by Rolf Friedmann

Portable applications have to be one of the best inventions ever. What are portable applications, you ask? They’re simply applications you can run on a portable drive without the hassle of installations or bringing installation disks with you.

You could say that the advent of cheap, higher capacity flash drives probably helped encourage the development of portable apps. Most portable apps are small in size in the first place so you won’t be running or installing gigabytes worth of applications on your thumb drive.

Are portable apps a revolution. No, they’re more an evolution of how we work on the go. Where once a mobile worker would be dependant on what software he or she had on his machine. If it was your own laptop, there wouldn’t be much hassle. The problem is when you’re using a company laptop with all its restrictions.

For instance, imagine you need to edit an image for a presentation. But your laptop doesn’t have a decent image editor. Fine, get your office IT person to install one. That isn’t an option when you’re in a hotel lobby waiting to make a presentation. What do you do then?

With portable apps, all you need to do is download the program onto your flash drive and run it directly from the drive. No installation necessary. If you happen to lose your thumb drive, you could easily get a new one after all or even just download the portable app to your desktop and run the app straight from your PC itself. Note: this is possible in most cases but not all. Some portable apps are pretty much prepackaged folders with the .EXE file for you to just click on and run.

Portable apps are also an example of developer ingenuity. Software no longer needs to be bloated pains to install. More developers are even creating portable versions of their software while some more ingenious people are actually creating portable versions on their own.

How would that work? Some applications that do not need extensive reworking of a computer’s registry are suited for portability. Depending on the size of the program folder, sometimes making something portable is as simple as copying a program’s installation folder onto a thumbdrive.

It doesn’t work for something as complicated as Microsoft Office, though. This is because Office usually ends up tweaking files in Windows that include the registry. Let’s not forget how much space Office ends up taking on a machine. You would need a huge thumb drive to pack the amount of files that office needs.

Does that mean portable apps take up less system resources as well? In most cases, that is true. You have to understand that portable apps are usually slimmed-down versions of their desktop counterparts and are optimised to use as little memory or hard disk space as possible.

One advantage that portable apps has is, from the security standpoint, the ability to make sure you don’t leave your personal data on a shared computer. Say that you want to do some word processing or surfing and don’t want to leave traces of your activity on a computer that isn’t yours. Simply take out your thumbdrive, use the apps on that thumb drive and ensure you save your data on the thumb drive as well.

What do you need to get started on the wonderful world of portable apps? You don’t need a lot. Just enter ‘portable apps’ as a search term in your favourite search engine and you’re well on your way. To help you out, we take a look at some of the best portable applications available. The best thing about most portable apps? Almost all of them are completely free for use and download.

Where to start

One of the best places to start looking for portable apps is portableapps.com. It’s a well-presented site and is probably the best site out there for beginners. One thing that sets the site apart from decidedly dodgier sites out there is that it comes with its own Portable Apps suite. It installs a collection of apps with its own menu that makes it easy to navigate as well as customise.

The Portable Apps comes in three different download versions: the suite, the Suite Light and the Suite Standard. With the suite or platform, you can just download it on its own (1MB only) and populate it with your own chosen apps. The Suite Light is a 46MB download while the larger Suite Standard is 124MB in size.

What do you get with the suite? Here’s a list of the applications packed in by the portableapps.com people.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Thunderbird,

Mozilla Sunbird,

ClamWin Portable

Pidgin Portable

Sumatra PDF Portable

KeePass Portable

Sudoku Portable

Mines-Perfect Portable

CoolPlayer+ Portable

PNotes Portable

OpenOffice.org Portable

AbiWord Portable

So you’ve got a browser, word processor and office suite with a calendar, email and assorted games to boot. Sounds pretty perfect, huh? Not quite. There are still plenty of other apps to choose from.

Radsoft even sells a suite of portable tools it calls the XPT though you’ll have to pay for it. What does it have that Radsoft doesn’t? Well, for starters, it packs more applications in just as little space and offers great options for people looking for developer tools. It’s not cheap, though. The entire XPT suite will set you back a cool USD179.

Knowing that most of my readers are cheapskates, I’ll give you the lowdown on apps you definitely should have if you want to make your thumb drive the ultimate tool of productivity.

Rolf’s Best Portable Apps

1. Firefox

Internet Explorer really should just be expunged from the planet. Mozilla’s Portable Firefox is still the better alternative browser and Portable Firefox 3 allows you to store your history and bookmarks, as well as take every extension with you. It’s speedy, compact and runs decently on a thumb drive. It’s my favourite essential friend in cafes with my netbook. Download it from portableapps.com.

