Putting all your stuffs and confidential data on the cloud may seems like a good idea as it allows you to access to them anytime, anywhere. However, it can become a totally bad decision when the security of the cloud server is compromised or the third party providers wind up their services and all your data gone down with them. When such things happen, you might wonder why you have not heard of Tonido earlier.

Tonido is a free software that turns your desktop into a personal server and allows you to access and share your files, media, calendar and apps from everywhere. Be it Windows, Mac or Linux, you simply install the software and have your own personal cloud server up and running in no time. Forget all the complicated stuffs you have heard about creating your own server. There are no technical skills required to set up and run Tonido. The best thing is – all the data resides in your own computer and there is no need to worry about security or even data loss (unless your own computer crashes).

[Windows only] As part of the WinX DVD range of product, Winx DVD Author is a cool tool that allows you to author and create your own DVD easily. For those who are looking for a professional, yet easy to use DVD authoring software, WinX DVD Author could be the one for you.

At MakeTechEasier, we don’t usually review paid software as we are great believers of free and open source software. However, the WinX DVD team decided to give away a free 1 year license (scroll down for the download link), which makes it compelling for us to give this DVD authoring software a second look. And yes, we are not disappointed. Read on for the full review.

Banana is never a synonym to technology, but 3banana Inc. somehow manages to merge them together by creating an useful web-based note-taking application and call it 3banana (yes, without the ’s’).

For those who have tried and used popular note-taking apps like Evernote or Reqall, you’ll be surprised at how simple 3banana is, without losing much of the functionality. It is one of the few note-taking application that promotes usability, portability and effortless sharing.

A few months ago, Damien wrote a post about the need to keep windows open on top of others for better productivity. While Afloat for Mac does exactly that, Windowshade X does a little bit more.

WindowShade X is a small software (3.3MB) with plenty of great and useful features that allow you to manage your application windows more efficiently and quickly.

Previously, I have discussed the way to create a Windows 7 USB installer drive using the command prompt. Even though I have make it easy to follow, there are still some of you having some difficulty in the process. Recently, I have come across this little cool portable application that is able to do all the things covered in the previous tutorial in a breeze and without the command prompt.

The application that I am talking about is WinToFlash. This is a small application (only 2.1MB) that allows you to convert your Windows installer CD/DVD to a bootable USB drive. Not only is it easy to use (nearly idiot-proof and does not require you to have any technical knowledge), it is also fully portable – No installation is required and you can bring it wherever you are.

Running a business can get pretty expensive, including all the pricey software tools that you need to keep on top of all your administrative tasks. Entrepreneurs sometimes have to spend a ton of money to get basic business tools that are needed to have a business running smoothly. Here are five business tools that will help you keep track of your business if you are a Mac user:

If you’ve been a student before, you must know the feeling of overwhelmed by all of your assignments at school. As if having to finish all of those ’slacking time’ killers is not awful enough, you also have to keep track of everything and not drawn in the ocean of deadlines.

Some students just accepted everything as part of their life and moved on (while mumbled red-penciled words along the way), some thought that they’ve had enough and tried to make their points by protesting the authorities, but some others tried to find the way out and came up with these free applications.

Having a reliable antivirus software is something that every Windows user should have on his/her own computer. However, these antivirus tools are usually very expensive and use up way too much computer memory.

Here are three open source free antivirus software for Windows. They have functionality that will give you the ability to protect your system and information the same way as paid antivirus software.
Note: Remember that it is very important to keep it up-to-date because there are different viruses popping up every day.

Password protecting my USB drive is often the most important thing that I do when I went on travel. With all the confidential information in the USB drive, the last thing that I want to see is to lost it and have others to access all my precious data.

Although I have previously covered two useful software for encrypting USB drive: Windows 7 BitLocker and TrueCrypt, one thing that prevented me from using them on the move is that these two software require administrator privilege (or the ultimate version of Windows 7) to use, which in most Internet cafes, you don’t have access to.

There are also several others encryption software out there, but the one that worked well for me, and apparently free and does not require any administrator privileges is Rohos Mini Drive.

Desktop blog editors provide bloggers additional functionalities that are missing in your blog’s default editor (e.g. WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, etc.). Additionally, you are able to write and edit your blog posts offline, which provides a way to save your work on your computer’s hard drive while also not having to be connected to the Internet. One of the best desktop-based blog editors is Qumana.