Q&A: Keeping Files in Sync on Microsoft SkyDrive

Q.

I use Microsoft SkyDrive software on a Mac and I notice the folder doesn’t always update itself immediately when I copy files to it. Sometimes I’ve even gotten to work and realized that the files I need didn’t sync up online and are still on my home computer. Is there a way to manually force SkyDrive to update and sync so I can make sure my files are there

A.

Microsoft’s SkyDrive is a storage service for storing files online and keeping them up to date on multiple computers and devices. In addition to the SkyDrive.com Web site, Microsoft has free desktop software for Mac OS X and Windows that can be used for managing files directly on the computer instead of having to upload them through a Web browser to store them on the SkyDrive servers.

The desktop apps are supposed to monitor the activity in your SkyDrive folder as you copy and update the files inside â€" and then sync them with the online server and any other computers or mobile devices you have linked to your SkyDrive account. While the app usually syncs up the contents of your SkyDrive folder within a minute or two of your most recent change, Internet disruptions or other glitches may prevent the software from grabbing the latest files. (You should also check to make sure your Mac has the latest version of the SkyDrive app.)

If you have the SkyDrive toolbar icon installed on the Mac, click it to see a menu showing when the app last updated the folder. If it does not look like the folder has been upd! ated since you last made changes to files in the SkyDrive folder, select the Quit SkyDrive option from the toolbar menu and then restart the SkyDrive app from the icon in your Applications folder or in the Mac’s Dock. Restarting the SkyDrive app should force the software to scan the folder for changes as soon as it starts up again.

Although it is a slower option, uploading your critical files directly to the SkyDrive.com site is another way to make sure you have copies online that you can get to from other computers and devices. Microsoft’s site has other troubleshooting tips for syncing files on SkyDrive.

At CPAC, McConnell Urges Party to Fight Health Law

OXON HILL, Md. - Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky urged his party to keep up its fight against President Obama’s signature health care law and ignore naysayers who believe it cannot be done during a muscular speech here on Friday linking the effort to his party’s salvation.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, Mr. McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, likened the party’s resistance to “Obamacare” to his own successful effort to eradicate the campaign finance law known as McCain-Feingold. “We gave it everything we had,’’ he said, adding, “We can’t stand by and look at the assault on liberty and do nothing.’’

Pointing to a stack of paper more than six feet tall that he said was the contents of the new health care law, he said, “If there was ever a symbol of what we’re fighting against, this tower, right here, is it.”

The Supreme Court upheld most of the health law last summer, which Mr. cConnell acknowledged to be a setback, though he said he had just as many losses in his fight against the campaign finance law, which the court struck down in 2010.

Over all, though, Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, made it clear he had heard enough about his party’s problems.

“I’m a little tired of the hand-wringing - conservatives were never meant to be the party of the crybaby caucus,’’ he said.

The solution, he said, was simple: “If you get your tail whipped, you don’t whine about it - you stand up and you punch back.”

App Smart Extra: Keeping Track of Everything You Own

You will enjoy this week’s App Smart column if you’re detail-obsessed and like to keep track of your possessions, because it is all about home-inventory apps.

Inventory Droid is one more popular full-featured home inventory app for devices using the Android operating system. Like many of its type, it lets you log all the salient details about your items, like brand and price, and you can also associate a photo with the entry. It can read bar codes, which can help you quickly locate an item’s entry in the database.

The app has several extras, like an alert to remind you that you’ve lent an object to someone. It’s even slightly more attractively designed than the average Android app. The main drawback may be the $4.99 price.

If the idea of logging every single item in your home seems like overkill, but you would still like to catalog your extensive and expensive DVD archive, then Movie Collection and Inventory, costing $3.99 on Android, is the app for you. It’s designed to be sraightforward to use, and though it may appear overly simple at first glance it does pack in a lot of features, including the ability to add photos of your DVD boxes, to rate each movie and to log the number of times you’ve watched each one.

The app can also read bar codes, so you can quickly scan a DVD’s bar code and find its entry in the database you’ve created. However, the app is very tightly limited to just creating inventories of your movies.

