35 Portable Applications that Every Tech Needs
Over a year ago I wrote an article called 18 Portable Apps Every Tech Needs. Since then a lot has changed. I have compiled a new, more exhaustive list of 35 portable applications specifically for techs. All of these apps run directly from your USB flash drive and require no installation.
Archiver and Extractor
7-Zip Portable – An open source file archiver that supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR as well as others.
Auditing
SIW – A system analysis tool that gathers detailed information about your hardware and software.
WinAudit – Audits all of your hardware, software, licenses, and network settings.
CPU-Z – Gathers detailed information about your processor, motherboard, and memory.
Burning
Infra Recorder Portable – Portable CD/DVD burning software.
Disk Utilities
JkDefrag – Disk optimizer and defragmenter.
Document Viewers
OpenOffice.org Portable – A portable version of OpenOffice.org which includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package and database. Can also open most Microsoft Office documents.
Foxit Reader – A portable PDF reader.
Internet
FileZilla Portable – One of the best open source FTP programs available.
Firefox Portable – A portable version of Firefox. Very useful when working on a computer that has been overwhelmed with spyware.
portaPuTTY – An open source Telnet/SSH client.
Launcher
PStart – A launcher utility that allows you to organize and launch all of your portable applications.
Malware Removal
ClamWin Portable – One of the best free antivius programs as a portable version.
Avast! Virus Cleaner – Scans the computer for a specific set of viruses and worms.
RootkitRevealer – An advanced rootkit detection utility.
HiJackThis – A hijacker detector and remover. Outputs information to a log file so you can share the results with others when needing help.
McAfee Stinger – A stand-alone utility that scans for and removes specific viruses.
Networking
Angry IP Scanner – Scans a range of IP addresses so you can see which ones are in use. Also tells you hostname, MAC address, open ports, computer name, workgroup, and logged in Windows users.
CurrPorts – Allows you to see detailed information about all of the TCP/IP and UDP ports being used on the computer including which program is using them. Also allows you to close out the port and kill the process that opened it.
Optimization
CCleaner Portable – An optimization utility that cleans the registry and removes unwanted files from the computer.
PC Decrapifier – Uninstalls trialware and annoyances from new computers. Makes cleaning up a new computer much easier and saves a lot of time.
Organization
TiddlyWiki – A self-contained wiki that is great for storing a lot of information in one place.
Recovery
Restoration – Scans any drive for items that have been deleted and allows you to restore them. Can also wipe files beyond simple recovery. Learn more by viewing How To Restore Deleted Files After Emptying The Recycle Bin.
Unstoppable Copier – Copies files from disks that have physical damage.
TestDisk – Data recovery software that can recover lost partitions or make drives bootable again.
Remote Control
PcHelpware – Remote support software that lets you control remote computers. Learn more by viewing How To Remote Control Computers Using PCHelpWare.
Security
LockNote – A simple text file that allows you to store whatever you like using a password and 256bit encryption.
KeePass – Securely store all of your passwords in one place and access them with one master password.
TrueCrypt – Disk encrypting utility that can encrypt hard drives and storage devices including your flash drive.
System
Process Explorer – View detailed information about the processes running on a computer.
WinKeyLite – Easily view and change Windows Product Keys without having to edit the registry. Learn more by viewing How To Find And Change A Windows Vista, XP, And 2003 Product Key.
Unknown Devices – Helps you find out what the unknown devices in your device manager are.
AutoRuns – Comprehensive information about all of the programs and processes that start up when you boot up the computer or log into Windows.
DriverBackup – Backs up all of your drivers. Most useful when needing to reload a computer or when needing to copy a driver from one computer to another.
Testing
Stress Prime 2004 – A stress test for CPUs and Memory.
What portable apps do you like that aren’t on the list? Please feel free to share.
Other Posts You Might Like:
- 18 Portable Apps that Every Tech Needs
- How to Backup Printer Drivers and Restore Them on Another Computer
- Determine Memory Type Without Opening The Computer
- How to Check the Speed of a USB Flash Drive
- How to Find and Change a Windows Vista, XP, and 2003 Product Key
January 9th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Nice list. Perfect for the sysadmin or dekstop support tech.
http://www.itdoescompute.com
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January 9th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
This is a great list even for the average user who visits their parents. At least, this is how I spend my time with family.
