This stuff can be installed on any portable drive, i.e. USB thumbdrive, PDA or an iPod. You can use them at work, school, or any other place where you can plugin your device. Check them out, you can either scroll-down for relevant category, i.e office software, email tools, messengers, games, etc. or get a ‘all-in-one’ package (all essential tools) . While there are more apps for windows users, I tried to include a mac version for each essential tool. All free. Enjoy!
What is a portable program ? : A portable program is a piece of software that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any other computer. It can be your email program, your browser, system recovery tools or even an operating system. The coolest part about it, is that all of your data and settings are always stored on a thumbdrive so when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.
- Portable Office Software
- Portable Email/Calendar/ToDo Programs
- Portable Text and Voice Messengers
- Portable Media Tools (Audio / Video)
- Portable Graphics Viewers and Image Editors
- Portable Browsers and Web Tools (FTP, Feedreaders, Torrent clients…)
- Portable Security Software
- Portable Games
- Other Portable Utilities
- Portable Developer Tools (Techies Only)
- All-In-One Packages
- Portable Operating Systems (’HowTo’ Articles)
- USB ThumDrive Tips
Portable Office Software
- Abiword [Win (6.3 mb) / Mac (9.5 mb)] - word processor (compatible with Microsoft word)
- OpenOffice [Win (65 mb) / Mac (127 mb)] - free alternative to Microsoft Office (fully compatible with Microsoft Office docs)
- PDF Viewers: Sumatra [Win (1.1 mb) ], Foxit PDF Reader [Win, (1.8 mb) ]
- Notepad ++ - feature-rich Notepad replacement.
Portable Email/Calendar/ToDo Programs
- Mozilla ThunderBird - [Win (6 mb), Mac (20.5 mb), Cross-Platform (Win, Mac)] - very good email client (built-in address book, import/export, tons of addons)
- Calendars: Mozilla Sunbird [Win, 5.6mb], Sunbird [Mac, 9.7mb], Lightning [Win, 1.3mb) - ThunderBird addon
- Mail [Mac] - requires locally installed Mail.app
- iCal [Mac] - requires locally installed iCal.app
- Address Book [Mac] - requires locally installed Address Book
- Quick Mailer [Win, 20kb] - tiny program for sending quick e-mail messages
- gDisk [Mac, 1020kb] - handy program that turns your gmail account into a portable hard drive. (More stuff for gmail)
Portable Text and Voice Messengers
- All-in-One (Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, etc.): Gaim [Win, 6.9 mb], Miranda IM [Win, 1.2 mb], Adium [Mac, 15.5mb], Trillian [Win]
- iChat [Mac] - requires locally installed iChat
- Newspeak [Mac, 1mb] - Newspeak Cocoa IRC client
- Skype - exlpains how to make skype portable
Portable Media Tools (Audio / Video)
- Audacity [Win (2.4 mb), Mac (5mb)] - simple audio editor and recorder
- VLC [Win (9.3 mb), Mac (24 mb)] - powerful media player that plays almost all popular audio and video formats
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack with Media Player (resource unaccessible) - another powerful media player for playing all conceivable formats- iShout [Mac, 7mb] - record and listen to your favorite internet radios.
- CocoaJT [Mac, 8.7mb] - stream live TV programs from major broadcast channels.
Portable Graphics Viewers and Image Editors
- GIMP [Win (8.6 mb), Mac (87.5 mb)] - free alternative to Photoshop
- IrfanView [Win, 1013kb] - fast graphic viewer with basic image editing features
- XNView [Win, Mac, Linux] - image viewer and converter (supports more then 400 image formats)
- Inkscape [Mac, 24.6mb] - scalable vector graphics editor
Portable Browsers and Internet Tools (FTP, Feedreaders, Torrent Clients…)
- Firefox [Win (5.8 mb), Mac (21.9mb), Cross-platform (Win, Mac) ]
- Other browsers: Camino [Mac, 16.2mb], Opera [Win], Safari [Mac] - requires installed safari
- Feedreaders (RSS, Atom …): RSSOwl [Mac, 5mb], Feed [Mac, 564kb], GreatNews [Win], Sage [Win, 0.2 mb]
- FTP Clients: Filezilla [Win, 2.3 mb], FireFTP [Win, 0.1mb], CyberDuck [Mac, 9.9mb]
- TrayURL [Win] - bookmark manager
- uTorrent [Win] - popular torrent downloader
Portable Security Software
- Antivirus: ClamWin [Win, 5.9mb], Dr.Web CureIt [Win, 5.5 mb]
- Keepass Password [Win, 1mb] - securely store and manage your passwords
- Omziff [Win, 0.5mb] - lets you encrypt/decrypt a file, using secure encryption algorithms. Also includes a password generator, file shredder, file splitter and some more tools.
