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If you are a thumb drive user and have a few megabytes to spare, you will find this tip useful. PortableApps.com currently offers “portable” versions of applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Gaim, and OpenOffice. These apps will run right off any standard USB flash drive without having to install the application on a computer it’s plugged into. Keeping some basic programs on your thumb drive can save you the hassle of having to download and install the application on other machines and will also maintain your bookmarks, settings, and customizations.
To Install a Portable Application:
- Pick an application and download
- Insert your drive and select the file
- Browse to the location of your drive
- Hit “OK” and it should begin extracting
Once complete you should be able to select the “.exe” file on your thumb drive to launch the application of your choice. PortableApps also offers a “Suite”, which will install a variety of free and open source programs. However installing this package may consume over 200MB of space and isn’t recommend for those with small storage capacities. We recommend picking and installing apps that you know you will use manually so space won’t be wasted for applications you probably will never use. Note: Your thumb drive can still be used for storage as always even with applications installed.
Links: PortableApps Suite | Applications List
Buy: Sandisk 1GB Cruzer Micro ($25)
Related: Use An iPod For Password Recovery