2. OpenOffice

 

 

I can’t really stand using OpenOffice to tell you the truth. It annoys me, with all its formatting quirks. But when you need to get your work done on the go, it’s a pretty decent suite as you can edit office documents, create rudimentary presentations, edit spreadsheets and know they’ll be viewable in Microsoft Office. Of course, they won’t look very good in Microsoft Office but sometimes, time waits for no busy office worker.

If you’re just a writer, though, ditch OpenOffice for AbiWord. It’s small, portable and a pleasure of a word processor to use if you don’t need fancy features. Another text editor I recommend for writers is RoughDraft, if you can find it. Just install it on your thumbdrive instead of on your hard disk and just create a shortcut to the .EXE file on your desktop. This is also available from portableapps.com.

3. Mozilla Thunderbird

If you’re anal about your email and your computer would commit suicide if you tried to install Microsoft Outlook on it, then just install Mozilla’s Thunderbird. The portable version allows you to take your settings with it so you can pop it into your thumb drive, plug it into your computer and find out which of your clients you made angry today. Do I even need to mention you can download this from portableapps.com?

 

4. Portable IrfanView

 

I can’t believe that IrfanView isn’t available from portableapps.com. It’s the lightest, easiest basic image viewer available that allows cropping and basic editing in an instant. You can go download the program from irfanview.com and follow these instructions to make your own IrfanView portable (taken from the official website):

 

1. Copy your existing/installed IrfanView folder to USB stick (recommended), or
2. Use the normal installer and install IrfanView to an USB stick folder, or

3. Use the ZIP version and unzip to a USB stick folder.

Don’t you just love having options? That’s IrfanView for you.

5. Sumatra PDF Viewer

This handy little PDF viewer has one big advantage going for it – it isn’t Adobe’s Acrobat. Acrobat Reader is one of the most horrible, annoying pieces of bloatware I have ever had the misfortune to install. I don’t understand why it needs to install one thousand million updates every other time I open it up. Seriously, having Acrobat Reader is like installing Microsoft Windows just to open up a PDF file.

Guess what? You don’t need to anymore. Sumatra will take care of your PDF viewing needs without making you want to murder everyone at Adobe.

6. VLC Media Player

 

You’re on the road. You want to listen to your MP3s and maybe watch the odd video or two. Then get the portable version of VLC

 

 

Media Player. It’s probably one of the most popular most alternative media players out there for two reasons: one, it plays a multitude of formats out of the box. Second, it’s free. Download it here (from portableapps.com): http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/vlc_portable

 

 

7. FileZilla

I think FileZilla as an FTP program is incredibly overrated but as a portable app, it’s actually pretty lightweight. This way, you can avoid leaving your FTP login details on a public machine. Web administrators know they’ll always have to be on hand to fix website boo-boos, that means often having to login to their FPT accounts. Get it at http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/filezilla_portable

Another option for those who despise FileZilla as much as I do: get the best FTP extension for Firefox ever created – FireFTP. Absolutely free and you can just run it as a tab from your portable Firefox browser. It stores multiple FTP accounts, has an intuitive, easy to use and understand interface and takes up very little system resources. I’ve been using it for years and it blows the socks off any standalone FTP program I’ve ever tried. Get the extension from fireftp.mozdev.org. Technically it isn’t a portable app as much as it’s an extension of a portable app. Get this one and you can dispense with Filezilla.

8. 7-Zip Portable

This is a must-have application for me on all the computers I’ve ever owned. 7-Zip is freeware that allows the best compression at the best price. No wonder that 7-Zip file formats are common on the Internet. It also handles .rar formats as well and the portable version is certainly a Godsend. Yes, you can also download it from portableapps.com at portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable.

9. ClamWin

For you cheapskates unwilling to spend good money on antivirus, may I suggest ClamWin? You can put it on a thumb drive and unlike the annoying Norton, Kaspersy or other assorted names, it won’t take up all the space.

It would be a good idea for you to run it the first thing when you get on a public computer. You never know what kind of nasties other users might have left behind. Better safe than virus-ridden, I say. For peace of mind, just go get it already at portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable

10. Pidgin IM

IM is something you can’t really live without these days. Why waste phone credit when you can just instead ping the person next to you. Read my extreme amonts of sarcasm here. Rather than put up with Microsoft’s annoying Windows Live Messenger or all the other annoying IM programs, download just one.

