Portable Apps
I have my home desktop set up with applications for a variety of tasks, but when traveling, at work or at a friend’s house (I’m often de facto IT for friends and family) I never seem to have the tools I need. I used to carry around a book of CDs with various applications, but that was bulky and required installation on someone else’s machine. About three years ago I discovered PortableApps.com and now I just carry a thumbdrive with the PortableApps suite -- a downloadable collection of freeware and open-source utilities (for PCs only, not Macs) designed to be loaded onto a removable drive.
The “Portable” in PortableApps means that no installation is required and no data is saved to the host machine. You don't need to be logged in as an account that allows software installs (i.e., an admin. account). Your data is stored on the flash drive, so when you load Firefox Portable Edition, you have your bookmarks and passwords at hand. When you load your FTP client, you have your saved IP addresses.
With PortableApps your data is not stored on the host PC. The advantage of this is that data such as browsing history, temp. files and config. files are not stored on someone else's computer. That has privacy and security benefits, and could keep you from getting blamed for problems because you installed unfamiliar programs on someone else's computer.
A huge range of useful applications is included. Some standouts are Firefox Portable Edition, Pidgin Portable (a multi-IM client), OpenOffice Portable, GIMP Portable (image editing) and Firebird Portable (e-mail). Also included are FTP clients, media players and DVD authoring programs.
Aside from the benefit of portability, PortableApps is a curated list of legal, free products. Application versions are kept up to date. The suite is downloadable with one click, and there's a categorized menu to access the files
This suite has come in handy so many times I’ve lost count. I even keep a folder on my regular hard drive because the apps are so useful. I also appreciate that PortableApps.com continues to update the list of applications and their versions. It’s even possible to manually add applications to the suite, but I haven’t needed to do that yet.
Favorite (15)
soap
s/Firebird/Thunderbird/
Otherwise I couldn't agree more.
Matthew Carrick
Also handy to introduce reluctant folks into trying new applications. Give them a cheap flash drive with a PortableApps suite of goodness and they can safely try 'em out without fear of borking their desktop.
Fred
Actually, there is a Portable Apps suite for Mac too. Google for it, or start here: http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps/
Joris
I combined PortableApps with Dropbox, giving me the same set of tools and configuration across all the laptops and desktop machines I use, without having to carry a thumbdrive around.
And don't get me started on the auto-logon goodness of the combination of KeePass Portable and Putty Portable :-)
Marco
I'm surprised portableapps hasn't shown up on CT before.
I put my copy on my phone and just like the author, use it in my friends and family IT role. Just a couple of months ago, I needed to give a presentation to my son's first grade school and brought all the information on my phone, including vlc for a video.
Additionally, Clamwin has come in very usefully for when I need to scan a friend's or family members computer and don't trust their own antivirus. There is much goodness to be found here.
Oh, and soap; not sure what you mean "s/Firebird/Thunderbird/"
soap
@Marco
The name of the email program is Thunderbird, not Firebird.
literally: substitute Firebird with Thunderbird
Marco
Ahh, vi substitution. Sorry, slow this morning. Absolutely right.
traeblain
I love portable apps, in fact I thought of submitting this to CT months ago but I believe Mark did a much better job.
I also agree with commenter about Dropbox together with this is nice. I'd also like to include the use of XAMPP to have yourself a local web server on any computer you sit down on. Portable apps also works with products not provided by their website like FastStone Screen Capture, Q10, and TrueCrypt.
Trae
http://www.traeblain.com/
Theodore
Geek.menu also works with Portable apps (It is, in fact, a fork of the portable apps menu system), and also includes integration with Truecrypt.
http://geek-menu.sourceforge.net/
Davey
Never tried this app, but if it runs these programs on the host OS, you can still be accused of messing up the system. And it might be true. Why not just put a bootable open-source OS on a thumb drive and not mess with the host system at all?
John
Davey- the host OS limits your access to the host computer. In contrast, booting into an alternative OS gives you complete access. The potential for messing up the system (and accompanying accusations) is much greater if you go around the restrictions of the host OS.
bryan
I have added fast stone viewer to the original package, great image viewer and mid range photo editor
Oryctolagus habilis
Joris, Marco: why didn't I think of putting it on my smart phone or online storage space before -- doh! Thanks for those ideas!
Lim Ming Hai
I have tried Portableapps and Liberkey (http://www.liberkey.com/en/) and I find Liberkey is a better implementation of the concept and has a greater range of software. I've installed it to my harddisk and hardly use any software that's not on it.
Future Technology Lover
Great post on Future technology, excited to try this out.
pond
Portable Apps are indeed cool. Also recommended: TiddlyWiki or one of its many clones/branches. An html file that uses javascript to do many wonderful things.
Tom
Careful, Lim Ming Hai. LiberKey illegally packages all that software, violates open source licenses and has stolen PortableApps.com's code on several occasions. Most of their apps leave your personal info behind on every PC you run them on, too.
Chris
Ha! Thanks Fred - my first reaction was "Windows only? Bummer..." but I'm glad to see the link for Mac apps. I really appreciate it.