I used to track every single expense in Microsoft Money 2000, but with that program I had to install it on a PC to use it, and it had bugs where literally your money file would just disappear from the PC when you shut down the program!!!  That was a definite NO-NO because if I spent an hour or two entering data, having the file disappear is the worst thing that could happen.  I would always make backups everytime after I saved, but losing the data was aggravating.

I have looked at Quicken but what bugs me is that these programs require install to work.  Sometimes I'm at work or travel where I do not have my money programs installed, and I want to update my receipts, but I can't.  Thus when I get home I'm too tired to update the receipts even though it's a minor task.

I tracked every single receipt for 10 years, but frankly I'm sick and tired of it, with all the problems of having to sit down in front of my dedicated computer and enter receipts on an unreliable program that could wipe out my data.  Thus, any thing I can do to make it easier to enter receipts and view my finances, the better for my habits of entering every receipt / transaction.

I did some search for a decent personal finance program that is free, open-source, and most importantly, portable (ie can run from a USB drive and does not require install).  I have to say I'm really disappointed.

Here are some sites and programs I have researched:

 http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=personal+finance

 http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-personal-finance-software.htm

I downloaded and tried several of the programs listed on those sites, only to be severely disappointed.

I wanted a program that is easy to use, has decent security like AES encryption (my finance file needs to be secure!!), allows for all types of accounts, like savings / checking / cash / investments / credit cards / loans / mortgages, and is easy to use. 

None of the programs I used met these requirements.  The two that seemed really promising are: Money Manager EX and GnuCash.  Unfortunately, Money Manager EX only allows bank and investment accounts, it has no credit card / loan accounts!  GnuCash has no security, and its interface is clunky.  Thus I was severely disappointed by these programs.

It looks like I might have to revert back to MS Money or Quicken.  The things I have against Quicken and MS Money is that the recent versions are bloated, large software that does a lot of stuff, but is not portable, could have a lot of software bugs since the program is so large, and is not free.

I wish there was a decent alternative to Money / Quicken that meets my requirements. Does anyone know of a light, functional, secure, and portable personal finance program?

Years ago Quicken used to have a portable version for PDAs....maybe it didn't work well and didn't last, I don't know. Intuit can drive me crazy someties with it's bugs. But I've used Quicken, Quickbooks, and TurboTax for many years, so I'm addicted I guess.