For Windows Phones, one popular app in this category is HomeCloud. It’s more photo-centric than rival apps, but still lets you log all the various details of your possessions, like serial number and price. The app allows you to back up your archive to Microsoft’s SkyDrive (which may be handy if your smartphone itself is damaged or lost!) and it costs just $1.49. It may not be quite as sophisticated as rival apps on Android or iOS, but it is attractively designed.

These apps may be useful for keeping track of items in your home o! r items you loan to a friend. And if there’s a theft or some other disaster they’ll be handy for an insurance claim. If you’re mainly concerned about logging your library of valuable books or a wardrobe of expensive clothes, a quick search of the app stores show many different options. Give them a whirl and see if they fit your needs.

Quick call

Wahwah is a new free streaming music app in the iTunes App Store that, like other apps of the same type, offers prearranged song selections to match your activities like working in the office or exercising in the gym. But it also includes a very novel social networking trick, which lets you not only see what music your friends are listening to, but lets you listen to the same songs at the same time.

Bipartisan House Group Nearing Agreement on Immigration Blueprint

The bipartisan group of House members that has been meeting quietly for nearly four years to discuss an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system is nearing agreement on a framework, and is briefing their respective leadership this week.

On Thursday, the four Democrats in the eight-person group â€" Representatives Xavier Becerra of California, Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois, Zoe Lofgren of California and John Yarmuth of Kentucky â€" briefed Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader. The Republicans of the group â€" Representatives John Carter and Sam Johnson, both of Texas, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho â€" are likely to meet with Speaker John A. Boehner on Friday.

“I think as of last night, they may have an agreement, an agreement in principle in terms of how we would deal with the question of both legal immigration and illegal immigration,” Mr. Boehner said in an interview Thursday.

! The meetings with Mr. Boehner and Ms. Pelosi offer a chance for the working group to offer a progress update and “take the temperature,” in the words of one aide, as well as run through any potential traps.

Though aides and members of the group describe being on the cusp of an agreement, they will probably wait until after the upcoming Easter recess at the end of March to introduce their legislation. This decision seems to be in line with their counterparts in the Senate, who are further along in their public immigration discussions, but have not yet released their own legislation and are also likely to do so after the break.

Mr. Boehner has repeatedly said that he is planning to wait for the Senate to move on an immigration overhaul before the House â€" where the issue is expected to be a tougher sell â€" takes up the topic. But he said that he thinks his own bipartisan group could offer him some help in getting immigration legislation through the House.

“Nobody talks about the Hose bipartisan group, because they’ve kept pretty quiet to themselves,” he said.

Mr. Boehner added: “My goal is to address the issue â€" how we address it, what the process looks like, there are absolutely no decisions on that. But I do believe it’s important that we deal with this in a bipartisan way, and I’m going to do everything I can to continue to promote that.”

Follow Ashley Parker on Twitter at @AshleyRParker.

The Early Word: America Abroad

In Today’s Times:

• A divide is forming within the Republican Party over the appropriate role of the United States in international affairs, with some like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky questioning the more aggressive use of American power overseas as others worry about a return to isolationism, Michael D. Shear reports.

• As President Obama and Senate Republicans met at the Capitol on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner said the G.O.P. would not be deterred by election losses from pushing for reducing the size of government and for other policy priorities, Jonathan Weisman and Jeremy W. Peters report.

• The largest annual meeting of Republican activists kicked off Thursday with leading lawmakers describng very different approaches to reclaiming power and highlighting the divisions within the party, Jim Rutenberg reports.

• A bill to ban assault weapons was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, demonstrating the momentum of new regulations since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. But the measure is still unlikely to make it through the Senate, Jennifer Steinhauer reports.

• Michigan officials on Thursday appointed Kevyn Orr, a veteran bankruptcy lawyer based in Washington, to try to draw Detroit back from the brink of financial ruin as emergency manager. He faces a challenging task he called “the Olympics of! restructuring,” Monica Davey reports.

Washington Happenings:

• Mr. Obama will travel to Illinois on Friday to speak about energy at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, one of the Department of Energy’s largest research facilities.

• The Conservative Political Action Conference continues with speakers including Mitt Romney; Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin; and Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the National Rifle Association.