Subscribe to our Best Free Portable Applications
 Best of Gizmo's Freeware: The Portable Apps List |
|
Introduction This list provides a collection of portable apps from across Gizmo's Freeware and other sites. Portable freeware is an amazing development and is forcing software vendors to adjust their wasteful ways. They reduce problems with uninstalling software (you just delete them and don't have to worry about failed installs or incomplete uninstalls), they allow for extra flexibility in copying or moving software to different locations on a portable device or on a PC, and they help improve your privacy and security by running from portable devices like flash drives. Take your "computer setup" with you, keep every piece of free software that impresses you, or run them, say, at a library. I suggest starting a collection, or an army actually, of your favorite portable apps instead of trying to minimize the number of programs you install. For an introduction to portable software, read the Guide to Portable Applications. Installation Tips Step 1: At each download site make sure to get the "portable" or "standalone" version. Most sites clearly label it as such. Usually it's a regular file name ending with EXE, ZIP, or PAF.EXE (usually, but not always, without words like "setup" in the download file name).
Step 2: After you get the portable app functional, you must make a shortcut to it (or upload pure portable apps to an online backup site, such as Windows Live Skydrive).
TruPortable: Portability + Stealth We will start marking applications as "TruPortable" if they work as standalone apps and run without waste (few significant registry entries, few auto installation features, little need for user tweaking, etc.). This excludes registry entries automatically created by windows. An application must work from a flash drive and run without problems on most computers. We also require no user involvement (to make an app portable). For this designation, we want apps to do their job and leave the rest of the computer alone! As always, if you know of corrections or additions list them in the comments. |
|
Best Portable Apps for Security & Privacy (Back to Index)
|
|
1. Secure Internet Browsing: Portable Firefox (Home); + addons: a Password Manager (LastPass), Site Adviser (WOT), etc.
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Cleanup & Tuning (Back to Index)
|
|
3. Portable All-in-one PC Tune-up: Comodo System Cleaner (Home | Download | Support)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Disk & File (Back to Index)
|
|
10. Portable File Manager: xplorer² lite (Home | Download)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for System & Desktop Tools (Back to Index)
|
|
15. Portable Windows Tweaker: Ultimate Windows Tweaker (Download | Support)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Multimedia (Back to Index)
|
|
20. Portable CD / DVD Burner: InfraRecorder (Home | Download | Support)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Image Viewing & Image Editing (Back to Index)
|
|
25. Portable Digital Photo/Image Viewer: XnView (Home | Download | Forum)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Home & Office (Back to Index)
|
|
27. Portable Office Suite: OpenOffice Portable (Home | Support)
|
|
Best Portable Apps for Internet & Network (Back to Index)
|
|
Web Browser
32. Email Client
33. Internet Messenger
34. Download Manager
35. HTML Editor 36. BitTorrent Client 37. FTP Client: Related Portable Apps
|
|
Still reading? How about Some Other Fun Portable Stuff? (Back to Index)
|
|
Games Computer Chess Games Windows Favorites: Default Based Games Others
Make Your Old "Nibbles" or Other Old DOS Games Work Again Education Portable Astronomy Tools Portable Dictionary and Thesaurus Other Education
|
|
Portable App Sites, Suites, & Launchers (Back to Index)
|
|
Top Portable App Sites:
Additional Places for Portable Apps: Additional Portable Apps Launchers: Portable OS
|
|
Related Top Pick Lists (Back to Index)
|
|
|
|
Related Tags
|
|
best free portable applications, portable apps, portable freeware, portable software, portable software applications, best of Gizmo's Freeware for portable apps, portable programs, portable programs for windows 7/Vista/XP Best portable freeware/apps for these categories: firefox/browser, antivirus/antimalware, defragmentation software/file cleaner/memory optimizer/secure deletion/program uninstaller/startup manager, folder sync/backup utility/zip utility/file manager/recovery utility/encryption freeware, windows tweaker/software update monitor/system information/screen capture utility/desktop search, CD & DVD burning software/media player/music player/MP3 tag editor/video editor, image viewer/image editor, office suite/word processor/PDF viewer/personal finance software/PIM This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Mr.Wizard |
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Please rate this article
Here's what I have with me on the go:
OperaUSB
I have various OperaUSB folders, and I rename them depending on what area of my life it concerns, e.g. Photography, IT, Design, Personal Development.