- LockNote [Win] - simple text file that lets you store sensitive info with 256bit password encryption.
- RoboFor2Go [Win] - secure password manager and form filler
- Smart Sniff [Win, 57kb] - lets you inspect network traffic that passes via your network adapter.
Portable Games
Other Portable Utilities
- 7Zip [Win, 1.1 mb] - file archiver and compressor, supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR and more
- Registry Tweaker [Win, 1.52mb] - registry tweaking tool
- Restoration [Win, 229kb] - handy program for recovering deleted (or formatted) files
- YamiPod [Win] - powerful iPod manager (copy mp3/AAC files to and from your iPod, import/export playlists, search for songs, remove duplicates,..). More iPod tools
- Drive Manager [Win, 1191 kb] - quick summary for each local and removable drive.
- PStart - lets you organize and create menu-like list for quicker access to your portable programs.
- SyncPAppX - script that syncs preferences between portable and local applications.
- RQ Money - handy utlity to manage your credits and debts
- SIW - a system analysis tool that tells you almost everything you need to know about a computer, i.e. hardware, configuration settings, etc.
- WinAudit - one more analysis tool
- Convert [Win, 155 kb] - fast metric unit conversion tool (distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass…)
- UK Calender [Win, 321kb] - straightforward calendar with ToDo and reminders
- CPU-Z [Win] - provides detailed info about your processor and other components
- Country Codes [Win, 1358 kb] - a small database of country codes and additional information for all countries.
- TreePad Lite [Win, 866kb] - personal database program, lets you store all your notes, emails, bookmarks, etc. into one well-structured file
- StartupList [Win, 158 kb] - displays all items that are in any way related to your computer startup and are executed without any user interactions
- eTextReader [Win, 279kb] - read plain text files provided by Project Gutenberg in a book-like manner.
- Index Your Files [Win, 640kb] - provides an easy way to create index databases (of specified folders and drives) for quick file/term search
- RockXP [win, 768kb] - handy utility for retrieving Win XP’s product key
- WhoisThisDomain [Win, 42kb] - view owner and registration info for any domain name
- Converter - portable unit convertsion utility
Portable Developer Tools (Techies Only)
- Nvu [Win (7.3 mb), Mac (12 mb)] - easy-to-use webpage editor. Simpler alternative to Dreamweaver and Microsft Frontpage
- Server2Go - apache webserver (no configurations needed)
- InstantRails[Win, 60mb] - contains Ruby, Rails, Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run.
- Putty [Win, 0.9 mb] - lightweight telnet and SSH client
- Follow-Me IP - displays your external IP address
- XAMPP [Win, 25/17 mb] - integrated server package of Apache, mySQL, PHP and Perl. Just Unzip and Run
- HTTP File Server [Win] - simple and easy-to-use file server for personal file sharing.
- CurrPorts [Win, 46kb]- lets you view a list of ports that are currently in use, along with applications that use them
- FTP Servers: Quick’n Easy FTP Server [Win, 355kb], PureFTPdManager [Mac, 10.9mb]
All-In-One Packages
- PortableApps Suite [Win, 89.5mb] - includes 7 programs for essential needs (office, email, IM client, etc.) + cool Startup manager and backup utility
- FSuite [Mac, 668.3mb] - over 30 useful tools in one file (Office, Graphic, Audio, Video, Internet, Developer Tools and Games)
Portable Operating Systems (’HowTo’ Articles)
USB ThumDrive Tips
That’s mainly it… In case you’re looking for something that wasn’t mentioned above, there are a couple of resources you may want to check out. These are Portablefreeware.com and Tinyapps.org
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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Mac, office worker, windows tips
This is a great list. I will recommend this to my readers.
