article

This is a list of software programs that are not required to be "installed" onto a computer's permanent storage device to be executed, and can be stored on a removable storage such as a USB flash drive and used on multiple computers. Ideally it can be configured to read its configuration from the same location as the software. This should not be confused with software portability, which is the ability for software to be run or compiled with little modification on diverse computing platforms. Most software on this list can be run on multiple computers of the same hardware and operating system platform only.

The distinction "portable" is mostly inapplicable for Apple Macintosh software, as the standard packaging and installation method of the Macintosh platform makes most applications already portable. However, most Macintosh applications store their preferences on the computer rather than the drive they are being run from; while it would be possible to configure an application to behave differently, this is uncommon. Portable Macintosh apps are also included in the below list where available.

See also: List of open source software packages, list of Unix programs, list of GNU packages, list of KDE applications, list of GNOME applications, freeware, shareware, public domain, proprietary software.

Internet

Download managers

  • HTTP Get - compact manager used for downloading all web content via HTTP
  • SpiderZilla (site) - Firefox/Mozilla extension which works as a website downloader
  • Speedy (site) - simple download manager, which uses up to four connections per file to increase download speed
  • WackGet (site) - open source, minimalist download manager, which maintains a list of files in the order you indicate
  • Web Downloader (site)
  • Wget (site)

Email Clients

Email Servers

Instant messaging

IRC

RSS Readers

Podcast managers

  • Podcatcher on a stick (site) - installs on the MP3 player/USB flash drive and downloads podcasts to its USB harddrive. Supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
  • myPodder (site) - the next generation of "Podcatcher on a Stick" from the same developers. Ties in to web services that provides a universal one-click subscription from any web site or directory without installing anything on your computer.

Portable Search Engine

P2P file sharing

Web Browsers:

  • Keep in mind that some web browsers may cause problems while in archive since they tend to constantly backup their own history files, which need to be subsequently archived. Though this doesn't necessarily foretell that an issue is present, many users may find it irritating to be forced to constantly backup those files. In that case you have two choices; either take the browser out of archive entirely or change your preferences on that browser so certain temporary files are not stored.

Wikis

Networking

FTP Clients

FTP Servers

Program management

SMS Messaging

Telnet, SSH clients

  • portaPuTTY - A hacked version of PuTTY that stores all its information in files, not in the registry.
  • PuTTY (site)
  • WinSCP - Freeware SFTP and SCP client for Windows.

Miscellaneous

Multimedia

File Converters

CD/DVD Burning

Codecs

Editors

  • Audacity:
    • Portable Audacity (site) (Site and app in French but you can change the application to run in English once you have loaded it)
    • Portable Audacity (site)
    • Portable Audacity (site) for Mac OS X
    • X-Audacity (site)
  • mp3DirectCut (site)
  • Media Tagger (site)
  • MP3 Tag Tools (site)
  • Subtitle Workshop: (site)
  • Taginator (site) - Taginator is a program that allows you to batch write MP3 Tags for multiple MP3 files at once.
  • U-myx (site) Interactive music format, enables music fans to make their own, personal mixes of major artists songs, without requiring any specialist knowledge or equipment. The standalone U-myx editing application can only be downloaded with sample files.

Media Players

Recorders

Slide Show Applications

Video Authoring

Video Capture

Miscellaneous

Document Based

Office suites

Word processors

Editors

Viewers

PDF

Readers

Applications

Desktop Publishing

Web Editors

  • Portable NVU (site) Portable NVU is the easy-to-use NVU web editor packaged as a portable app, so you can edit your website on the go.

Calendar management

  • Portable Sunbird (site) is the handy Mozilla Sunbird calendar and task manager packaged as a portable app, so you can take your calendar and to do list with you.
  • UK's Kalender (site)

Miscellaneous

Security and Encryption

System Audit Applications

  • Integrity Checker (site) checks the integrity of files to ensure they have not been tampered with. Files protected will have their "known good" size stored together with either a hash or HMAC generated from the contents of each file. By comparing this information with what is actually stored later, any changes will be flagged up for attention.
  • Belarc Advisor (site) - Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.
  • WinAudit (site)- PC audit and inventory of software, licenses, security configuration, hardware, network settings...Text/html/csv/pdf/e-mail/database outputs available (can easily be 110+ pages of info!). Generally more detail than Belarc Advisor, but Belarc also good for more streamlined information.