In each different version of OperaUSB I go into userprefs and rename Opera to, for example OperaPersDev, then I change the skin.
This way (if that all makes sense) I have a range of Opera browsers that I can open depending on work to be done.
What I still haven't worked out is how to have shortcuts for each of them. I did have them set up with PStart, so when I inserted my usb stick I only had to open the PStart file and all my versions of Opera were to hand. This stopped working for some reason, so I'll have to rebuild it.
Also what I would like is to have the usb stick encrypted or a portion of it encrypted so my personal files are protected. Haven't figured out how to do that portable yet.
Hope my idea is of use to Gizmo fans!
Has anyone tried making Photoshop CS2 in portable version.....
can someone make/show to make PS CS2 as Portable,,,,,
My choice is following:
Browser: Opera Portable http://www.opera-usb.com/
Email client: Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozillamessaging.com/
Office: Open Office
XML editor: STDU XML Editor [Edit: Non-freeware]
RSS Reader: SE-RssTools http://www.se-soft.com/RssTools.aspx
Application launcher: SE-TrayMenu http://www.se-soft.com/TrayMenu.aspx
VirtualDub for video editing http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/
Media player: GOM Player
Love seeing the GOM Player get some love. I used to use MPC before you started having to install it. I am such a fan of these types of programs. I don't know when or why it happened, but somewhere along the line I became phobic about installing anything I did not absolutely have to. Especially antivirus products, which, once on your system, sometimes just don't want to leave...
These lists are always so great to look at and check out. Your tips and instructions are also very much appreciated. There are always free gadgets but these are great. Thank you so much. casino online
Thanks, I'm quite enjoying portable apps.
So do I, Rizar. That's why I like this post of yours very much.
Have you checked NFReader yet?
Is it this, a RSS reader? http://www.gaijin.at/en/dlnfreader.php
It has positive comments in the forums at Portable Freeware (PFC).
In fact I'm not sure I have a category for this yet. I'll have see about adding one when I get to the Internet area.
I see PortableApps has a Sage Extension for this category. http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/rss/sage_extension
X-RssOwl:
http://www.winpenpack.com/main/download.php?view.612
I've just noticed that SSuite have a portable version called SSuite Bladerunner
The site gives very little information on what it contains, but at 13.9Mb I can't think it's too much. Blurb says "A fully portable office suite".
I can't download in work, but might give it a test at home this week and post again...
For non-portable applications, they seem to be everything for everybody including a document manager, graphics, ripper, email, invoices, personal finance, PIM, Skype, Lan phone, envelope printer, etc. etc. Website is a bit confusing as regards a concise and comprehensive list of all these apps, but I'm wondering why I haven't heard posters rave about this if all their claims are true?
Download sizes are small, does not need Java, compatible with the usual major file formats
A very good review indeed. Although we can see that there is nothing about FreeFileSynch under Synch Utilities up there.
I found that FreeFileSynch as a quite simple yet powerful for a small portable application. Found it by accident when checking Codysafe updates.
Thank you for your review and information. Keep up the good work, mate ;)
Thanks, it looks pretty good.
Seems any of those lists is also lacking an emulator to run linux distros under windows: MobaLiveCD at http://mobalivecd.mobatek.net/
Regards
PTLdom
Wondering why Liberkey doesn't make the list of suites?
I have Liberkey installed on my hard-drive to do updates at the fastest speed, and let it sync with my USB stick everynow and then at the slower USB2.0 pace.
It's covered in the Best Free Software Suite section, so I won't go into it here, but I will mention that I find the tree-menu better than using the PortableApps one, although sometimes it can be hard to remember where to look for apps that do more than one task (Ifran viewer for instance also edits).
