• Have you ever been over to a mate’s place and got stuck opening up a PDF/Word/Excel file just because they don’t have the appropriate Adobe PDF Reader or MS Office?
  • Do you carry your laptop just because it contains all your programs, settings and data as you’ve set it up?
  • Do you miss your bookmarks on your browser, firefox extensions you’ve gotten used to, Or your offline email reader when you’re on your work computer?

Enter PortableApps :)

PortableApps, it is a collection of portable software designed for use from a flash drive or external hard drive. Usually, when you install software on your computer, it can only be used on that particular computer even if you install it on a portable drive because the system registry is utilised. The difference with PortableApps is that it stores all the files on the portable drive, letting you take your favorite software and its settings with you. Just install it on a portable drive and then plug it into any computer you like and you’re ready to go. (It really has nothing to do with backing up or transporting your personal files.)

Get yourself a decent size USB stick and you can have a plethora of your regular applications, conveniently packaged in! Next time you are sitting in front of a computer that doesn’t have your favourite software, simply plugin your USB stick and fire it up. Best part - it doesn’t leave any trace whatsoever on the host machine - whatever you do, works only from and through your USB!

According to their website:
A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind.

Consider the Possibilities:

  • Carry your web browser with all your favorite bookmarks
  • Carry your calendar with all your appointments
  • Carry your email client with all your contacts and settings
  • Carry your instant messenger and your buddy list
  • Carry your whole office suite along with your documents and presentations
  • Carry your antivirus program and other computer utilities
  • Carry all your important passwords and account information securely

Consider the Convenience:

  • Have your favorite websites handy to recommend to a friend or colleague
  • Have your presentation AND the required software ready to go for that big meeting
  • Have your password with you if you want to bank online while traveling
  • Have utilities handy when visiting family or friends that are having PC problems

Head over to http://www.portableapps.com to get started.

You can get more portable software from other places (start off with http://www.portablefreeware.com) - And yes, there are ways to get the whole gamut of Adobe CS3 suite of applications, Nero burning suite, heck you could have a whole operating system in your USB stick - just plug it in and boot from your USB!

However, you will have to rely on your Google-search skills to dig deeper on that ;)

On a second note, I recently came across http://www.mojopac.com - which claims to do something similar, yet different. It creates something like a Virtual Private Machine - your own customisable “Windows” that runs as a shell from a host machine (the computer you plug it into). Apparently, When you plug it into either one of your machines, you can use whatever printers you already have installed on them. You can install the productivity software you commonly use like Microsoft Office etc.

However, I’m yet to try this one out.