Password Management

Anti-Spyware/Malware

AntiVirus

Firewalls

Real-Time Disk/Volume Encryption

  • Cryptainer LE (site) - Free 128-bit encryption software that creates an encrypted container (vault) of up to 25MB per volume to store any type of data. Simple drag and drop operation. NOTE: Install program to hard drive first, then go to Tools menu, click on "Install Cryptainer Mobile" and install to mobile drive location; then you can access a volume you create on the mobile drive with Cryptainer Mobile. NOTE: This feature requires a driver, which only users with administrator privileges can launch.
  • Dekart Private Disk (site) - Commercial (not free) disk encryption software with AES 256-bit encryption
  • FreeOTFE (site) - Free open-source on-the-fly disk encryption software that offers a "portable mode". Supports many different cyphers and allows "hidden" volumes to be created, giving plausible deniability of their existence and increased security. Also features compatibility with Linux disk encryption (including Cryptoloop "losetup", dm-crypt and LUKS). NOTE: This feature requires a driver, which only users with administrator privileges can launch.
  • TrueCrypt (site) - Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows XP/2000/2003 and Linux (TrueCrypt also provides plausible deniability or deniable encryption). It can run in portable mode. While files stored on a TrueCrypt volume are being read, they are decrypted on-the-fly to RAM. NOTE: This feature requires a driver, which only users with administrator privileges can launch.

File Encryption

  • CryptoStick Software (site) - Proprietary (not free) encryption software
  • Remora USB Disk Guard (site) - Free file/folder encryption in your USB disk. 128-bit encryption, and very easy interface.
  • Yadadisk (site) - Free open source simple, fully portable file encryption for Windows XP. Files are stored unencrypted on a disk whenever you need to access them.

Miscellaneous

  • IE Privacy Keeper TakeAlong version (site) -
Mobile version of their software at http://www.browsertools.net/IE-Privacy-Keeper ...note the differences in the mobile version at the "TakeAlong" site. Flexible program clears IE and Firefox browsing history, URL history, typed URLs, temp Internet files, cookies, recent documents, auto-complete history, windows temp files, recycle bin, and more. You can opt to keep specified cookies. Make sure to download correct version (TakeAlong).
  • LockNote (site) - Free open source text editor that encrypts your file using AES 256bit encryption.

Graphics

3D Modeling

Editors

Processing

Viewers

Miscellaneous

Games

List of Portable Computer Games

Database Management

  • MyKeyDb from Jans Freeware (site)
  • Visual Foxpro from Microsoft - Commercial (site) - Just need vfp9.Exe and VFP9ENU.dll to run (other versions/languages may vary). No install necessary.

Educational

File Archivers and Extractors

Operating Systems

Miscellaneous

  • TinyComp (site). TinyComp is a simple tool to start user defined applications designed to run portable applications from removable drives. (Shortcut uses relative paths, will work regardless of drive lettering).
  • Ocean Research Library (site). A free collection of the World's Religious literature managed by a unique book-centered research engine. It contains over 1000 books of 10 world religions in English as well as collections in six other languages (French, Spanish, German, Russian, Dutch, and Portuguese).
  • Portable Check Off (site) To-do list manager for Mac OS X
  • Instant Rails (site), a one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby,
  • HFS - HTTP File Server (site), a file sharing software using highly compatible web technology. easy to use.
  • Hypercard a Hypertext-based programmable database, developed by Apple Computer in 1987 with several improvements until 1992, it is no longer maintained although it can still be bought. It is considered a forerunner of the web browsers.
Rails, Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run (currently only on Microsoft Windows).
  • Sveglia (site), a simple alarm clock. With Sveglia it is possible to activate an alarm, run a program, shutdown or restart the PC at certain time.
  • Weather Watcher (site)

External links

Application software | Lists of software

Stickware | Aplicación portátil | Aplikacje przenośne

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "List of Portable Software".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world