Best part for me is the simplicity of adding any other software to the menu.
By the way, you can store pure portable apps in Dropbox, and run them from any PC or sync with a USB drive anywhere in realtime. Incredible handy if you're on the move, and 2Gb is free to all!
G
Thanks, I added it. Does anyone know if its portable apps can be freely moved to another launcher? I can't try with the large download sizes.
LINUX MINT The Best and Easiest LINUX yet!
I fell in love with Ubuntu, but later found Linux Mint 7, waiting for the NEW version to come out version 8, Linux Mint is a remake, glorified Ubuntu Linux. Much easier and better improved version of the Ubuntu versions. EASY and works right 'out of the box' I installed Linux Mint 8 RC-1 onto a USB drive and using it 'persistantly - save changes' and using it right now. Awesome. I can carry it to my other laptops and boot into Linux Mint whenever... all changes are saved!! Ya gotta love it... I do.
www.linuxmint.com
Hello
May I suggest :
Portable email client : Koma-mail. Excellent email client and certainly lighter than Thunderbird.
Portable File Manager : Q-dir can provide until 4 panes + a treeview ... if your screen is big enough :)
Portable Music Player : XMPlay. Small audio player reading a lot of format (including tracker format XM,S3M,IT,MOD), skin-able and visual (as WinAmp).
ericc
Hi guys,
Portable Softwares are really convenient to everyone because of its characteristic (without installization). I prefer test new sw but sometimes it’s really hard and take many times to install them. But portable sw, I can do them easier . Oh, I know a web which contains many portable sws and i guess that it’s interested w/ you. You can download @ [link removed]
Have fun
ridoncular
Moderator comment: Link removed as it was rated dangerous by WOT.
Wavosaur is a portable free audio editor: http://www.wavosaur.com/
MozBackup is a free Mozilla back up utility that has a portable version: http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
With regard to
Best Free Portable PC Tune-up or All-in-One Utilities
* Comodo System Cleaner
* Glary Utilities
* Advanced SystemCare
and Best Free Portable File Cleaner & Registry Cleaner
* CCleaner Portable (Also securely erases.)
* Easy Cleaner
* PureRa (specialized file cleaner)
All these programs find LARGE numbers of 'junk' files, etc. that they suggest you delete. Once these files are deleted, there is no easy way to recover them. So, how safe would it be to let them delete all 'junk' files they find? Do any of these programs delete files that are actually not 'junk'? How do you identify files that must NOT be deleted??
Perry_Masonmint
I've recently tried portableapps http://portableapps.com/ which is a nicely designed portable software suite but found it lacking when it came to menu organisation and adding custom folders - until I found geek.menu, problem solved! - certainly worth checking out.
http://geek-menu.sourceforge.net/
Alternatively, another great choice would be PStart - a fantastic application for accessing your portable apps etc.
http://www.pegtop.net/start/
They're both so good, I'll probably end up using both!
Try this: http://codyssey.com/products/codysafe.html
It is a little difficult to add custom folders and programs to PortableApps.
But you can create a new folder under the PortableApps directory (with the other Portable Apps-specific programs) and extract the files to that folder.
I was able to attach all my portable programs to its launcher.
Except some programs have many executables, so in the interface you have to change the name of programs you don't want in the launcher interface to a dash or minus sign. You do a right-click on the item you don't want and it will allow you to change its name to "-". They say they will have better features to customize programs on the interface in the future.
PortableApps, I noticed, also has a built-in backup program too.
geek.menu lets you hide items that you don't want showing. This would same the trouble of the "-" sign.
Pretty nice stuff for anyone's USB stick...
Thanks...
