…I’m getting a great opportunity to test my cloud computing apps as well as my other technology tools [more posts to come — you can depend on it!] to see whether or not they hold up well for the global traveler. One of the more interesting approaches I’m trying is Portable Apps — compressed applications stored on a usb drive with a menuing system that launches automatically upon insertion…

“I came across something I just had to share that has changed the way I work quite a bit. I was doing StumbleUpon one day, and one of the first pages I came across was Portableapps.com. Now I’ve blogged about both Portable Firefox and Portable Opera before. These are web browsers you can install and run directly from your USB memory stick. But Portable Apps is different because it’s basically a menu driven “work suite” for your thumb drive. You download the PortableApps.exe file, and when you run the setup (either full or lightweight version) it actually fully installs working applications on your flash drive. And it can be any kind of external hard drive, memory stick, flash card, thumb drive, etc. It’s going to fully install the applications with no need to change your registry in any way, and no need to place or modify a single file on your computers hard drive. The applications are completely “portable” – you take them with you on the go wherever you take your external drive, card, or stick. Whatever computer you are at, wherever you are – everything is with you every time.This has quite a few advantages if you think about it. Do you have a policy at work where you can’t install any applications at all? Maybe they forced Windows Group Policy on you that won’t even allow it to happen. Can’t access your home email at work? Can’t IM at work? Using a work laptop on a trip? Using an Internet Kiosk? Are you at the Library, or a friend or relatives house? Do you have multiple computers in your house? You get the picture…” Source: Portable Apps – Work from your USB Flash Drive Anywhere FREE | The Smorgasbord

So far in my experimentation, it works well. The part I like best is that all preferences are retained on the usb drive so that can insert your usb drive and immediately have your favorite apps as well as your preferences at your finger tips. I tried it yesterday in the press room at Agritechnica and the only thing that set me back was the German keyboard [amongst other things, the y and z are transposed making it a little challenging for an American touch typist!]. I don’t know that I’m quite ready to leave my computer at home and travel with Portable Apps, but that may be a real possibility in the near future. Questions? Feedback? Post a comment or use the contact form…