That said, we typically opt for installer-free apps that we can just drop in a single directory to be synced on all of our machines. (I personally currently use SugarSync now.)

A standalone app to burn CDs or DVDs is just one example of what I’m talking about. No clunky installs of Nero (which I think weighs in at about 400mb now) or Sonic or anything similar… just double-click the portable app’s EXE and start burnin’. There are more than a few portable burning suites that we’ve encountered in the past but the following titles are some of the more solid entries.

First up is daBurner. Sure, it’s the youngest of the bunch but you shouldn’t let that fool ya… as it does exactly what you need it to do: burn stuff. Here’s the official description: “No advanced burning options and complicated configuration. No integrated backup-mediacenter-slideshow-virtual drive stuff. It’s just a stupid burner. For smart people.” This one is aces in my book if not only for that beautiful description but also for the fact that the software is genuinely insanely-easy to use… unlike many burning apps.

Next up is Infrarecorder. It’s definitely more feature-packed than DaBurner and offers up dual-layer DVD recording, CD/DVD-RW erasing, ISO & BIN/CUE burning, disc copying, audio track burning and more. Infrarecorder’s been around for a while so there’s definitely something to be gained from its experience.

Finally, we come to DeepBurner. This one isn’t as feature-packed as Infrarecorder but it’s got a pretty polished interface and it provides you with the basic functionality you need: burn audio discs, data discs, ISOs and bootable discs. The premium version of DeepBurner adds a few more options but there’s no portable version available for it.

There are some more (potentially more powerful) standalone burning apps listed on PortableFreeware.com but some of these require a little bit of manipulation to make them “portable.”

If, however, you do prefer the old-school method of running apps like these, i.e., by installing them, you’ll want to check out CDBurnerXP: a great, lightweight burning suite from the makers of Ketarin. In addition, the latest release of IMGBurn added a plethora of new features (no, seriously, go look at the changelog for ImgBurn 2.5) and it could potentially take my title for best free burning app available… period. It is, without a doubt, definitely worth the measly $2 donation that the author is kindly asking for on the app’s homepage. Do it. Be a hero. Donate that $2.

Did we miss any? (I can guarantee we did.) Let us know what your favorite portable burning app is in the comments below.

I’ve found many MySQL backup solutions but none of them seem to be perfect in my eyes. (Hey, what is perfect these days?)

DESKTOP APPS

There’s Backup Watcher for MySQL but a) it costs $$ and b) you have to “activate” the software in order to use it. For someone like myself – who is constantly reformatting the various machines on which I work – that’s far too annoying given that you have to wait for a new activation code from the company. Of course, if you’re just gonna set this up on a server or desktop that you touch maybe once every three years – it may very well be worth it. Setting up automated backups is fool-proof and the interface isn’t too archaic. Plus, support usually responds within one business day – even if they aren’t that fluent in the English language.

One benefit to the above app is that it runs on Windows. For me, at least, that makes administration much easier. Another such app is Auto Backup for MySQL. (I’ll try and download and install this to post a review here soon.) This one also costs money (still less than $100) but the fact that it appears to be continually updated – it’s now Windows 7 and Server 2008 compatible – puts my mind at ease.

For more advanced MySQL DB management, you might also look at Navicat for MySQL – an all-in-one mgmt app that not only enables scheduled database backups but also provides you with options to interact with the data itself as well as the overall structure of the database. Pricing is much better than I remember. You can probably stay close to the price-range of the apps mentioned above and wind up with many more features at the same time. Plus, the interface is quite a bit more polished than the other apps.

WEB-BASED SCRIPTS

A more universal option (for those on different platforms beyond Windows) is a self-install script like Backup2Mail… which costs absolutely nothing. (The song “Born Free” from the last episode of the first season of Dexter is now running through my mind.)

Scripts like this one reside on your server, alongside your MySQL install, and regularly emails you backups of your database(s). The company recommends that you use a secure email environment given the risk involved in sending potentially-confidential data through email.

AutoMySQLBackup is a free script that’s been around for a while. Much like Backup2Mail, this script enables scheduled backups via the web but, with this one, you can not only send backups by email but also dump them to a directory on your web server. That way, if you’ve got the available space, you never need worry about the size of your DB backups.

What backup solution are you using/do you recommend? Let other readers know in the comments below.

Essentially, a portable app is one that’s specifically designed to run anywhere (even from a CD/DVD) as well as keep all of its settings (in most instances) right along with the executable itself.