Thanks Elwyn… I have no doubt that your readers will love it.
Great list of portable software. I will definately place a link at http://www.php-shop-system.com
Thanks Michael, I am sure your readers will enjoy it as well.
gostaria de cadastrar email
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack with Media Player
(Bad Link)
@Takashi
Thanks for letting me know, it’s fixed now. For some reason the source site for the codec pack no longer exist. And unfortunately, I couldn’t find any working alternative source.
This is working fine:
http://www.free-codecs.com/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack_download.htm
I recommend you to include Bookmark Base (http://www.bookmarkbase.com) to the “Portable Browsers and Internet Tools” section.
@Andrew
Seems like an excellent tool, but unfortunately it’s not free ($20). I would rather recommend installing free Bookmark sync extension on a portable version of Firefox. Not as flexible as BookmarkBase but should be fine for most folks.
greate list! thanks
great list. I recommend AutoMee: http://automee.pxax.com for automating tasks.
[…] that you always have important info/software with you. To get started check out our massive list of free portable apps. (Note: iPhone drive isn’t a freeware, costs $9.95) iphone […]
süper bir liste tebrikler (great list. congratulations)
I’m currently using FF 2.0.* on my USB drive as i type this
cool
Woah! Superb list. I managed to make the ones I downloaded from of these to work with the Portable Apps menu by creating a Self-extracting archive and then using Install App from the menu. It’s cooler than going everytime to your drive and double-clicking the app icon!
[All except opera... It detects only .exe whereas Opera@USB needs op.jar to be clicked to run.]
Btw, you missed Notepad++, I do know that you can’t note all of them.. still pointing out. Thanks again for the list!
@Ashish
Thanks for the the heads up on Notepad++. I am going to add it to the list.
BTW, you can also create a portable start menu for all your shortcuts.
Aibek
Actually, I wanted to inform you about MPlayer portable but while posting this comment I remembered only Notepad ++ . lol!
Yes, I think using PStart. But as of now, all of the external programs are added to the PortableApps Menu thanks to the procedure I described above. Problem is it detects the .exe’s and Opera@usb requires the .jar file to be run. Now if they could only allow dragging shortcuts to the menu, it would totally kill the competition!
Thanks for the cool list again!
Yeap, shortcut drag’n drop functionality would make it as good as desktop itself.
excellent
There are also:
Portable Vienna RSS reader for OS X:
http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps/vienna/
Portable Celtx OS X screenwriting:
http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps/celtx
95% of OS X applilcations are portable in the mean that you can install them with a drag and drop and put them on a USB stick (or everywhere) instead in the default Application folder. What make them really “Portable” by name is the fact that all user/app preferences remain and are carried on the USB stick and not on guest hard disk.
@Gand
Thanks for sharing, although I have never used Mac before it’s good to know.
Restrictions on Portable Apps, about just allowing exe files can be surpassed using BatchCompiler (search google for “JPSoft_batcom10uk.zip”), which allows one to compile a batch file into binary executable.
Functionalities like drag’n'drop, categories, and much more, can be added easily using Karl McMurdo mod r30, for “Portable Apps Menu”, available here (http://portableapps.xrx.ca/portable-apps-menu-mod/).
Cheers
thanks a lot, I have been looking for this for a while.
tnx
Such a great Valuable site.
Keep it up
cheers
isuru
Hi,
Ethereal portable is here:
http://www.trsecurity.net/portable
Hi There,
Hamachi portable seems to be a bad link. It leads to a unit conversion utility. (I recommend Hamachi to anyone in need of a simple to setup VPN).
I wonder how a portable version would work (on my laptop it runs through an installed Hamachi network driver). Maybe a portable proxy that logs into the Hamachi network?
Thanks for the great list!
- Jordan
Add XYplorer, the portable file manager. It adds some highly interesting portability features such as Portable File Associations and Application Relative Paths.
