Microsoft has made it possible for IT departments to slipstream updates into the installation of the operating system, however this does not help consumers as the knowledge to develop the slipstreamed installation images cannot be reasonably expected of a consumer. Fortunately, Microsoft will soon be releasing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP which is supposed to include all previous updates.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Windows Update will present this as the only required update to a system of any previous update level.