Microsoft SkyDrive got updated with a new logo and an improved client for Windows desktop. The new update offers better performance, reliability, and compatibility with a brand new status window which displays the last Sync time and other relevant Sync statistics.

With recently released Google Drive and existing free online storage and synching solutions like Dropbox and SugarSync, there is more to cheer about. Microsoft's own cloud file-syncing solution "SkyDrive" now have a native Windows client, with release of this the service now have native clients on Windows, Mac, Windows Phone and iOS platforms.

Sadly, Microsoft SkyDrive is now offering only 7GB free storage space but if you act in-time and use the trick detailed after the jump you can upgrade to 25 GB online-storage for free.

SkyDrive - the Microsoft's cloud storage solution has now an native Apple iOS and Windows Phone application to allow access to user cloud-backuped files from virtually any device. With SkyDrive for the iPhone and Windows Phone user's can easily upload, access, manage and share files on the go to-and-from their SkyDrive account. Offering a generous free 25 GB online-storage this would be the best option if you re looking for a free, reliable and accessible cloud backup and access solution.

Detailed features, images, video demonstration and download links after the jump.

Dropbox has been my utility of choice when it comes to remote data synchronization, but that has changed since I had tried "Windows Live Mesh 2011" which is a part of "Windows Live Essentials 2011" suite of applications. One of the biggest shortcoming of Dropbox is that it does not let users select folders to sync, and all data needs to be in a pre-defined dropbox folder to get synced. Windows Live Mesh 2011 solves this by empowering users to sync multiple folders across devices (currently PC and Mac are supported) and even allows you to backup 5 GB of data to Microsoft SkyDrive web-storage for free.

Apart from offering better folder synching capabilities, Windows Live Mesh also offers Remote Desktop features enabling users to access their computer and data from anywhere.

Microsoft Windows Live Essentials 2011 Final is now available for download, the free add-on pack for Windows is now upgraded to final version shedding the beta tag with this release, comprising new versions of MSN Messenger, Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail, Writer, Family Safety, and Windows Live Mesh the utility pack is surely going to be of great help. The new Windows Live Essentials 2011 requires Windows Vista or Windows 7 but an older version is also available for XP and can be downloaded from the link provided below.

Microsoft does not provide any link to download full offline installer of Windows Live Messenger 2009, instead you will find the integrated live web-installer which needs an active internet connection to download and install applications, so if you don't want to wait downloading and installing Windows Live Messenger on multiple computers you need the full standalone installer provided at end of this post.

Microsoft's free online storage service Windows Live SkyDrive is now out of beta and now made available for users in 38 countries - USA, Great Britain, India, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey.

SkyDrive lets you store upto 5 GB 25 GB of data using an easy to use online interface, you can choose to mark your files and folders as private, shared with fiends of public, users can embed and link files/folders in web pages to allow downloading directly from your website. By means of RSS feeds subscribers can automatically be notified about new file uploads.