Part of my day job - like many of you, no doubt - involves making sure that a number of folders on my network are backed up, syncedd, uploaded, and otherwise maintained. After experimenting with Fling on my small, home network, it looks like it might just simplify my chores at work, too.

Fling is a tiny download - about 230KB - but it's packed with features. It's built for local, network, and FTP folder synchronization, which can be set to manual, automatic scans at regular intervals, or whenever changes are detected. SSL is supported for FTP transfers. Not sure things are up to date? Run the housekeeping task, and Fling will show you what's out of sync.

Fling will also update folders on your removable USB drives whenever they're connected. Since I use one main desktop to download my portable tools but maintain flash drives for four other people, this really comes in handy. Once I have Fling configured, I just need to plug in a tech's drive and let it sync.

There are two more aspects of Fling that make it admin-friendly. First, it can run as a Windows service to keep things running smoothly even when your workstation is locked Second, it also supports command line arguments - handy for batch scripting and integration with other apps.

Fling is made by NCH, so there's also integrated supported for burning folder via ExpressBurn Free. It's a great little burning app with a similarly small footprint. To install it, just choose "burn folder" from Fling's folder menu and follow the prompts.