Vista - Backing out of "Offline files" and starting again

I have managed to mess up Offline Files big time. I now have about 27 GB of
hard drive space devoted to offline files I cannot see and which I cannot
delete (when I try deleting them, while the PC works at it for a while,
nothing actually happens). One of the many less than successfull things I did
to get to my present mess was to go through the directories on the "server"
PC I had initially setup to be available offline on my Vista laptop and turn
off the "make available offline" property, and I now can't turn that back on
again.

My "server" PC with the files on it is a desktop PC running Windows XP; the
PC with the messed up Offline Files is an HP Pavilion laptop running Windows
Ultimate. Does anyone know of a way to clean this up so I can start again
more carefully? Please?
--
regards,
Farmer Dave

Farmer,

I'll be watching this thread closely to see what these helpful people can
tell us about your issue and Offline Files in general, because I found it to
be non-intuitive, with scant how-to instructions in Vista Help.

I never could discover how to coordinate sharing, syncing and off-lining so
that I could use my Contacts and Favorites folders on two PCs.

Hey, people, what's the deal with Offline Files? Do we have to share folders
first, or does off-lining them cause them to be shared? Why, after I
off-line files on my "server" did my other old-school-shared files become
inaccessible because when I clicked on the shares in Network, instead of
getting a prompt for my credentials to connect I was simply taken to my
cached offline files, which were dimmed and not available, because I was not
connected?

After hours and hours and hours over a period of two weeks of
trial-and-error attempts to learn how to manage the process, I could never
see any consistent behavior. It seemed that nothing ever worked the same way
twice. Sometimes I'd see a "Work Offline" button on the Command Bar,
sometimes I wouldn't. Sometimes I'd be able to connect to my shared files on
the "server," sometimes I couldn't. Sometimes I could sync -- whether I was
connected or not -- and sometimes I couldn't sync -- connected or not -- but
always with syncing errors. It drove me crazy, I tell ya!

Whew!

I eventually gave up and did a fresh install of Vista on my notebook (the
best first aid), from where I had been managing the sharing and syncing and
off-lining of the Contacts and Favorites folders residing on my Vista
desktop, over a wireless connection. My "network" (shared?) (synced?) files
on the desktop remained safe and correct, which surprised me. I assumed that
making them "Always Available Offline" from my notebook would somehow affect
the attributes of those files on my desktop "server." But they're safe and
appear to be unchanged in any way.

I will go back to just plain sharing my Contacts folder and Favorites folder
and will drag files back and forth until I get the nerve up to try
off-lining files again after I can find some good instructions on how to do
it successfully. I admit I don't know what I'm doing, obviously. (It's kinda
like sharing a printer in Vista. Clicking "Share" is only the beginning of a
successfully shared printer, but all the attendant and ancillary steps are
hard to find within Vista Help. I LOVE Vista, but no wonder people get
frustrated, because it can be complex, until you learn how to do it, then
everything runs fine.

I remain puzzled, though: What's the difference between syncing and
off-lining? If they're two parts of the same process, why does Help talk
about only either Syncing OR using Offline Files and never makes the
connection about how they work together, or how it differs from sharing? Are
they mutually exclusive? It sure seemed that way to me, what with not being
able to get to my shared folders while I had Offline Files enabled.

Okay, I'm done. Thanks, everybody!
<End of gripe.>
Viva Vista!

Brian

"FarmerDave" <FarmerDave@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B4954FD4-5FE0-45A9-AC03-2BB077D0079C@xxxxxx