Money is dead: Five alternative programs to keep track of your cash

Microsoft has discontinued Money. No, Gates' mates haven't abandoned the concept altogether, which is unsurprising considering the company has, y'know, most of it. But the boys at Redmond have decided to stop selling personal-finance program Microsoft Money.

Money will no longer be available to buy after the end of June, and will only be supported up to January 2011. You'll still be able to use it on your PC after that, but will lose the crucial function of getting automated data feeds from your bank, credit card shylocks, and other chisellers, sorry, financial service providers.

So what's the alternative to Money? Stealing? Bartering? Oh we can't be bothered keeping that gag going. If you currently use Money, or like the idea of software to organise your money, here's some of the other options, both online and on your desktop. You may have heard of Mint and Quicken, but as they don't work for anyone whose native currency is Her Majesty's English Pounds we'll get to them in a jiffy.

Unless noted, all these programs are free and support the major UK banks and finance providers. Each program or Web service allows you to link accounts and track transactions and budgets to keep you on top of your finance, with secure encryption to keep your data safe. Right, let's put our mouth where our Money was.