Sorry forgot to post my name..
in case u want to prevent viruses automatically running into ur pendrive everytime u plug it in.. u may want to try this handy utility called NIN0JA PENDISK. It is a zero-configuration program.
its download link is http://nunobrito.eu/ninja/
Hi
I think:
2: DrWeb Cureit
3: A Squared USB
6: A Squared USB
7: Panda Anti-rootkit
9: XB Browser/OperaTor
11: XYPlorer free
18: Adblock Plus
26: Easy Cleaner or Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
8 is rather strange. If by HIPS you mean behavioural blocker, which I think you do, it makes no sense. Because the whole point of behavioural blockers are that it is constantly running analysing the behaviour of process. So even if you have a USB/removable hard drive permanently connected to your computer, it will still always use memory. So it would be the same as installing it. Unless your computer was so full that you cannot use an extra ~50 mbs. If so, you should probably buy a removable hard drive or a new computer.
I'm waiting for "The best free mobile software" (or the best free smartphoneware) section.
Magal
The thing is, there are already so many good sites that list good freeware for pda's and smartphones. 1src.com and pda247.com are two places that come to mind. With sites like these available, I think it would be a duplication of effort to list ALL the good software out there for them.
nice site dude
I used Opera USB but found that Opera Portable is much better and it incinerates your tracks on the host PC!
http://www.kejut.com/operaportable
A few thoughts:
I'd put Irfanview in category 20 not 21 -- it can do some image tweaking and file conversion, but it's not really designed to be an editor, I'd have said.
Does ArsClip count as a clipboard replacement, or just a manager? It's working well for me, anyway, completely portably, and I'd suggest it for the relevant category.
Zip-managers: IZArc I'd not recommend. It's okay for normal stuff, but 7Zip (and 7Zip Portable) will handle things that choke IZArc, in my experience.
No category seems to fit another favourite of mine: TrueCrypt. Particularly useful to me is the fact I can cart an encrypted drive around with me and open it under Linux as well as Windows -- although, naturally, the Linux machine needs local installation.
It might be a PortableApps component (I haven't double-checked) but DosBox Portable works very well too. Okay, so it's more useful for carrying old games around than doing USEFUL things...
PStart is a better and more configurable portable menu app, so I use and recommend that.
I found SumatraPDF Portable at PortableApps.com and use it in preference to FoxIT -- it's more stripped down but really fast -- to the extent that I will even use it in preference to Acrobat on my own PCs.
A recent discovery is a freeform database, useful (to me!) as a portable knowledgebase. Neomem, at www.NeoMem.org. Free and can be run portably.
The WinPenPack's good -- mentioned elsewhere -- and comes in handy occasionally, but there's an awful lot there that's not very useful, and one day I'm just going to extract the useful bits and delete everything else...
There's a useful hex editor at http://www.mh-nexus.de called HXD, runs completely portably, occasionally a lifesaver...
Finally, two portable apps that are (in my view!) worth paying for: RoboForm and Directory Opus (www.gpsoft.com.au) The former, you all know about anyway. The latter... I don't think you can buy a plain portable licence for it, but you can add a portable licence to the desktop one. Sorry, but it makes all other file managers look a bit second-rate...
I think that this list would be found by more users if each of the category entries was changed to include the word "portable" in the label. For example, "Best Anti-Virus" would be shown as "Best Portable Anti-Virus."
I've done many Google searches over the years using expressions like: "anti-virus" best portable. Although "portable" does show up on this page, and should cause the page to be picked up, it will occur much further down in the results list than it would if the terms were written together in the label.
Google Desktop is portable? I'd like to know how to install it on a USB flash drive. Google says that by default it only installs on C:\Program Files or another drive if there is not enough space on C:. So how do you get this onto your flash drive??
Even I'd be interested to know that...
Here are a few others for consideration. I've used each of these except for DateDiff
Yamipod - A standalone iPod interface tool that let's you sync with Windows folders, extract songs from iPods, organize and rename/retag files, create/edit playlists or just use it as a standalone music player. Drag it to your iPod and run it directly from there. Play your music anywhere without iTunes (I used this feature after they disabled streaming music sites at work). Always backup your music files before using a tool like this. And it's better if you don't interface your iPod with iTunes before or after switching to Yamipod or other similar tools. It's still ok to use iTunes, just don't connect your iPod while it's running (in other words you should only use one tool for managing your iPod's internal library otherwise you'll have conflicts)
URL: http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/
PeaZip - Found this on PortableApps.com. It's a nice backup for those who are big fans of 7-Zip. When you run across the occasional RAR file you can use PeaZip. Of course PeaZip also supports 7-Zip and IZArc supports pretty much everything. So again, this one's good for 7-Zip fans who need occasional RAR support.
