Portable Applications

A portable application is a software that does not require installation and should not leave traces of itself on the PC's they are executed on. They can be copied from PC to PC, put on a CD, executed from a USB drive or from a shared network drive.  This web page contains sources for portable program launchers/menus, applications, and tools.

Menus

  • PStart is simple tray tool used to start portable applications. Its easy to setup and use. I am currently using this program launcher/menu.
  • WinPenPack - has several free packages of portable applications ready for use with their free program launcher. It has a lot going for it but I still prefer PStart.
  • ASuite is an open source clone of PStart, but with a few clever features of its own. I do not use it because I get access errors when running it from a Network drive.
  • Portable Apps - PortableApps Suite" has a nice menu that comes with a collection of portable apps. You can easily add other portable applications to its menu.
  • Portable Startup Utility - I have not tried it. Seems to be donationware
  • QSEL - new portable app menu. Very small and simple with sub groups.

File Utilities


Burn ISO

  • BurnCDCC - great tool for burning ISO images a to a CD/DVD/BD disc

Compression

  • IZArc2Go - portable version of IZArc which supports more compression formats, extract ISO images, and is faster than 7-Zip
  • 7-Zip Portable v4.57 hosted by PortableApps.com. Little easier to use than IZArc
  • Universal Extractor v1.5 (2007-02-22) from Legroom - can extract from all compression formats and most installation files. Use UniExtract Binary Archive for the portable version.

Delete Locked Files


  • DelAny v2.1 - Delete a file that is locked

File Manager 

  • Q-Dir (review) - is a good replacement for windows explorer. By default, it shows four windows. To change its appearance to be more like windows explorer follow these procedures:
    1. There is row of squares along the top toolbar. Click the square on the right without any lines in it. This changes it to one window.  Try some of the other squares to see what the  the various settings look like.
    2. To remove the bold. Click Extras > List-View and unselect "Use Color-Filter". Wait a few seconds and it is gone. 
    3. To add a tree view of your drives. Click Extras > Tree-View.  Check "One 4 All". You will need to move the border between the windows to see more of the new tree view of your drives.
    4. To remove the bold font from the just added explorer window. Click Extras > Tree-View. Check "I hate colors"
  • Ultra Explorer - Very nice file manager. Takes a little work to make it portable. 
  • Free Commander - Took a little work to get the the font and color I wanted but is a very nice file manager.
  • A43 File Management Utility - has a lot of functions but is different from Windows explorer

File Search

File Viewer

  • Universal Viewer - great viewer. Allows you to browse very large files quickly.

Synchronization Tool

  • SyncExp - can define a separate tasks for each set of directories
  • PathSync - very fast comparison. Nice report
  • DSynchronize - nice options but slower than the other tools
  • ICEmirror - quick with clean GUI
  • ozSync - did not like something about folder
  • SyncBack - is very fast but I don't know if it is portable. It might just be the fastest.
  • Microsoft's SyncToy - recommended by best 46 Freeware. It might not be portable. Slower than other tools.

Text Editors

  • PSP editor v4.5.3 - Best text editor with support for many file types and loaded with tools. To make it portable requires a little work.
  • Notepad++ v5.0 - Very popular open source windows  notepad editor replacement
  • BDVNotepad v5.1 from badevlad - Free windows notepad replacement with a nice set of features
  • Metapad by Alexander Davidson. Nice free, small, and fast text editor

Text File Comparison

  • ExamDiff - Option to show only the differences by highlighting the entire line
  • KDiff3 - shows the sources and highlights only the differences. Has a Directory compare capability but I prefer the Synchronization tools
  • TreeComp - I keep it because its portable and fast



Internet


Browser

  • Mozilla FireFox Portable Edition v3.0 (2008-06-17) hosted by PortableApps.com. I prefer this over opera portable version when I need a portable browser. Its small and quick. To bad it does have a cool features that Opera does. But sense it is more reliable than Opera I choose it as my preferred portable browser. On some PC's I use this instead of installing Firefox.
  • Opera Portable v9.2.7 (2008-07-09) from Kejuk. 

