PortableApps

PortableApps

Published April 29, 2009 at 03:59:51 AM, by Kevin Gilbert

Compared to other such products, it’s a complete set of Portable Office, Utilities such as PDF Reader, Web Browser, an Anti-Virus app, Portable Documents and much more.

It requires no installation, just copy the files once in your portable Media, such as a Flash Drive or Portable Drive, and start the program from there instantly, without needing host computer privileges. It has an easy to use interface that seamlessly integrates with Window and gives quick access to all the utilities and your documents. You can keep the interface open, and work with your documents at the same time. The installation size varies from 1.3MB for a very basic platform to 355MB for the complete suite. There is also a 'lite' edition which replaces OpenOffice with just the AbiWord word processor.

PortableApps Components:

PortableApps has more than 40 business productivity tools and system utilities. It's packed with high-profile open source applications like the Open Office suit which includes a word processor, a spreadsheet application, and a presentation program. Other than the Open Office utilities, it has Draw Portable for editing photos, Advanced Calculator (Calc Portable), a Media Player supporting popular audio/video formats and even an Anti-Virus app. It also keeps you connected with its Pidgin IM Messenger and Mozilla's portable Firefox browser with full functionality. Some other utilities includes a PDF Reader, a Calendar, programs for making notes and checking mails and a small game "Sudoku". More programs can be downloaded easily. You can review the whole list of currently available programs here.

Features:

As the name implies, PortableApps is a set of Portable Applications. These applications are developed as an open source project, and therefore, it's completely free to use, edit and re-distribute these programs. The benefit is that it’s fully portable, and requires no installation on the host PC. Just download the package file once, and extract them into your thumb drive, and your PortableApps is completely set. It can directly be started from the thumb drive and used. What's more, it also has folders to save personalized documents. Thus, once you work on a file, it's saved on the thumb drive, leaving no trace on the host computer.

The included software programs – in portable versions – are very similar in user experience and functionality to the full versions of these programs. It also has a nice theme which keeps the application icons out of menus. The OpenOffice or AbiWord processor can both read and edit Microsoft Office documents and other common files. The included IM Messenger, Pidgin Portable, lets you connect to all your contacts instantly. It supports MSN, Yahoo, IRC, AIM and Google Talk. ClamWin Anti-Virus can update itself with new virus definitions, and keeps your thumb-drive or other media reasonably safe from intruders. The KeePass Password Safe application is a well-known tool to store and safeguard your passwords. The GIMP Image Editor, FileZilla for FTP, 7-ZIP file compression tool, Sumatra Portable Reader and CoolPlayer+ are also useful utilities. A back-up utility is also included, which lets you backup your programs and Data in .zip format.

The interfaces of these programs are not necessarily as crisp as commercial software, but newer versions are getting better all the time. If it continues to grow, more and more applications may be added, making it a must for many people.

Pros and Cons:

PortableApps lives up to its promise of being "Your Digital Life, Anywhere". It offers a lot of applications free of charge and is easy to use. Its hassle free installation makes it very easy for even complete beginners to get started. After performing the initial install, you can bring your files anywhere and use/edit them while retaining full functionality, and keep personal documents private. Anyone can find a use for some or most of the included applications.

The program loading times leaves room for improvement, although the blame for this can’t be placed on the apps but rather the storage device. Thumb-drives are slower and smaller than hard-drives, so keeping your files small is a good guideline. The interface of PortableApps is well designed, and uses classic menus. As it's free of charge, has a great interface, and contains a wealth of well-known and trusted open source apps, we can easily recommend PortableApps to anyone who needs a portable office.

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Technical Specifications

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• OS: Windows
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