Windows Live SkyDrive, initially called Windows Live Folders, is a free-of-charge file hosting service

File hosting service

A file hosting service, online file storage provider, or cyberlocker is an Internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. Typically they allow HTTP and FTP access. Related services are content-displaying hosting services A file hosting service, online file storage provider, or...

 that allows users to upload files to a cloud storage

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...

 and then access them from a Web browser. It is part of Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

's Windows Live

Windows Live

Windows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require...

 range of online services, and uses Windows Live ID

Windows Live ID

Windows Live ID is a single sign-on web service developed and provided by Microsoft that allows users to log in to many websites using one account...

 to control access to files, allowing users to keep the files private, share them with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly-shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access.

The service offers 25 GB

Gigabyte

The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...

 of free personal storage, with individual files limited to 100 MB.