There are plenty of great reasons to opt for a portable application as opposed to an installer-based application. Among them being:

• easy transferrance of those programs and their customized settings to a new PC
• less hard drive clutter. (A typical installer-based application can leave footprints in the following areas of your Windows PC: the registry, the "program files" folder, multiple areas within the "documents and settings" folder, the start menu, the desktop, and sometimes even your "my documents" folder.)

Now, if you’re new to the whole concept of portable apps, and even if you’re not, there are a few out there (10 to be precise) that you simply must download. (Note: all of the ones listed below are 100% free.)

First up is 7-Zip Portable, an open-source program that allows you to both create and extract a multitude of archive types including .zip, .rar, .tar, .gzip and more.

Next, we have Audacity.  Also open-source, Audacity allows you to create and edit MP3 and WAV files whilst on-the-go. This one has come in handy plenty of times for personal and professional projects. (I also use Audacity to drop in MP3s from my music collection and snip them in order to create ringtones for my Windows Mobile phone.)

Dee Burner, as you might have guessed by its name, is a portable CD and DVD burner. With it, you can burn both data (bootable option included) and audio CDs and DVDs in addition to ISO image files. (There is a professional version, currently not available as a portable edition, that enables some advanced functionality including DVD video creation and disk-to-disk copying.)

Driver Magician Lite enables you to, with just a few clicks, automatically backup all drivers for any component inside, or attached to, your PC. As is the case with Deep Burner, there is a professional version of Driver Magician that enables automatic restoration of the drivers you back up. With the lite version, restoration of your drivers is manual. Of course, in the event that you do reload your operating system from scratch, the OS is going to detect and automatically install the vast majority of your drivers; leaving only a few that will require manual configuration.

FastStone Capture is an extremely lightweight application designed to sit in your sytem tray and provide you with a multitude of screen capture options. This application eventually became shareware and now requires a purchase. However, the last version that was available as freeware, v5.3, is still available for download. The download link on portablefreeware.com, however, did not work but I was able to find the .zip file containing the portable version of FastStone Capture v5.3 over at Ovi.com (courtesy of user paul75.) Do a virus-check on this one, people.  I didn’t have any issues with it but just be smart.

FileZilla is an, nay, THE open-source FTP client and is a must if you deal with your own site, a friend’s site, a site for a family member or, for you freelancers out there, client sites.

PC Decrapifier is an application designed to help you eliminate some of the applications that come pre-loaded on consumer-level PCs. (This bloatware is even starting to show up more and more on business-class PCs as well. Thanks HP.) On the same note, I highly recommend the portable version of CCleaner (previously named Crap Cleaner) which also helps you rid your PC of unnecessary bloat – but on a much wider scale.

PDF-XChange Viewer is a portable PDF viewer that also enables some more Acrobat-esque features like comments/annotations, the typewriter tool, stamps and more. (You’ve actually got a few options for portable PDF-viewing including Sumatra PDF Portable and Foxit Reader.)

The widely-applauded Q10 is also available as a portable application and provides you with a fantastic environment in which to write. It’s great for ADD-prone authors who can easily find themselves distracted by instant messages, Windows notifications and that ever-infamous scourge of evil/brilliance: the Web browser. I highly encourage you to read more about Q10 here if you haven’t done so already. (I’m using it now and while I’ve already spent an unnecessary 2 hours writing this post, it would probably be 3 or 4 without Q10.)

USB Disk Ejector. If you don’t already know what this does by the name of the application then I don’t even know who you are anymore. However, if you find yourself frustrated by the built-in USB "Safe Removal" feature in Windows (including Vista), then this app is for you.

There are the more basic portable apps, like those maintained at PortableApps.com, that you’ll also want to download. However, I wanted to highlight a few that you may not be aware of but that may, in fact, be as equally useful.

Also remember to check out yesterday’s post on how you can easily synchronize a folder containing your portable apps/settings across multiple PCs.
The majority of the apps highlighted in this article came directly from PortableApps.com and PortableFreeware.com. In addition, Lifehacker and Download Squad tend to do a good job at highlighting some excellent portable applications every now and then.

You might be thinking of a few apps that we definitely should have included in this article.  If that’s the case, drop us a line in the comments. Odds are, this won’t be the only portable apps-based post we deliver so we’ll definitely try to share your suggestions with readers in the next one.

If you’ve ever been frustrated by an Instant Messaging client, be it for lack of functionality or just-plain-strange behavior, you should really check out  Digsby.

Background

Trust me, I’ve used my fair share of IM clients.  AIM was the first, of course, in tandem with Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger, followed by Pidgin, Trillian, meebo, Google Talk and, ultimately, Digsby.  You want to be able to chat with your friends/colleagues no matter what service they like so a multi-protocol IM client is almost entirely necessary now.  Of the aforementioned products, that leaves Trillian, Pidgin, meebo and Digsby. 