FTP


Web Programming


Office Tools

  • AbiWord Portable v2.6.3 (2008-05-04) hosted by PortableApps.com. Great free word processor
  • OpenOffice.org Portable v2.4.1 (2008-07-06) hosted by PortableApps.com. The complete open office suite that is portable. Currently installed size is 240 MB.
  • Spread32 - v1.18 (1999-11-12)  (Last Free Version)  - Great small and portable spreadsheet




Security


Anti-Spyware

  • Runscanner v1.6.3 (2008-02-23) from Runscanner. Free windows system utility which scans your system for all configured running programs. You can use runscanner to detect autostart programs, spyware, adware, homepage hijackers, unverified drivers and other problems. Beginners can use it but be careful when selecting items to be removed. This tool is often used to identify & cleanup spyware other tools can't.

Password Recovery 

  • NirSoft has 22 free password recovery tools.  Here are some of the tools I have found useful.



System Utilities


Disk Space

  • SpaceMonger v1.4 (2000-10-16) from Sixty-Five (last free version)  
  • Windows Directory Statistics (WinDirStat)  by Bernhard Seifert (Open Source). For the portable version download the zip file. Remove setup.exe file, it is not required for portable operation. 
  • Xinorbis3 - is quick and has many features

File Recovery

Often you look for a file recovery tool after you delete the file. Installing or downloading one of these tools to the drive with the deleted file could overlay it and make it unrecoverable. This file recovery tools are all portable and you should download to a PC without the deleted files. Again, you may overlay just by using your browser on the PC to download because browsers create a bunch of files when being used.

Sense these tools are all portable to can burn them to CD, add them to a USB , or put them on a hard drive you can map to.

Before you delete a file you might to download these now. You never know when you will need one.

  • Recuva v1.15.327 (2008-06-11) from Piriform Ltd maker of CCleaner
  • Restoration v2.5.14 (2003-04-14) by Brian Kato
  • SoftPerfect File Recovery v1.1 (2007-03-14)  from SoftPerfect
  • Recover Files v2.1 (2007-09-07) from Udelete & Unerase Inc
  • DataRecovery v2.4.3 by TOKIWA 
  • Undelete_Plus v2.94 (2007-10-08) from TouchStone Software Corporation (free non-commercial use)
  • For additional tools see Portable Applications Freeware site.

Hex Editors

  • HxD - Hexeditor v1.7.6.3 (2008-05-03) by Maël Hörz from mh-nexus - Is a free hex editor that is fast and supports large files.

  • Hex Editor XVI32 v2.5.1 (2003-08-02) by Christian Maas from mh-nexus - Nice two panel hex editor with useful features.

  • Hex-Ed v1.01.04 (2004) by Niels Horn from mh-nexus - Nice two panel hex editor with nice features.

  • WHD Hex File Dumper v1.5 (1997) by Chris Losinger - Simple Hex filer viewer and editor.

Program Uninstallers

  • Free Uninstaller v1.1 (2007-08-31) by Jacek Pazera from Pazera-Software.com - Provides some much need additional information to help identify what was installed. Identifies all invalid installation entries for removal. Offers quick links to Google,yahoo, and MSN to search for additional information on the installation.

  • MyUninstaller v1.40 (2008-05-22) from Nir Sofer - Great alternative to the standard Windows Control Panel Add/Remove tool. Sort by installation date is very handy for finding out what was recently installed. Provides support for many different languages.

Registry and System File Cleaners

  • CCleaner v2.07.575 from Piriform Ltd - Great all purpose PC  cleaner. Its registry cleaner is very thorough and great at  removing entries for software that has been uninstalled. Its file cleaner is great at cleaning unneeded files.

  • Easy Cleaner - all purpose cleaner with a very good registry cleaner. To make it portable you just need its executable.

  • RegSeeker v1.55 (2007-06-08) (free for personnel use) from Hoverdesk.net. Very Powerful registry cleaner with many nice features. It is very aggressive in what it removes from the registry so you might want select only what you want removed.

