A little more about portable apps

I just got a new laptop, and, instead of installing all kinds of crap, I decided to try running as much of the software as portable applications as possible.

At this point, I’ve stuffed portable versions of: Firefox, Sylpheed,  Gaim and FileZilla onto the machine, and use them daily. They work just as well as the installed versions.

Meanwhile, for other applications I need, of course, I run them off of my USB flash drive (2 Gb RiData).

Of course, there is stuff that I’ve installed, like IrfanView 4.00, AVG, ZoneAlarm, etc. I’m not a complete portable-purist!

So far, so good. And the fringe benefit I get is faster boot and shutdown times!

Portable app listing posted

Put up a page showing what I’ve got on my USB drive at the moment.

Basically, I want a portable office, that I can plug into practically any Win machine and have my own set of applications, tools, documents, etc.

Use of encryption is critical – and careful selection of what to encrypt is required. For example, I can encrypt everything in the “Documents” folder, but if I don’t also encrypt the stuff in the “PortableApps\Sylpheed” folder, all my emails will be readable by anybody.

BTW – anybody got a system for making sure you don’t leave your flashdrive plugged into somebody’s computer when you leave?? I’ve only done it once in the past month or so, but it was unpleasant all the same.

arbitraryVice