Upgrade Your Dropbox Software, Get Awesome and Unexpected New Features
If you're a Dropbox user (and honestly, if you're not, I can't imagine why), you're probably using the same beta version of the desktop software that's been around for a couple of years. What you might not realize is that Dropbox has been steadily updating their desktop software on the down low, and they're almost ready to drop the official 1.0 release. You can upgrade to the release candidate of Dropbox today, and get better performance and new features in the process.
To install the newest version of Dropbox, you won't find it on the "Download Dropbox page -- currently, that's still pushing version .7. Instead, you need to dive deep into the Dropbox forum and click the link in the Release Candidate post.
Once you're up and running, you'll find some powerful new features. Here are the best:
- You can share any Dropbox folder via a link -- it doesn't have to be the Public folder anymore. In Windows Explorer, right click a folder and then choose Dropbox, Get Sharable Link.
- You can control the bandwidth that Dropbox consumes. Right click the Dropbox icon in the Notification area and choose Preferences. Click the Bandwidth tab and fine-tune the program to taste.
- Selective Sync lets you specify certain files that should not be synced with all your Dropbox-enabled PCs. That's handy if you want certain data to only live on a single PC and then be backed up to the cloud. Right click the Dropbox icon in the Notification area and choose Preferences. Click the Advanced tab and then click Selective Sync.
