Overview

Portable Apps is a free, convenient, and easy to use suite of applications and utilities that can be ran from a USB flash. iPod, or other portable hard  drives.  The programs included are completely Open Source and can be customized to you liking.  The full suite contains 12 applications including games, email, web browser, Open Office Suite, and computer security.

Walk Through Review

Installation – 7

installation is relatively easy following the Installation Wizard but you will want to make sure to your USB drive has enough space to install the suite where you need 354.5MB.  Installing the complete suite takes around 10-15 minutes more or less depending on your system performance.

Features – 8

Portable Apps is essentially like bringing your customized computer profile from machine to machine.  The apps run directly from the flash drive and included are folders where you can store documents,music, and other types of media.  Everything can be accessed from the nicely laid out start menu.

Another nice feature is the backup utility for your Portable Apps and is quite easy to use.

The next step is to select the data to backup, choose a backup location, and choose a compression format.  You can backup to the same flash drive but using a separate drive is advisable in case you loose the flash drive or it fails.

Will will be able to monitor the progress of the backup and the amount of time it takes varies between systems and the amount of data to backup.

Ease of Use – 8

Using Portable Apps is very easy not to mention the portability factor.  Getting new applications is pretty straight forward which we will take a look at how to do now.  Go to Options then Get More Apps.

This will bring you to the Portable Apps website with a list of the available programs not included in the suite to download.

Installing new programs is an easy process as well.  From the main menu click on Options then Install a New App and browse to the location of the app to add in this case it is Audacity Portable.

You follow a simple installation wizard which will choose the destination as the portable drive by default.

Performance – 7

Most of the applications perform pretty well, again this will depend on your external device and the computer you’re on.  The suite itself uses barely any system resources.

When running individual apps performance will vary but usually the use less resources than an installed version.

Product Support –7

Since this is an Open Source project, your support will come from the community of over 80,000 developers, translators, users, and fans .  On the site they have everything divided into applications categories so it is easy to find specific information you’re looking for.  There is also free online Support Chat through IRC.

Conclusion

Portable Apps is a great set of applications to take on the go between computers.  Basically any type of application or utility is available to install.  Currently there are a nice selection of applications to choose from and they are continuing to add more.  There are actually 3 versions to choose from which are Platform Only, Suite light, and Suite Standard.  If you work between multiple computers this is a great way to carry your favorite programs, bookmarks, music, email and more.

Rating

• Installation: 7
• Ease of Use: 8
• Features: 8
• Performance: 8
• Product Support: 8