Portable Apps: A Closer Look

Portable Apps: A Closer Look

Posted on 02. Apr, 2009 by Eric in Audio, Convenience, Imaging, Video

While we have previously taken a brief look at Portable Apps, the piece didn’t go into much detail regarding installing and customizing the suite. The focus of this post is to entice people to try Portable Apps, learn how to install the suite, and master how to add applications to it that are not official Portable Apps applications. Below I have provided all the information you need to get set up in a user friendly Q&A format.

Why should I try Portable Apps?
As USB drives become increasingly cheaper, do you find yourself buying or being given new ones? If so, what should you do with that old 1GB drive? Throw it in the trash? Place it in a drawer just in case you need it later? Give it to a friend? Here at Clouding Clarity, the answer to that dilemma involves re-purposing the drive by installing Portable Apps on it.

When/Why would I use Portable Apps?
Keep your computer clear from the clutter of programs that you infrequently use. Applications such as CCleaner (file/registry cleaner), 7-zip (extracts any file compression), Gimp (image editor), VLC Media Player, Revo Uninstaller are not daily necessities, yet when they are needed, they are must have applications. It would be impractical to install and uninstall these programs as needed; however, it is effortless to reach for a Portable Apps drive when one of these staple applications is needed.

Never find yourself unable to open a file again whether on your personal computer, your work’s, or a friend’s. With the applications available from Portable Apps, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to open that hilarious divx video attachment you tried to open at friend’s house. For you frugal students out there, never again go to the computer lab and find that you forgot to convert your paper to a Word document from Open Office where you wrote it. My personal favorite frustration in school was group projects; there was always a compatibility issue between my computer and my group members. In all these scenarios, simply whip out your jump drive and you have an immediate solution.

What are its features?

  • Free
  • Easy to install
  • Travels anywhere
  • Most popular open source programs are made specially for Portable Apps
  • You can add your own applications that are not official Portable Apps
  • Customize to your liking. Only install applications you want.
  • It carries your settings as well as the application
  • Have your Firefox extensions no matter what computer you’re use

How do I install Portable Apps?

  • Portable Apps installer comes in 3 versions:
  • If you are installing Portable Apps on a USB drive 512MB or larger, I would recommend installing the standard suite. Once you have downloaded the suite of your choice, execute the installer. Next, the installer will ask you for the root directory for your USB Drive (most likely \E, \F, or \H). After the installation is complete, navigate to the Portable Applications page. You may want to look and see if there are any additional applications that you would like to have on your USB drive that were not installed in your installation package.

How do I install additional applications?portappsfiles11Be sure that the .exe file you are adding is inside of a folder. If you paste the .exe in the PortableApps folder, without being inside a folder, the menu will not automatically add the icon to its interface. Finally, to add the icon to your menu, open your Portable Apps suite and click “Options” and then “Refresh Icon List.” You are done, new application installed!

One of the extraordinary features of Portable Apps is that you can install any standalone application into its menu interface. Applications that I have added to my Portable Apps suite that are not official Portable Apps applications are: utorrent, CCleaner, CPU-Z, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, Everything, GPU-Z, Nintendo Emulator, PC Wizard, Revo Uninstaller, RipIt4Me, Songbird, Wireless Key Viewer, and YamiPod.

To install a new application, simply copy/cut the folder that contains the application you want to add and paste it in “PortableApps” folder on the root directory of your USB drive.

What about Mac users?

Portable Apps does not support OS X, however, I understand that some kind geek has made provisions for you Mac lovers to be able to use something similar. As I do not have a Mac, I can’t vouch for how well the applications work. Please let me know. Click here to get something similar to Portable Apps for Mac.

Tell me what you think! Will you give Portable Apps a shot? Does my tutorial make for an easy installation? Does the Mac OS X version work well? All comments and questions are welcome.

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6 Responses to “Portable Apps: A Closer Look”

  1. Alex -S-

    03. Apr, 2009

    Great Work!

    Portable apps are a lifesaver in many cases. I’ve found portable open office in particular to work just as well as it’s full fledged desktop version. It’s also handy for (shh) people working in those old fashioned companies out there with “IT lockdown”! You can’t install your favorite browser or email client, both from Mozilla of course ? – no problemo – a few settings tweaked on your portable firefox and thunderbird will have you up and running in no time;)

    I’ve even seen someone out there who made a portable version of the Adobe creative Suite. I’m sure that’s on the illegal side of things -but it’s interesting that it can be done.

    The only thing i’m not so happy with on the portable front is IM – so far i haven’t found a great portable version of a multi-user IM client yet…

    Last thought – if someone could make the Adobe Air framework portable, and therefor all the great apps that comes with it – now that would be rather sweet.

  2. Eric

    03. Apr, 2009

    Alex,
    I agree with you, Open Office portable is just as functional as the full version. I am an extremely frugal person and I just can’t bring myself to throw down the bucks for MS Office. Open Office got me through college so I hardly see why anyone would ever need the real deal office suite.

    Adobe Air portable would be amazing! I hope somebody makes that dream possible some day soon!

    I like your comment regarding “locked down computers.” Seems like there is always a workaround. I may have used Portable Apps for that reason a time or two before ;) . Perhaps I should have mentioned that in the “features.” Definitely a good point. Thanks for making it!

  3. David Lano

    04. Apr, 2009

    Eric, thanks for the thorough explanation on Portable Apps for us newbies. :)

    I happen to be one of those Mac users and will most definitely give the Portable Apps a try on my MacBook. I’ll let you know how it goes, and of course come to you with all my questions.

  4. Techno Kid

    07. Dec, 2009

    I have used Portable Apps quite a lot. I did not know that you could add applications that aren’t even on the website.

  5. Ross Burrus

    06. Jan, 2010

    Eric …

    I have been useing PortableApps(.com) for several years on Windows XP and Vista, but your “Closer Look” clarified several things for me.

    I would appreciate yet another clarification on David Largo’s response of 4 April, 2009. He mentions giveing Portable Apps a try on his MacBook. I was of the impression that the portable apps from Portableapps.com would only run on Intel PC platforms.

    It would be great if PortableApps would run on the older Mac computers and the newer ones (using the Intel processor) but that is probably too much to hope for.

    I am aware of the Portable “Mac-on-a-stick” but I assumed that it did not run in “native” mode, but emulated the Mac instructions.

    Keep up the good work.

    … Ross Burrus

  6. Eric

    06. Jan, 2010

    Ross, there is actually a web site that contains a bunch of portable applications for Mac. I have not tested them but I understand they work similar to Portable Apps for Windows. I have a link to the site toward the bottom of my post. Check it out and see if it works for you!

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