Are anybody familiar with http://portableapps.com/ ?
Many programs have official versions to offer installation on a USB drive, but by far not all. I'm working on making myself a "utility toolkit" USD drive that I can carry on me at all times so I'm sure I'll be able to solve all basic (and most advanced) stuff wherever I am.
Take for instance Firefox (http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable) and Notepad++ (http://portableapps.com/apps/development/notepadpp_portable). The site looks pretty serious and should be all means be safe, but I thought it would be good to ask here in advance. Does anybody have any experience with portableapps.com? Are there any reasons to be sceptical about any of the programs they offer there? Looking at the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PortableApps.com) about the site it looks pretty good at least...
I've used in the past with absolutely no issues.
Ahh, Notepad++. Possibly the most useful tool I've ever downloaded - makes editing/comparing config files a doddle.
That site looks rather handy, thanks for the heads-up Bob :)
@OB: thanks, good to hear :)
@Tutonic: yes indeed, np++ is totally invaluable for me. Use it every day at work and at home!
@the rest: one more thing I forgot: while discussing portable apps and USB utility tools: does anybody have any particular recommendation? What program will you never leave home without? What is the most valuable tool you bring with you if you are to fix e.g. some computer problems with a friend etc?
Quote from: Bob;299406... What is the most valuable tool you bring with you if you are to fix e.g. some computer problems with a friend etc?
I'm never without these two for getting rid of the nasties that a standard anti-virus app usually fails to deal with ...
Malwarebytes Anti-malware (http://malwarebytes.org/mbam.php)
SuperAntispyware (http://www.superantispyware.com/)
I'd go with BartPE: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Boots into a Windows Pre-Install environment, stuffed full of useful tools. Very useful for fixing a borked OS (or just rescuing files). This is my fixes-just-about-everything disk that I use at work.
For standalone apps, I'd go for:
Memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/). Excellent for sniffing out dodgy RAM.
HWINFO (http://www.hwinfo.com/). Very useful for finding out exactly what hardware you're dealing with.
MbrFix. I think this comes with BartPE, good for fixing broken master boot records without wiping the whole drive.
Easy Recovery Pro (http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk/file-recovery-software/). You've gotta pay for this one, but it's rather good at retrieving deleted files/folders.
I'm sure there's plenty more I've used, but I can't recall them right now.
When this topic appeared, it reminded me I was to try portable apps as I'd read about them on the eee forums and as I use a desktop and a netbook they should be ideal for keeping stuff synchronised.
After much messing about and trying setups I ended up using the http://www.liberkey.com/ menu which is very configurable, it has updates for all installed software and sets up file associations which the portableapps menu doesn't do. Initially I ran it off a 1gb usb stick plugged into a usb hub along with the keyboard, mouse, usb drives and various leads for cameras and mp3 players, now I have it on a partition on one of the usb drives until I get a faster and larger mem stick.
For any apps that liberkey hasn't included you can add manually, there's a few sites that list stand alone apps: http://www.portablefreeware.com/ http://www.pendriveapps.com/ http://no-install.com/
I've been using it for a month now and had no issues at all, I've reinstalled windows on both machines then run the menu exe and ticked the "run when windows starts" box and all my usual apps and data is already there, plus I can plug into the missus's netbook and all my stuff is there :thumb:
Total commander, also comes as u3