Flash drives are handy little devices that fit on a key chain or into small pocket. With a handful of free portable apps specifically designed to run off a flash drive, someone on the move can plug their drive into any computer and get down to business fast.
Portable Application Suites
There are several suites that make it easy to install a selection of portable apps under Windows and feature an easy to use menu navigation system. These include the ever popular PortableApps.com, as well as CodeSafe and LiberKey.
Get Productive
For an office suite for your Word and Excel needs there is LibreOffice Portable. This is a very popular collection of Office-compatible software apps which is completely compatible with Word, Excel, etc.
For getting away from distractions, FocusWriter is a cross-platform writing app that removes the writer from the rest of the operating system and increases productivity accordingly.
Imagery
For the kind of cross-platform image editor to give the big boys a run for their money, GIMP Portable does not do a bad job at all. Everything from professional photo editing, Photoshop-like touch-ups, and simple adjustments are all covered here.
IrfanView Portable is a perennial favourite Windows app for quick and dirty image viewing. With an increasing feature list as it has developed out, this app fills the gap for simple image viewing with a minimum of fuss and only the most essential image options included.
The Web
All the major web browsers are included like Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome.
These all work as you might expect.
For web developers and FTP access, the old standby FileZilla is available as a portable app. For those users that prefer to access FTP from within their web browser rather than using a separate app to upload, FireFTP is a cross-platform add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser which works well.
Get Talkin’
Popular instant messenger Pidgin Portable is a cross-platform, cross-messenger app that lets users connect across a variety of immediate messaging networks from within a single app. The list of messengers that Pidgin can communicate like presently excludes Skype, but there is a Skype Portable app to ensure you can also keep in touch with all your Skype contacts too.
Media
VLC Media Player remains a great media player for all types of content. For your audio editing and recording needs, Audacity is a good option.
Security
For good security, use LastPass to access your passwords. There is a master password, which prevents the need to enter your passwords on each new session. This is especially useful when access the web through an internet cafe with less than stellar security measures.
Antivirus and Antispyware
ClamWin is a solid anti-virus app that will track down viruses and the software updates itself almost every day. Detection rates are among the highest in the anti-virus software industry.
Not all anti-virus software is usable as a pocket app. SUPERAntiSpyware is useful anti-spyware app that runs on a flash drive. The program saves itself under a different name frequently, so that it cannot be blocked by nefarious spyware that try to attack spyware scanner apps in order to go undetected.
Spybot Search and Destroy does an excellent job of locating adware, spyware, dialers, and key-loggers that are infecting the computer. This has a portable version to ensure that your data can stay safe.
