If there’s one thing you can never have too much of, it’s hard drive space. Most notebooks these days come with relatively large hard drives, but if you’re stuck with an 8 GB netbook or just need easy access to cloud storage that you can access anywhere then Microsoft Live SkyDrive is just what you’re looking for and thanks to a new tool, SkyDrive Explorer, you can access it right from My Computer.

If you have a free Windows Live ID then you have a SkyDrive account capable of providing 25GB of cloud storage for free. You can access this from the web in any browser, on any computer, or thanks to SkyDrive Explorer add it as an extra drive of sorts on your local computer. SkyDrive Explorer is a small program that gives you additional features and makes it easier to take advantage of the free 25 GB of storage from Microsoft Live SkyDrive.

After installing SkyDrive Explorer you’ll see a SkyDrive icon in “My Computer” that will let you access your files and add 25 GB of files via the same drag and drop interface you use on your computer. The only catch is that you have to be connected to the internet to access your files.

SkyDrive Explorer lets you do the following actions:

• View the structure and contents of folders in SkyDrive
• View files information (type, size, creation date in GMT format)
• Create new root folders and subfolders
• Copy files into the storage
• Delete files and folders
• Copy files from the storage to the computer
• Copy folders and subfolders from the storage to the computer keeping their structure
• Use Drag & Drop for files operations
• Rename files and folders
• Create links to SkyDrive folders on your computer

And these group actions not available in the web browser.

• Renaming objects
• Deleting group of objects
• Copying folders with subfolders and files from SkyDrive

SkyDrive Explorer is a free application and is currently in Beta. When you login to SkyDrive Explorer your Windows Live account login information is communicated directly to Microsoft via https so that it is not visible to others. SkyDrive Explorer works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, and Windows 7 in both 32 bit and 64 bit varieties.

If you need local and cloud access to files then I suggest you check out DropBox which gives you online access from any web browser and a local copy of your files on any computer with a DropBox client for offline access.

Via DownloadSquad

SkyDrive: Add 25 GB of Cloud Storage to Your Notebook for Free is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Live.com is offering 40% cash back on the entire HP online store on Black Friday. To take advantage of this program you’ll have to pay full price for your HP gear and wait for Live.com’s cash back program to work its magic and send you your money. Live.com is Microsoft’s search engine.

To sign up, visit Live.com/cashback. Starting at 7am Pacific on Black Friday you can search for “HP” at Live.com and you’ll see the text-ads that offer 40% off the HP Store. The ridiculously good thing about this promo is that you still get all of HP’s current discounts offered within the store such as free memory upgrades and instant discounts. These incentives mean you can save up to $569 on select notebooks PLUS get the 40% cash back. Now that’s a Black Friday deal!

The Black Friday special offer is only good for 12 hours starting at 7am Pacific Time.

The reason I’m so excited by this deal is that it’s good on the entire HP catalog, not just on entry-level and mainstream notebooks like a lot of other Black Friday retailers. This HP and Live.com promotion can save you tons of cash on printers, monitors, desktops and even those over-priced ink cartridges.

There are only two limitations to the HP/Live.com Black Friday discounts. Live.com has a cap of $2,500 in rebates per person per calendar year. This shouldn’t be a problem for most buyers since you’d have to spend $6,250 to reach that limit with this promo. The other limitation is that you can’t stack a coupon on top of this deal that you’ve found on Notebooks.com or elsewhere.

I suggest you check out the HP outlet section if you want to save some even more money by going with a previous-generation product or something that’s refurbished.

I’ve already signed up for Live.com cashback and am going to buy a HP w2558hc 25-inch display that’s normally $599.99. A $50 instant discount plus the 40% rebate will drop my cost down to $329.99.

Another item I’ve been waiting to buy is the HP Windows Home Server, which will help me centralize my backups and media libraries. I’m going to buy the HP MediaSmart Server EX475, which includes two 500GB drives and normally costs $649.99. HP is offering a $100 instant rebate right now and the Live.com 40% cash back will drop my cost down to $329.40.

This deal will have the most impact for those of you who want to buy high-end notebooks such as the new HP HDX series notebooks or a Touchsmart.

Be sure to thoroughly read Live.com’s terms and conditions to make sure you qualify for the discounts and so that you understand how you’ll be paid. I’m not a big fan of rebates (and this technically is one), but I’m willing to deal with this hassle for 40% off.

Visit Live.com to take advantage of this offer.

Black Friday: Live.com’s Cashback offers 40% off the Entire HP Store is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

I’m going t be blogging live from CES 2008 in Las Vegas starting today through next Thursday. I’ll be writing as much as possible and posting video demos day and night. I’ll also be running a live stream at www.notebooks.com/live. We’ll chat with tech executives, product managers and other bloggers throughout the week.

I’m waiting in line for the first press preview event at the Venetian hotel. Check out the video player and see if I’m broadcasting.

Live from CES 2008 is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.