The term portable apps is exciting mainly because it has ‘portable’ in it. Anything portable is good news. From portable computers, to portable telephones and now portable applications?
What makes an app portable or ‘not portable’ is in how it’s installed and how the installations files are handled and distributed during installation. But I’m trying not to bore you with that nerdy jargon and try to put it as simply as possible.
What is a Portable App?
A portable app is an app that does not need installation to work on a computer. That means you can throw a portable app on a flash drive and carry it around and use it on multiple computers without installing. That means all your app data and everything you do with the app is saved onto the flash drive.
To use a portable app, you download it as a ZIP file, extract the ZIP to a folder, then run the executable file for the application. If it allows you to save settings, they are in files inside the same folder.
The files that run the application reside in a single folder. They can be anywhere on the system. If you move the folder, the application still works. Even though portable apps can be downloaded and used on the computer itself, their main purpose is to be put on a flash drive or external hard drive and be carried around.
Why You Need Portable Apps!
There are advantages of having portable apps that you can carry around and use on different computers instead of having to install apps on different computers that don’t have the apps you want to use.
Portability: As the name suggests, having the app(s) of your choice everywhere you go in a thumb drive is very satisfying and convenient. Especially when you want to use borrowed or public computers that don’t have the specific app you want.
Personalized Settings: Everyone has their own program settings of the apps they use. Having a portable app lets you carry your own apps with your own program settings to any computer.
Security: Since all the app data is stored on the same folder as the portable app, you’ll leave no traces of your app activity on the public or borrowed computer. this will give you some sense of security and privacy.
Where To Get Portable apps:
Portable Apps has a wide range of all the portable apps you need and even some you didn’t know you needed. The apps are organized into categories so you should find what you need easily. They range from browsers, document processors, image editing software and of course computer diagnosis software.
All you have to do is get the download into your flash drive and extract there. When you need to use it, just double click on the executable file inside the portable app folder and it should start running immediately.
Also read: Turn Your Old Hard Drive Into Portable External Hard Drive
