Installing PortableApps on a USB Drive
1 – Plug in your USB drive. For this example I’ll assume it’s drive letter G:, although yours may be different.
2 – Go to www.portableapps.com/suite/ and click on Download Lite. This redirects you to sourceforge. Pick a download site mirror and save the result to G:
3 – Go to G: and click on the PortableApps_Suite_Lite executable file. Install it to the root directory of G:
4 – Delete the executable file PortableApps_Suite_Lite and run the executable StartPortableApps. Note the new icon the the System Tray by the clock. Click the icon and the new menu appears. Note the default applications:
- AbiWord – A simple word processor
- ClamWin – An antivirus tool
- Firefox – An Internet browser
- Gaim – An instant messaging tool
- Sudoku – A logic game
- Sunbird – An organizer/calender
- Thunderbird – An email client
Also, icons for Documents, Music, Pictures and Video should be on the menu. Move any data files and folders to G:/Documents to access them via the menu. Each of these applications runs right off of the USB drive, which means you do not have to install them on the computer which you’ve plugged the USB drive into. Also, all cookies, passwords and other private settings are stored on your USB drive, not the hard drive.
5 – Other tools are available for download, assuming you have enough space on the USB drive. A complete list can be found at http://www.portableapps.com/apps. I would recommend the following for Web Design tasks.
- Nvu – A simple, graphical HTML editor
- Xampp – A bundled Apache, mySQL and PHP package
- Gimp – A powerful photo and imaging tool
- Fireftp – A graphical FTP transfer tool
- Audacity – An audio recorder and editor
Click on any one of these at http://www.portableapps.com/apps, select download now and select a download mirror. Save the executable to G:/PortableApps. Navigate to G:/PortableApps and run the executable. Extract it to the G:/PortableApps directory, then delete the original executable.
6 – Click the PortableApps icon in the system tray and select options –> Refresh App Icons. The new application should appear.
7 – Before removing the USB drive, close PortableApps by click the System Tray Icon and them the X in the lower right corner. Next click the “Safely Remove Hardware” Icon in the system Tray and stop the USB mass storage device. You can now remoce your USB drive.
Web Tutorials by Darren Pearson are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.