The Competition

Trillian Astra (currently in alpha-testing, not yet available to the general public) is a vast improvement over Trillian 3.0.  It’s lighter, faster, gorgeous and, like Digsby, keeps your profile and contacts synchronized on any computer you might be using.

Pidgin does not offer synchronization across multiple devices but it’s 100% open-source.  So, you’ve got a plethora of options when it comes to making the application conform to your needs via third-party plugins.

meebo, which I’ve covered before, sets itself apart from the group I’ve mentioned by being the only online-based IM client.  (There are competitors like eBuddy and Yoomba but I’ve only used meebo.)  Create an account at the site, store your AOL/Google/Yahoo!/MSN profiles in that account and you’re good to go.  There’s no need to download a client in order to chat with people…just log onto meebo.com in your Web browser – which you’ve most likely got open all the time anyway.  It’s the perfect tool for those on the go (or for those in a strict corporate environment.)

The Big Kahuna

Needless to say, there are plenty of other IM clients out there but, for the sake of brevity, I’m only going for the major players…or at least the ones I’ve used.)  So, in my opinion, what makes the privately held, NY-based Digsby stand above the rest?

First of all, the major IM protocols mentioned above are covered so, if you’ve got an account with one of them, you can use Digsby to connect to it.  That’s your basic stuff, though. 

The big benefit the program offers is its’ integration with multiple social networks including Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.  You can stay up-to-date with new Facebook friend requests, wall posts, Twitter tweets (and even create new ones – right from your system tray) and keep everyone up-to-date as to your current status.

You’re also given the ability check multiple E-mail accounts like Gmail, Yahoo!, Windows Live, AOL…or any POP or IMAP account for that matter.  You can keep track of your inbox, delete messages and send new messages – all without firing up your browser or favorite E-mail client.

Next up are the program’s little bells & whistles.  Perhaps my favorite Digsby feature are it’s intelligent notifications for new IMs.  Each incoming instant message brings a pop-up notification in the lower-right corner of your screen, inside of which is the content of the message being sent as well as a text-field you can use for your reply.  No need to switch over to your IM application and further distract yourself from work…just type out a quick reply and carry on with what you were doing:

In addition, you get notifications for new activity in your E-mail accounts and social networks.  (New Twitter tweets or Facebook new friend requests popping up aren’t quite as distracting as you’d think they’d be.  In fact, they’re really quite helpful.)

Digsby’s program preferences also bring some little surprises including extensive skinning and privacy options.  You even have the option to create a Digsby Facebook chat widget which can be added to your Facebook profile page:

Just About Perfect…

So, what’s it missing?  In my opinion, it just needs to integrate a few more services into the application.  As I stated above, you can already keep track of your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts but, for me at least, it’s missing a few key services: Pownce (for those Twitter rebellions), Google Reader (for the items you can’t help to share), Last.fm, del.icio.us, Flickr and/or Picasa and, last but not least, RSS.  (RSS functionality may prove to be a little too distracting though.)

Further down the line, it might also be nice to see some options for video chat – for which the developers can definitely look to meebo for inspiration.

So, check out Digsby’s list of features or just download the program now (for Windows, Mac and Linux) and see for yourself.

Not only are these individuals, like myself, in need of a dedicated machine to keep their data backed up but to keep that data accessible whilst at home or on the road.  Microsoft’s Windows Home Server fulfills these scenarios and more.  Based off of Windows Server 2003 SP2, WHS (due in the latter half of 2007) provides an easy, intuitive setup giving your “home admin” a painless way to accomplish all of this.

The Setup

During the initial setup, WHS provides the user with a customized domain: yourname.livenode.com.  (As of yet, no other domain options are available…you’re stuck with livenode.com.)  You’ll also be given access to a tool that supposedly seeks out your router and automatically enables it for remote access…this didn’t work for us and we had to configure it ourselves.  ‘Twas no problem as we got directions from a post on the WHS forum on which exact ports to configure.  We’ll get into Remote Access/Web-based administration here in a bit but, for now, let’s get back to the setup of your home server.  After you’ve gotten your domain, you’ll be configuring the Windows Home Server Console.  This console is where you’ll be overseeing all aspects of your home network from here on out including: computers, users, shared storage and backups.

