First head on over to PortableApps.com. You’ll be able to get just about any type of software, ALL FOR FREE, and all available as a small portable application that you can take along with you wherever you go. There are lots of choices. You can either just grab their suite, which comes with the most popular apps ready to go, or you can pick and choose.

I’m starting with their Base edition, which gives me just the essentials with the PortableApps menu, backup system, and utilities. Then I downloaded the following apps that I either use on a regular basis (the full editions), or will use just because they offer a portable edition.

7-Zip (open .zip files)
FileZilla (FTP)
Firefox (browser)
Thunderbird (email client)
Gimp (image editor)
KeePass (password manager)
Miranda (Instant Messenging for MSN and Yahoo)
OpenOffice (Open source alternative to MS Office)

There are TONS more apps to choose from, and you can get all the information you need about it all on the PortableApps site. If you need even more portable apps than that site offers, you can see a larger list here, and a list of portable games here.

I’m looking forward to trying this out. I’d love to be less dependent upon my computer’s whims. I’d also love to be able to take all my important apps, settings, and data with me when I travel. We’ll see if this will work for me or not.

Have you tried this? If so, please let me know what you think. If not, and you decide to try it along with me, come back and let me know how it goes.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: First head, image editor, Miranda, password manager, portable apps, PortableApps, thumb drive, usb flash drive, Yahoo
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.