When I’m on the road, working on multiple computers can be a little bit of a hassle. Sure, I can save files on a jump drive to transfer them from my main computer to my laptop. Or, I can upload them as Google Docs to access them from anywhere.  Services like Archivd, Google Notebook or the ever-popular Evernote can be used to save web pages for research.

However, it still takes time to get all of these different services up and running on a new computer. That’s why I was excited when I got a request to review an app called Hibernater. Hibernater claims to make it easy to access everything you were working on at one computer from any other computer, with just a single click.

Does that sound too good to be true? Well, that’s because it is-although the service is pretty cool anyway.  To use Hibernater, you first have to download and run an .exe file.  So, if you’ve never used a particular computer before, you will need to go to Hibernater’s website, download the file and run it.  Alternately, you could save it on a jump drive and bring it with you wherever you go. Then, after you’ve launched the .exe file, you’ll need to log in to your Hibernater account to save or restore the web pages and documents you were working on.

The file is small, so it’s still a pretty quick process, but it’s not quite “one-click” access, either. The other problem I ran into was that Hibernater does not yet support the latest version of Open Office.  So, it wouldn’t recognize my Open Office documents and I was  only able to save the web pages I was looking at.

Once I had Hibernater downloaded to my husband’s computer, I was able to bring up all of my Firefox tabs quickly.  In addition to saving states (basically everything your computer was doing using supported software when  you decided to hibernate), you can also save notes, tasks and your favorite web sites.  Saving your data is fast-it just takes a moment and one click of the mouse.

The concept is definitely innovative-I haven’t come across another tool like it.  The interface is well-designed and attractive.

I could see Hibernater being useful for people who need to get off a particular computer quickly without losing track of what they were doing.  The ability to quickly save all the web pages you were looking at without having to  decide which ones are important, “clip” them and save them into another program is pretty cool.  It would have been helpful when I was in school, working in the library between classes.

What do you think of Hibernater? Would it be useful for you?

Our Rating of Hibernater

Tags: Documents

Categories:web