Managing Your Computers

Once you’ve got the administrative console configured on your new home server, you’ll want to add the other computers in your home to your network.  This is accomplished by installing the Windows Home Server PC Console (provided with the WHS DVD) on each of the computers.  Not only does the PC console automatically add your computer to the newly-configured network, it also automatically ensures the files on this PC will be backed up, on a pre-determined schedule, in the event of a disaster.  (The schedule can be modified in the application settings…and by “disaster,” we mean your 17-year-old teenager visiting spyware-ridden music lyric or gaming sites.)  The PCs you just configured will begin showing up on the “Computers & Backup” tab of the WHS console.

Managing Your Users

Now that the computers themselves are backed up, the next step is to add the users that are on each of your PCs to the network.  From within the User Accounts tab in the console, you add the names, usernames, and passwords currently being used on each of the PCs.  As a side note, some of you may not be using passwords with the account you initially created when you set up Windows XP.  However, passwords are a requirement in order to add these users to the WHS network.  In this case, there’s an option in Windows XP to allow automatic logon with a password.

Is this process even necessary?  Well, if you want to be able to grant users 1) remote access to their computers and/or files or 2) configure which shared folders on the network to which they’ll have access then, yes, it is necessary…and highly recommended.

Managing Shared Folders and Server Storage

Another area of convenience that Windows Home Server offers is the Shared Folders feature.  By default, shared folders for music, photos, videos and more are created for you.  When you ran that console setup on each of your computers, not only was a shortcut to these Shared Folders created on the desktop, but a new shared folder for that particular user’s documents was created as well.  If your kids or your spouse clicks on that shortcut, they will only see the files or folders they have permissions to see…very similar to a setup you might have at work.  These permissions are configurable at the console in either the Users or Shared Folders areas.  Overall, the setup of Shared Folders is very simple and the shared folders that are created by default or that you created will also be accessible via the Web at your livenode.com address.  Again, we’ll get into the Web-based access of your home server in just a bit.

Along with the added convenience of instantly granting your family access to common, easily accessible resources, Shared Folders and Server Storage also grants you the option of Folder Duplication.  You might think of this as a simplified, GUI-based mirrored RAID array.  (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read a paragraph or two describing this process.) Essentially, WHS makes use of additional server hard drives or attached storage to make duplicate copies of your folder.  If, for some reason, any “duplicated” files become corrupted, WHS can restore from a duplicate version on a separate hard drive.

That said, if your corrupted Shared Folders are on the same drive as your Windows Home Server operating system, there’s a chance that the entire hard drive (including the WHS operating system) might be hosed.  In that case, you wouldn’t be able to access the Folder Duplication feature to restore from another drive.  Granted, WHS automatically breaks up the default drive in your server into two partitions, one for the OS and one for storage, but you might still want to invest in a separate hard drive to begin with in the event of any type of physical damage/wear to the drive.  This way, you may have to run the Windows Home Server setup again but at least your data will remain safe.

It is within the “Server Storage” area that you can add new hard drives to your Windows Home Server and/or view the health of your existing drive(s).

Windows Home Server Settings

As you might expect, the “Settings” area is where you’ll be configuring more of the technical aspects of the server itself.  General: configure server time and region, automatic updates, error reporting and Microsoft’s “Customer Experience Improvement” program.  Backup: tell WHS when to backup the folders and/or computers you’ve specified and how long to keep those backups.  Passwords: you would change your password here or even configure the minimum requirement for passwords (weak, strong, etc.) on your network.  Media Sharing: here you can enable music or movie sharing for any Windows Media receiver you might have in your home.  Remote Access: as you might guess, this is where you’d configure remote access to folders and/or computers on your network.  The self-tests offered here are especially useful in making sure that you’ve got everything configured properly.  The router configuration utility can also be found here but, as previously mentioned, doesn’t appear to be quite ready for prime-time.  Add-Ins: here is where you would install any available WHS add-ins.  Much like add-ins for Internet Explorer (or extensions for Mozilla Firefox,) WHS add-ins provide advanced functionality that wasn’t necessarily included in the core operating system.  In the screenshots we’ve included in this article, you’ll see one add-in already in use: “Wake-On Lan.”  This particular enables us to remotely shut down a computer in our network, get the MAC address of that computer, and even wake one that’s already been shut down, all with the click of a button.  Resources: here you’ll find information about the version of the OS you’re using and the hardware powering the machine (i.e., processor speed, amount of RAM).  Basically, this is pretty much the same information you’d find if you hit Ctrl+Break on your existing Windows machine.

