Today I want to go through a bunch of amazing resources from where you can get tons of free portable applications which can be installed or simply unpacked on any external storage device(USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drives and etc). Once you get your favorite programs on a USB stick or something similar you can use them from your office, school, friend’s PC, etc. It’s in a way like taking software part of your computer wherever you go, it can be your firefox(incl. your settings and bookmarks), email program(with all the settings), office program, games, media player, image editor and lots more.
Being able to install firefox(review) as a portable application is already something awesome and compelling because, similarly to regular version portable one can also utilize any of available firefox extensions, making it much more then just a browser. I mean it’s just a USB stick but possibilities are literally limitless, for instance installing greasemonkey addon on your portable firefox will let you do almost anything from downloading youtube videos to removing ads from favorite websites(myspace). Or add to it recently discussed gspace addon and you’ll be able to use your gmail account as online storage tool from any computer. more, more and more ….
Where to get free portable software?
There are many websites where you can get all sorts of portable applications, and mostly free. Two of the most popular resources for windows users are PortableApps.com and PortableFreeware.com. Check them out, in case you like something and feel like trying out simply download program on your PC and unpack it into your external device. Portableapps.com also has portable apps suite, all-in-one tool that incorporates a firefox web browser, thunderbird email client, openOffice office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably, definitely something good to start with.
When it comes to MAC users a bunch of resources available as well, have a look at Sourceforge.net - OS X Portable Applications(approx. 25 programs) if you find nothing interesting there check out some of the other options I have listed below.
More Portable Applications for Windows:
More for Mac:
Some Related Articles and Tips:
Technorati Tags: portable, applications, software, mac, windows, usb, ipod
Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: firefox tips, How-To, Mac, office worker
Feel free to digg it upto the front page of digg:
http://digg.com/software/How_to_Turn_USB_Device_into_Almost_Full_Scale_PC
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Nice resource> i’ve had a look through some of them and there is an excellent choice.
I got a list of what I use as a designer here: http://barefootcreative.co.uk/portal/2006/12/21/12/
good work! This should definitely go to the digg’s home page
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I found this article extremely informative, but I couldn’t help but notice that the I-flapp was not on your list. I have had mine for a few months and love it! It has many of the same features and capable of even more, than some of the items on your list. I love how I am able to carry my personal desktop around where ever I go, and able to access all of my programs without leaving any of my information behind! I can make any computer anywhere mine at any given time!
Thanks for the comment comment Suzan
The idea of this post was to list free portable programs. That’s why there are no gadget recommendations here..;-)