REDMOND Wash., -- In recent years, portable computers have changed the way people work, much like desktop computers transformed the workplace before that. Now, busy professionals can type reports during airplane flights, read backlogged memos and email on their daily commuter-rail trip or work from home without having to boot the kids off the family PC. But this freedom has had limits. It was difficult and time consuming for mobile users to synchronize work done away from the office with their corporate networks. Laptop users also lost work time and battery life when logging off their laptops each time the airline pilot turned on the "No Electronics" sign or their train arrived at its destination. In addition, there were limits to the peripheral devices, such as mice and Pocket PCs, that could be used with laptops -- and users had to manually reconfigure and reboot the machines each time they installed these devices. Since its release earlier this year, Windows 2000 Professional has allowed on-the-go professionals to kiss these computing frustrations goodbye. In addition to making laptop computing more manageable and easy, Windows 2000 Professional adds new security features to protect documents during transmission or when a laptop is stolen. "Busy professionals no longer must be chained to their desks by operating systems that don't address the unique challenges of mobile computing," said Art Pettigrue, product manager for Microsoft's Windows Desktop Division. "Windows 2000 Professional allows laptop users to work on any document, anywhere, at any time. And they can save time and be more productive while they are at it." Nearly three-quarters of the professionals polled by the research firm Sosinsky Group thought Windows 2000 Professional was a "very good" laptop operating system. Satisfaction was even greater -- 82 percent -- among those who used Windows 2000 Professional as their primary operating system. Since adopting Windows 2000 Professional, Access Markets International (AMI -- www.ami-partners.com) has noticed "measurable productivity gains," said Eric Schuster, managing director of the New York City-based research and consulting firm. One reason: synchronization.