  • System File Defragmenter v2.32 (2006-11-01) by Mark Russinovich from Sysinternals (Microsoft). Defragment Registry Hives, paging files, and event logs when the computer is started.

  • Regshot v1.8.2 (2007-11-03) by TiANWEI. This tool is used to take and compare snapshots of the registry. Useful in determining what is changed in the registry during a software installation.

Startup

  • AutoRuns v9.21 (2008-05-13) by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell from Sysinternals (Microsoft). Shows all programs configured to run at boot up or login. They are listed by order of execution. Programs are included from the startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other registry keys. You can switch to view settings for different users on the same computer.

  • Starter v5.6.2.8 (2006-09-04) by Lion from CodeStuff. List all startup programs with a clean easy to use interface. Manage the execution of startup programs by temporarily disabling selected entries, editing them, creating new ones, or deleting them permanently. Finally,listing all actively running processes and services and providing extended information about each.

  • StartupList v2.2 by Merijn. A simple tool that lists every auto starting program on your system. Commonly used to troubleshoot malfunctioning systems, trojan/viral infections, new spyware/malware breed and the likes.Compatible with: All Windows versions

  • ShellExView v1.22 from NirSoft - Displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer. Allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.

System Information

  • WinAudit  v2.27 (2008-10-09) from Parmavex. Detail computer audit and inventory of software, licenses, security, hardware, network settings.. Support all versions of Windows.  Alternate site.

  • SIW - System Information for Windows (2008-06-04) (free for  non-commercial use) from Topala Software Solutions. Gathers detailed information about your computer broken down into the categories; Software, Hardware, Network, Tools, and real-time monitors. Can save the report in variety of file formats. I especially like how it identifies multi-core/hyper threaded processors. Supports most versions of Windows. 

  • CPU-Z v1.45 by Franck Delattre from CPUID. Provides very detail information on the CPU, Mainboard, and Memory.

System Monitoring

  • AccessEnum v1.32 (2006-11-01) by Bryce Cogswell from Sysinternals (Microsoft). Provides a  full view of your file system and registry security settings.

  • DiskMon v2.01 (2006-11-01) by Mark Russinovich from Sysinternals (Microsoft). Displays and logs all disk activity.

  • Process Moniotor v1.33 (2008-05-12) by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell from Sysinternals (Microsoft). Monitor file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.

Task Manager

  • Process Explorer v11.20 (2008-05-28) by Mark Russinovich from Sysinternals (Microsoft). A feature rich version of task manager that does all that Windows task manager does plus much more.

  • DTaskManager v1.51 (2008-02-05) by Dimitrious Coutsoumbas (Dimio) from D-Software. It is a Task Manager engineered with additional functions. In addition, its clear clean interface makes it easier to use and understand than Windows Task Manager. Supports Windows 2000/XP/Vista.


Portable Application Website Repositories


  • Portable freeware collection - Very active portable freeware collection. This is my first stop when looking for a free application regardless if it is portable or not.
  • Portable Apps - PortableApps Suite" is a collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.
  • Tiny App - Contains many tiny apps
  • WinPenPack - has ready made packages of free portable application ready for use with their free program launcher. The packages vary in size and content based on their intended purpose. Warning:Some of the packaged applications are not portable. For example OrbitDownloader sets itself up to auto start just by running it the first time.
  • 100 Portable Apps for your USB stick (Not for Mac and PC)
  • Portable USB Drive Apps
  • Wikipedia list of portable applications
  • Dirk Loss' Win-Tools - this list is much bigger than mine, has tons of tools, mostly for sysadmins and power users
  • Essential Software Collection - nice collection
  • Pricelessware - nice collection of free tools. I don't know how many are portable.
  • TopFreeware - has a large well organized collection of freeware  (NOSPYWARE) application with many of them being portable. The description of each free application is simple and to the point. The downloads are not hosted on this site, instead remote links are provided. 

Last Updated:Wednesday, 03-Sep-2008 19:11:20 CEST