Pidgin allows you to consolidate all your IM accounts onto one program so you don’t have to choose which IM service to be on. Annoy your friends on MSN, Yahoo, AIM all at the same time with Pidgin! Download it at http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/pidgin_portable.

Ten isn’t enough?

Now I’ve listed ten portable apps I would recommend to you. But that’s the ten most essential apps and not to limit you to more if you want to. Here are other ‘nice to have’ apps that you can happily fill your removable drive with.

1. TrueCrypt

If you can’t afford Windows 7 Ultimate but want to encrypt your portable drive anyway, why not try TrueCrypt? How does it work? It creates a virtual disk that happens to be encrypted and then allows you to mount it as a real disk. http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/truecrypt-portable

2. KeePass Password Safe

You are one of those morons who keep your passwords written down? Stop endangering your own personal information and get KeePas. Keepass is free and secure, managing your passwords in one safe place. Unless, of course, you’re a moron. Be not surprised that you can find it at portableapps.com. http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/keepass_portable

3. XAMPP Lite

Here’s something handy for website developers! XAMPP is an integrated server package of Apache, mySQL, PHP and phpMyAdmin. AMPP in XAMPP, get it? Imagine all those together can be run from just one thumb drive. It makes it a great way to test out CMS installs and troubleshoot a local WordPress installation. Get it from www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html

4. Audacity

This is a great tool for reporters or absent-minded songwriters. It’s a basic sound editor that allows you to record and edit recordings. Budding songwriters can easily export files as MP3s though you need to download a separate LAME plugin (also free) thanks to MP3’s proprietary nature. Get it at portableapps.com/apps/music_video/audacity_portable

5. GIMP

If you think you need a bit more than what IrfanView has to offer, then download this free Photoshop alternative! GIMP can handle image editing, photo processing and has a ton of free effects and filters. Get it at portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable

6. TreePad Lite

This little program has quite the cult following. Called a ‘personal database’ program, you can dump notes, bookmarks as well as emails in its tree structure. Great for people who want a note taker or organiser that does a lot without taking a lot, systems-resource wise. Get it from www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware/

7. Fsuite for Macs

Now, you Mac users are probably hating me for showing off all these lovely fun apps without having any for OS X. Well, quite the hating. Go instead to www.freesmug.org/fscd. You have 30 portable Mac programs that are useful and compact. What sweetens the deal is that it’s all free!

Here’s the list of what’s portable and available for Mac:

1. Portable Firefox OS X

2. Portable Thunderbird OS X

3. Portable Adium

4. Portable AbiWord OS X

5. Portable Nvu OS X

6. Portable Sunbird OS X

7. Portable Cyberduck

8. Portable Check Off

9. Portable Gimp.app

10. Portable Newspeak

11. Portable Inkscape OS X

12. Portable VLC OS X

13. Portable Audacity OS X

14. Portable OpenOffice.org OS X

15. Portable RSSOwl

16. Portable Feed

17. Portable X-Chat Aqua

18. Portable Camino

19. Portable Vienna

20. Portable Celtx

21. Portable Safari

22. Portable Mail

23. Portable iCal

24. Portable Address Book

25. Portable iChat

26. SyncPAppX

You can also download them separately at this link: osxportableapps.sourceforge.net/

There you have it – a guide and reference for all your portable needs, Mac OS X and Windows.

If you’re a Linux buff, why not try portable operating systems? Yes, ladies and gents…Linux on a thumb drive. Try these three versions of Linux which are small enough and yet functional.

1. Puppy is a fun, easy to use distribution which you can get at http://puppylinux.com/

2. Ubuntu now comes in small, portable flavours: http://www.ubuntu.org

3. This one is amazing – an OS in just 50MB? It’s now proven possible. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

4. Another simple, compact Linux install for you to try out. http://www.slax.org/

Heck, why not try out all of the portable operating systems? They’re not likely to murder your computer and come with the additional functionality of not only being operating systems but having applications ready to go. What is interesting about Linux is that it comes with an entire plethora of applications that will cover the gamut of multimedia, office as well as entertainment uses. So if you’ve been reluctant to try Linux out because you don’t want to go through the tedium of installations, then try a portable OS today!

You definitely couldn’t do a portable OS thing with Windows, that’s for certain. So new users to the portable world, rejoice!

Stay secure

Just an additional note – be sure to get your applications from trusted, secure sites such as portableapps.com. There are a lot of dodgy sites offering what they call ‘portable’ versions that are actually malware in disguise. Make sure you scan the files you download and be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true!

Happy downloading and enjoy this new frontier of compact computing!