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January 11th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Haha yeah that is pretty much how I spend time with my family too.
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February 5th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I haven’t used PCHelpWare yet, but i like to use crossloop for remote access. It’s free and simple. Awesome list!
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February 10th, 2008 at 7:11 am
My brother-in-law and sister are both engineers, and I have a degree in art. I spend most of my quality time with them troubleshooting their computer problems…. something I’m able to do because of excellent advice and apps on sites like this. Bless you, InterTubes!
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February 26th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Dixml Free utility that backs up the entire disk
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April 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I am more fond of VNC for this, crossloop is good for simplicity though I guess
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April 26th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I like this web browser and it has the portable version! It’s very nifty and light, and includes many many things such as irc client.
The opera portable can be found at : http://www.kejut.com/operaportable
Some features.. (from the website)
* No registry entries are created or modified
* No effect to existing installed browsers, either IE, Firefox or Opera
* No trace left after exiting – files are overwritten, not just deleted
* Doesn’t make your USB drive tired – all code and data are stored in a temporary place on host computer
* Create multiple profiles for different places
* Easy to distribute and use, not limited to USB sticks or CDs
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May 11th, 2008 at 6:27 am
http://www.teamviewer.com
Free for non-commercial use. No installation required.
Allows connection thru/behind fiewalls. I use it to help my grandmother and other family members. No need to expose them to the internet by directly connecting them. They can stay behind the safety of the router/NAT/PAT firewall.
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August 26th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
great list
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November 19th, 2008 at 1:09 am
really, im surprised to see two things missing from this list I use on almost every other job, Malwarebytes and AdvancedWindowsCare. Even though they are not as “portable” almost every “virus” removal I do, I use at least one of those two programs. Maybe it is because they require local installation, but seriously any tech with a flash drive should have these two installs with them at all times.
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December 23rd, 2008 at 5:48 am
Great list of nice tool. One problem most of technical guy face is finding and installing hardware drivers on new system. Most of the audit tools only detect and give details only after drivers has been installed-they simply read the existing driver information for your hardware. Please let me know if there is any tools which can be installed on system with no hardware (or system with hardware driver) problem and it will find and tell what driver to install and if possible URL links where to get them, if case if you have no driver system CD.
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January 4th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Nice, maybe a couple more hacking/cracking tools
If you’re into that…
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February 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I would suggest Process Monitor to be added(it’s part of the sysinternals suite like ProcessExplorer). It watches what’s going on with your computer, you can see what processes access what. It’s more useful for an admin working with domain users. Great for locating what may need permissions changed to run a program or just seeing all what a process gets into. TIP: Make sure you use the filter.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
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February 26th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Nice list.
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April 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
dude, you MUST test carefully the programs YOU recommend.
SIW fucked my Windows Vista!!!
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Casey Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Actually I do and I just used SIW without any issues. If you have a problem you should contact Topala Software Solutions who makes SIW. http://www.gtopala.com/tss/contact-us.html
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Brenton Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I just ran it on Vista Ultimate x64 with SP1. Worked perfectly!
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April 18th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
hey a good website that sometimes puts new programs is http://www.portableapps.com (creative name eh) they have pretty good apps and also another program that i use is clean up it deletes temporary internet files and things of that sort (clean up isn’t really considered a portable app but it is easy to move to a flash drive) also flv player (another creative name) is a flv (video only) player that can be put in a flash drive similarly to clean up
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December 26th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
BEST LOST-DELETED-DAMAGED-OVERFORMATTED FILE RECOVERY “FREE” SOFTWARE ..PERIOD !
RECUVA …. ITS AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!! AND FREE
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February 15th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Malwarebytes is the coolest to remove identify theft I would highly recommend it but you must also get another software on your computer such as antivirus as malwarebytes say’s you get a full best protection for your PC
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May 26th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
http://www.2shared.com/file/48Bb_tT_/malwarebytes-1501-portable.html
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