URL: http://peazip.sourceforge.net/index.html
Mess Rename - Another renamer tool. I particularly like how simple and clean the interface is on this one. When you just need quick and simple rename ability a tiny app like this can be helpful. Personally, I see no reason why this couldn't share space on your USB drive with something more robust like Lupas Rename.
URL: http://www.download.com/Mess-Rename/3000-2248_4-10648239.html?tag=dir&cd...
Clementime - It's a play on words. The app is simply a tiny (and readily available) stopwatch. Need to time something? Here you go. USB ready and completely free.
URL: http://www.kobayashi.com/clementime.html
DateDiff - I've got a similar app on my Palm Treo that every once in a while comes in extremely handy. Enter two dates and find out exactly how much time has passed or will pass between them. Seems like there's a tool for everything and here's the perfect example of that.
URL: http://www.kobayashi.com/datediff.html
HOW TO RUN VIRUS SCAN AUTOMATICALLY
WHEN YOU PLUG YOUR KEY IN AT INTERNET CAFES
Hello there,
For what it's worth, this is what I am doing at the moment. Won't prevent virus to jump onto the drive but at least Antivir will catch it right then.
Place these two files in the root of your USB. (This only works if the host computer has Autoplay enabled)
File 1: AUTORUN.INF
[autorun]
label=(YOUR NAME HERE)
open=scan.bat
ACTION = Launch portable workspace
File 2: scan.bat.
pause "Press Key for Antivir ACTIVE PROCESSES"
start \PortableApps\Avira\AntiVir\avscan.exe /GUIMODE=1 /CFG="process.avp"
pause "Press Key for Antivir SYSTEM FOLDER"
start \PortableApps\Avira\AntiVir\avscan.exe /GUIMODE=1 /CFG="sysdir.avp"
pause "Press Key for Antivir USB DRIVES"
start \PortableApps\Avira\AntiVir\avscan.exe /GUIMODE=1 /CFG="rmdiscs.avp"
start \PortableApps\Avira\AntiVir\avcenter.exe
If you don't want to scan, just press Ctrl+C at the "Press Key" prompt
Also recommend launching Neo Safe Keys and Ultra Shredder
Would anyone has a better idea on how to prevent viruses from jumping onto USB drives at Internet cafes?
So far the best idea I've heard is to buy a flash drive with a Write-Protect switch, but these are rare at the moment on the 4GB-32GB drives.
Love
Lizard
20.Best Digital Image Viewer - FastStone Image Viewer
27.Best BitTorrent Client - µTorrent
34.Best Website Ripper - WinHTTrack
Best BitTorrent client - BitTyrant
Free Apps:
Spell Checker -- APSC Spell
Synchronize System Clock with Atomic Clocks Worldwide -- Dimension 4
Display Outside IP Address -- FollowMeIP Lite
Turn Windows Scripting Host On or Off -- NoScript
Alter A File's Date and Time -- SetFileDate
It might be helpful for less experienced computer users to make a distinction between [portable] and [truly portable] software. There may already established terms I'm not aware of but I'm talking about the difference between "portable apps" that require installation to the USB drive versus those that are self-contained executables that you simply drag-n-drop to your USB drive (they run instantly as soon as you double click em). All are welcome of course but personally I'm more drawn to those in the second category.
Thanks for this comment, even if it's over a year old! I'm thinking about something similar. For example, we could restrict the list to "portable" apps, and then note which ones are truly portable (Verified TruPortable). It's probably impossible for an app to be perfectly portable, but it's a good idea to have this marker. Now where to put it?! Or maybe an icon would be better?
I've already found a couple that don't really qualify at all, at least based on the Portable Freeware Collection testing and some of my own:
Add Another One to the Butcher Bill! Just because it says "portable," doesn't make it so!
