What Ho!: PortableApps - My Software Travels With Me!

I recently discovered PortableApps, an amazing new way of packaging and running software applications. PortableApps allows you to put your favorite applications on removable media like a USB flash drive or a portable hard disk. You can run your programs directly from the removable media on any Windows PC and not leave anything behind when you disconnect and move on.

And to top it all, PortableApps is Free! 100% Free. And it works like a charm.

Okay here is how this thing works - You download the PortableApps Suite, and install it into the root folder of your removable media. There are a number of different options available. if you have a large disk then you could use the full suite or use the Lite version which comes with a smaller set of pre-installed applications.

Available Choices:

PortableApps Suite (Standard Edition): ClamWin Portable (antivirus), Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition (web browser), Gaim Portable (instant messaging), OpenOffice.org Portable (office suite), Sudoku Portable (puzzle game), Mozilla Sunbird - Portable Edition (calendar/task manager) and Mozilla Thunderbird - Portable Edition (email client) and runs comfortably from a 512MB drive.

PortableApps Suite (Lite Edition): Uses AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable and runs comfortably from a 256MB drive.

PortableApps Suite (Base Edition): If you'd like to pick and choose exactly which apps to include, you can try Portable Apps Suite (Base Edition). This is a stripped down package with just the PortableApps Menu, PortableApps Backup utility and custom folders, icons and autorun. It's less than 1MB installed, so it's a great option for smaller drives.

I downloaded the Standard Edition and installed it on my portable Transcend hard disk (80 Gb in a Transcend IDE to USB casing). PortableApps installed without problems and created the following directory structure:

E:\>dir
Volume in drive E is Walkie2
Volume Serial Number is 80EE-5425

Directory of E:\

31/07/2007 09:34 PM    <DIR>                Documents
01/08/2007 11:34 AM    <DIR>               PortableApps
19/11/2006 06:30 AM                  52,476 StartPortableApps.exe
31/07/2007 03:14 PM    <DIR>            xampp
               1 File(s)         52,476 bytes
               7 Dir(s) 14,979,813,376 bytes free

E:\>

I then browsed through the rest of the PortableApps web site and downloaded other applications that I wanted (GIMP, XAMP, VLC Media Player, Audacity, Notepad++ etc). Mow I have a fully configured PortableApps setup, with FireFox browser (with multiple proxy switching support), Thunderbird for work and personal emails, Gaim for work instant messenger & Yahoo, XAMP (Apache, MySQL, PHP, Tomcat, Perl), Java 1.5 runtime, etc.

Plugin & Play!

This of course feeds my need to have all my emails, bookmarks, contacts etc at my fingertips. And my favorite color schemes, FireFox Enhancements, Plugins, RSS Feeds, etc. With this I will not have to keep synchronizing my work laptop with the home PC! And of course when I have access to neither I will still have my complete setup! Like when I visit Dad and have to use his PC.

PortableApps has a vibrant developer community and I see that they are adding new applications every now and then. They also have an excellent discussion group.

I am writing this post using FireFox Portable running off the external hard disk.

PortableApps menu running on my PC. Note Thunderbird Portable & Gaim Portable in the system tray.