By Tony Booth

If you have ever bought a new flat-pack kitchen or bedroom from the likes of Ikea, Argos or MFI, you will appreciate how I usually feel about 'trying out' new computer programs.

First, you put off opening the boxes for days or weeks, because you just know the task is going to be arduous and frustrating and likely to identify all those skills you thought you had, but haven't.

Then one day, you bite the bullet, gathering together rusty old tools you think you might need, which have long since been discarded under piles of other 'useful-one-day' stuff in the garden shed. There's a tempting promise of the kitchen you can expect shown on the front of the first box you open but, as you rip away at the seals, its contents spill out and the space around you starts to look more like a readymade disaster zone than a kitchen. The instructions say they are written in English - but after several 'read through' attempts, you become convinced it is actually Swahili.

Hours pass, and you eventually come to realise you could really have done with Bob the Builder to help and guide you through the process. Can we build it? NO, WE CAN'T.

My first-use experience of i-PortfolioTracker proved to be very different from what I have come to expect of newly launched programs. Rather than 'flat-pack', it comes 'ready built' in the Property Secrets environment and can be launched at the click of a mouse button.

The instructions are concise and straightforward ... and within just a few minutes, processing the system became comfortingly familiar. I was entering data and clicking my mouse as if I had been using it for years. It was clear to me right from the outset that this gem of a program had been designed and built with ease of use and quality in mind.

Importantly, it was doing exactly what it promised it would do on the tin. The skills of Bob the Builder had become redundant and any early trepidation I had quickly melted away.

i-PortfolioTracker is a program bursting with useful and practical features - and when I say 'useful', it's exactly what I mean.

Its creator, Peter Bennett, has successfully avoided adding those annoying elements that often might seem very clever initially in a system such as this, but which quickly become frustrating and unnecessary. Here is a utility that has been thoughtfully constructed with things in the toolbox you need and will use, rather than one confused by a superfluous array of futile paraphernalia you might employ once - but which then simply get in the way of doing what you want to do.

The system has all the elements you would expect of property management software including rent payment tracking, the production of cash flow statements and income and expense records for an entire portfolio of property investments. But there are a number of indispensable features which are not typical elements of most other programs (despite them sometimes costing hundreds of pounds).

In my experience, the Communication Centre is unique and a real jewel in the crown of i-PortfolioTracker's efficacy.

Not only does the system permit you to link your properties to the managing agent, allowing them to interact with you through the program - it also safely stores a permanent record of all conversations and communications between you and your agent in one place.

This means you can avoid the risk of losing an email through accidental deletion or because trying to find it becomes akin to looking for a needle in a haystack in the mass of messages contained in your preferred email system. How many times have you been sure you've said something to an agent, only to find the agent is denying any knowledge and you can't find any proof of ever having said it? With i-PortfolioTracker, that scenario will never happen again.

Other very useful features are the abilities to access leading advice and market forecasts - and to analyse the ongoing performance of your portfolio alongside earlier expectations. i-PortfolioTracker seems to undertake these tasks seamlessly with very little effort on your part and without the requirement of expertise or knowledge.

If you have the crucial data required to input figures from your property purchase and lettings - you only need to click a few mouse buttons to create graphs and pie charts that will expand your understanding and constructively analyse your equity and assets. The system makes annual, quarterly or even monthly, weekly or daily reviews a dream task easily executed.

One of the beauties of i-PortfolioTracker is it will be useful to a diverse number of buy-to-letters and property investors, from the novice first-time buyer to the professional or even commercial portfolio owner. Regardless of the number of property details entered, the same high quality of information, communication and analysis can be acquired from it.

This means that the novice buy-to-letter can be guided along the right path and gain a comprehensive insight into how his investment is performing, while the more experienced and professional landlord can keep track of the various elements of his portfolio, analyse where he is heading and make accurate forecasts about the future.

And remember ... all this comes FREE TO USE.

When I am asked to give an unbiased critique about a new program, I usually expect to have at least one or two 'criticisms', either about its features or how it works in real time.

Testing i-PortfolioTracker has been a task filled with pleasant surprises. It isn't just easy to use and packed with goodies every investor will find invaluable.

It is also a utility I personally will be employing on a daily basis to help manage my own portfolio from here onwards, because it is actually better and more sophisticated and streamlined than the commercial one I bought last year costing a small fortune.

Worth its weight in gold? Yes, and a whole lot more too. A brilliant helping-hand and one clearly designed and constructed by someone who knows exactly what an investor needs to make life easier and more profitable.

Try It Now - FREE