Linking devices

[bluenose1940]

Hello folks, I have my desktop computer set up in my study and I am using it fairly regularly throughout the day.

However, during the evening when I am sat in the lounge watching a bit of TV or having a read, or even chatting to my wife , I often make use of my laptop which I have now upgraded to Windows 10.

I am wondering if it would be advantageous for me to link these two devices in some way so that they both carry all of the same stuff.

I have never attempted this before. Would I need to set them up as some sort of network and, is this actually possible?

If anyone can offer a bit of guidance on this, I will be most grateful. many thanks.

 

[strollin]

If your desktop is running Win 7 or newer, you should be able to setup a Homegroup very easily that will allow you to share things between the 2 computers.

HomeGroup from start to finish - Windows Help

 

[crazyman143]

You could also use a free service like Dropbox. Connect both PCs to your dropbox account and any files you drop in the dropbox folder will be synced.

But if you want to have a more real network, and not rely on cloud services, go the homegroup route.

 

[bluenose1940]

Thanks for the replies folks. I will experiment over the weekend to see what's what.

I use Excel a fair bit and this is on my pc but not my laptop. If I am using my laptop and open up one of my files, will it work even though the programme is not on the laptop?

 

[BK_123]

Unfortunately HomeGroup cannot be used to run programs remotely. If you wanted to use Excel on your laptop and an open the file from your desktop, you would need to install Office on your laptop.

Here is also a good guide for HomeGroup specifically for Windows 10 How to set up and manage Windows 10 HomeGroup on a local network

 

[bluenose1940]

I had a feeling that that would be the case. I have the office disks but I don't think that I am allowed to install them on more than one computer am I?

 

[strollin]

If you don't use VBA macros in your Excel spreadsheets then you might consider using the free LibreOffice. It will read/write Excel files and is very compatible with MS Excel other than VBA.

 

[bluenose1940]

You fellow forum members certainly come up with some great help for people like me. As usual I offer my thanks for the links etc and will be looking at all of them. The LibreOffice sounds a good bet. I don't tend to use macros anyway. Thanks again all.