SOODYOD yod yium very good
Just made a portable version of TeraCopy
http://www.codesector.com/files/teracopyportable.paf.exe
Just made a portable version of TeraCopy.
Thank you for these shareing informations
I Like portable soft all the time, because its easy to carry & will not broken if my windows error…
but many portable soft not so handy sometimes, they have many bugs & cant update..
You mention KeePass for Windows, but there’s an official Mac port as well: KeePassX - The Official KeePassX Homepage - there are versions for Panther, Tiger and Leopard.
I have both the Windows version and the Tiger version on my USB stick, and they work with the same database, so I always have all my passwords and other data available!
Good list.
I always throw the installers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint Viewers on my stick just in case I need them in a pinch.
The recommended game ‘Gem Drop’ has a virus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your link to the game gemdrop (windows binary download) has a trojan horse. Win32:Agent-KGH [Trj]
I have been using XYplorer for 3 years now and I would like to suggest it for this list. Its key features are: Powerful search, User-friendly, Multi-tabbed, Instant preview of many file extensions, portable file associations, User defined commands, customized shortcuts and many more. And it is developed actively (2-3 betas per week).
Check out XYplorer
You can add to the list the Winamp Portable edition to download here
http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/Multimedia/Audio/Windows-Portable-Applications-Portable-Winamp.shtml
Helpful topic,Thanks …
Hi I work on what I hope is a handy and now portable timesheets system.
http://www.pillaritservices.com
Makes my life easier. Let me know if you think it is good enough for your list.
Thanks
RK
first off - This is a fantastic site!!! However………..FYI, I just installed Treepad free edition with the idea that I would use it for a bookmark manager. Wellllll…..It takes one of the paid editins to get tht feature. FYI
thnx for this great info
for more fine things like this goto http://www.gnomergon.com
Did you forget to mention Dos Box Portable. A complete dos system for usb stick, runs on windows only, fairly compact(only 1mb). Works like a charm. can even run windows 3.1 on it. seePortableApps.com to find it.
We wrote a weblog article about setting up some of the software you name in your list. It includes FileZilla and Portable Firefox to be used on both Apple and Windows workstations. It can be found on: Voys.nl. I want to recommend TrueCrypt as well. It’s a file encryption app.
Hope its usefull!
All the applications are Excellent, but I cannot use on the network, where they have restricted everything to run………I can only access USB, run IM app, but cannot connect….. is there any way around to connect to portable IM chat,?????????????
Thank you….
Great list! You missed my all time favorite, gotta-have-it all-in-one portable software package radsoft’s XPT. It’s not for everyone - it’s heavyweight ‘Extreme Power Tools’ for developers, adminstrators and the like. And even though there’s upwards of 150 applications, it’ll still fit on a USB stick with room to spare. If nothing else, the incredible file management system makes it worth having.
All,
Being on the move much, I have found running my apps from an USB stick invaluable.
One essential is Skype which allows you to talk free (if the host PC has mike & headset) or at least IM …
N
You know there once was an idea that Microsoft would run Microsoft Office from a USB key.
The other question i have is does a USB really speed up the performance of Windows Vista? I heard rumors to this effect.
Devicepedia,
I have not heard about the Vista rumor, but here are some Vista speed-up hints
http://www.hl7.com.au/Fix&Optimize-Slow-Windows-Vista.htm
Ok thanks very much some interesting hints in it
I just bought a transcend 4gb usb flash drive so i dropped by here to learn how to use it safely and effectively. I was just curious about ” blogging tools ” if there are any avaiable as portable apps.
cheers
i have used a portable blogging tool before.. its portable blogjet try googling…
It would be great if you would add our text snippets organizer program, Clipboard Manager and Autotext Utility PhraseExpress USB Edition to the list.
It is free-of-charge and is designed for use with USB Memory Sticks.
Demo video:
http://demo.phraseexpress.com
Download:
http://www.phraseexpress.com/PhraseExpress_USB.zip
Thank you.
Michael
PhraseExpress Team
http://www.phraseexpress.com
Thank you…..