--Auslogics Defrag leaves too many registry entries (also rejected by PFC);
--Dr.Web Cureit! was rejected by the PFC website so I removed it for now;
--A-squared Emergency USB runs a service that gets left behind and must be manually disabled.
--Glary Utilities creates many registry entries, also noted at PFC forums.
--JLC Internet TV is borderline portable; it seems to require default directory paths for its dependent programs (WMP, VLC, etc.), which means you couldn't use it with a portable VLC in your favorite folder of choice.
IMO, probably those with some restrictions (or adding registry entries) needs a mention. Like Ubuntu Linux, it's portable, but when you run it from a LiveCD, it comes with some limitations.
By the way, feel free to make any other adjustments to the portable OS section since I know next to nothing about them and I won't be able to test them any time soon!
Thanks,
Another good example for limitations is TrueCrypt. I don't think it allows certain drive encryptions from portable mode. Not sure of any others. Maybe we could have a designation like limited function in portable version, or an icon for it with popup text.
I like the idea of mentioning ones that write to the registry, but I don't have a good list of the ones that do as of now! I'm sure there are more on the list. I need to re-test FileHippo's updater since I see registry entries for it, but maybe it created them after I changed some of its settings (it might just be a limited function app).
Readers will know to be suspicious of ones that aren't verified as TruPortable, though.
And then as we get to them or receive comments about the others, we can add warnings about the ones that fail at stealth, or zap them if they are excessive to the point that they lose users any benefit of being portable.
If an app installs a service or writes a bunch to the registry, it might as well be installed!
Auslogics Defrag, for example, has a whole page of registry entries. I haven't checked DR.Web (it has a large download size), so I relied on PFC instead. I believe A-squared still uses a service that I had forgotten about, which seems very unportable-like to me unless it would remove it before closing or something.
So far I haven't removed anything that makes one of the major portable app lists, I believe (PFC especially, PortableApps, Lupo, winPenPack).
This downgrades the performance of the top picks on the list, but it raises the street cred of their portability!
Free Apps:
Multiple File Renamer -- ReNamer
Convert Formated To Pure Text -- PureText
Burner -- DeepBurner
Format USB Drives Without Problems -- HP USB Drive Format Tool
See Everything That Is Connected Via USB -- USBDeview
See Everything That Is Connected To The Internet -- Who's Connected
File Shedder, small and fast -- CyberShredder
System Cleanup http://www.xs4all.nl/~franckey/franckey/ it does not need installing and cleans up all your drives
Don't know what category it should be in, but if you do any sort of website development, Firebug (firefox extension) is damn near indispensable
Restoration is a file recovery program. Download the zip file, unzip it, and put the unzipped folder on your jump drive or external HD. Then, just run the exe program. No installation needed. There is no help file, but it can restore files from one drive to another drive. I just used it to restore & copy to another drive about 60gb of media files my daughter managed to "delete." She says that everything seems to have been recovered. By the way, if one restores a folder it appears to also restore everything that is in that folder.
Free Apps:
Clipboard Manager -- ArsClip
Ripper -- CDex
Legal Music Getter -- Clickster
Country Code Finder -- Country Codes
Simple File Encryption Tool -- dsCrypt
Viewer -- XnView
File Manager -- FreeCommander
RSS Reader -- GreatNews
Anonymous Surfing -- OperaTor
File Recovery -- Recuva
On Screen Keyboard -- SafeKeys
Virtual Drive Encryption -- TrueCrypt
Convertor For Any Units -- Units Convertor
Owner of Domain Identifier -- WhoIsThisDomain
Dictionary/Thesaurus -- WordWeb
My Suggestion Best Portable Bible Reading / Search Software is Berean Bible at http://www.berbible.org/.
I have the program plus eight translations on a USB and it takes only 26 megs. Only does searches, really fast.... But hasn't got commentary or notes function.. Great little program and all free.
Steven Halvorsen
Victoria, Texas
Post new comment