JoelPadot.com

Dear Portable Apps: I love you.

Recently I’ve been on a quest to not only secure my data while I transport it from point A to point B, but also ways to transport useful applications that aren’t necessarily capable of being used over the web. A web browser, for example. I’ve found the solution I’ve been looking for. PortableApps is a package of portable applications that you can install to a USB flash drive, a compact flash card, or an portable mountable device. I’m currently running it on a pocket 6GB Seagate hard drive. It’s a real blessing. The package comes with a mobile version of Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office.org, your choice of messengers and others. What makes this product even better is the fact that you can add other applications developed for PortableApps like Putty. All-in-all, I consider this a great find and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now.

But, how does this tie into my quest to secure the information I carry with me? Once you install PortableApps, you can encrypt the device you’ve installed in using TrueCrypt and Boom! You have your portable applications with all the settings you’ve saved, bookmarks you made, and email you’ve downloaded encrypted in and safe from the prying eyes of other. Unfortunately, this is only for Windows, but since I use Windows at work, and on my Laptop, this is a very useful combination of products.