Remote Access

Now we get to, what we feel anyway, the feature that will be most the beloved of all: Remote Access.  (We gave it away with the header above, didn’t we?)  Currently, here at Fans of Tech, we’ve tinkered with enough settings on our existing Windows Server and router to enable us to remotely access our files and even our computers on-the-go.  However, it’s certainly not a fun, or even easy, process. Windows Home Server, on the other hand, makes it painless.  As we mentioned in the very beginning of the article, setup takes you through getting your own customizable URL to use with Remote Access: yourchoice.livenode.com.  Afterwards, WHS can even automatically configure the router in your home to enable access from the Web.

While it didn’t work for us this time, we presume that, by the time the final release is out later this year, this feature will be more dependable.  (Just look at the progress made from Vista RC1 to RC2…huge, in our humble opinion.)  After our router was configured, we were able to access our test network with incredible ease.  By accessing our LiveNode domain, we arrived at the following:

Upon logging in, we now have access to the computers and shared folders on our network.  Permissions are once again applied here so you can only view the computers/folders you’ve been granted access to. 

Entering the Computers section of Windows Home Server Remote Access gives you an overview of the computers in your network.  If you have the appropriate permissions, you can remote desktop into any of the computers and even your home server.

Before I forget, Remote Desktop connections to computers are not supported in Firefox.  [Post your gripes in the comments section at the end of this article.]  I might also add that connections are dependant upon the version of Windows that the computer is running.  As you might already know, Windows XP Home/Vista Home/Vista Home Premium does NOT allow incoming connections via Remote Desktop, as indicated in the screenshot below.  For that particular functionality, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows XP Pro or Windows Vista Business/Ultimate.  Honestly, these are two things we feel Microsoft should work around.  Perhaps an extension or plug-in for Firefox and WHS-specific access for remote desktop might be in order.

After clicking on the computer name, a customizable (in terms of size) remote desktop connection is launched within the browser window displaying your computer exactly as you would see it if you were sitting right in front of it.  What happens, though, if you turned your computer off before you left the house?  Well, if you have the proper access, you can log in to the server itself by clicking on “Connect to your Home Server” and, provided your computer is WOL-compatible, you can use the “Wake-on-LAN” add-in of Windows Home Server to wake your computer.  Oh, how we do love technology.

This is pure speculation but I presume that Microsoft might embed the functionality of the Wake-On-LAN add-in to the WHS console before the final version ships.

Last, but not least, we shift our focus to the Shared Folders area of WHS Remote Access:

Here you’ll be able to access the documents on the network for which you have privileges.  Not only can you see the documents and download them, you can also upload using the built-in file upload tool.

Here’s one helpful hint: you can change the location of your My Documents (Windows XP) or Personal folder (Windows Vista) to be mapped to a folder that has been created on the server.  This way, your personal documents will be accessible no matter where you are.  To that, my friends, I say “booya!“

Instructions for Windows XP users: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147
Instructions for Windows Vista users: http://www.maximumpcguides.com/relocate-a-personal-data-folder/

InD Summary

Whether you’ve heard about them or not, Microsoft has big plans for Windows Home Server and rightly so.  They’ve already not only partnered with HP but have already announced the first product to use it: the HP MediaSmart Server powered by AMD, currently due this fall.  (The fine folks at Gizmodo recently had some interesting news regarding what could be a more feature-rich incarnation of WHS than what we’ve been describing here.)  For those of you curious about pricing, rumor has it that it should fall around that of your average PC today: between $500-$600.

As we said at the beginning of this article, a dedicated machine at home for backups, storage and data accessibility is going to be a necessary item in a very short while.  There’s no doubt that any geek worth his/her own salt can download the latest version of the most popular flavor of Linux and get their own dedicated home server up-and-running in a few hours…and probably on a machine they had sitting in their closet.  If you were to throw that task up to the average home tech user, however, it wouldn’t be worth the time or effort…nor would they have a spare machine lying around with which to “tinker.”  Microsoft has done a great job in making sure that this task is easily accomplished and with little tinkering. 

Hopefully we’ve answered a few questions for you about what Windows Home Server has to offer to the average household with tech.  Granted, the majority of you reading this won’t necessarily need Windows Home Server but it would definitely be nice to have something simple in our lives for once…and to be able to recommend something simple to friends and family.  Yet another payoff for our average reader.

Links:

Windows Home Server: Overview
Windows Home Server: List of Features
The Official Windows Home Server Blog
Windows Home Server Forums

Technical Notes:

For this InD article, we were demonstrating the Windows Home Server Community Technical Preview, released on April 18th, 2007, on a Dell Optiplex GX240 with a Pentium 4 processor running on 512MB of RAM.

As always, we’re constantly looking for feedback on the site so if you have an idea of something you’d like us to go InD on, drop us a line: suggest [at] fansoftech.com.