Portable Applications in Windows XP: Which Ones to Use
I was assembling a list of preferred Windows XP applications. Part of my goal was to replace installed apps with portable apps where possible. Doing so had the advantages of getting back up and running much more quickly, whenever I would have to reinstall Windows; reducing system problems due to misbehaving applications; and having my favorite tools available, in my preferred configuration, when I had to use someone else's computer. With the emergence of cloud computing, among other things, there had been a trend toward the virtualization of applications -- toward, that is, making apps less dependent upon a single piece of hardware.
So now I was engaged in a search for applications that would replace some of those I had traditionally installed on my Windows XP systems. In my search, I found there were many sources of portable apps, including the categorized and somewhat ranked set in Andrew Lee's Portable Freeware Collection. I used these sources to supplement and revise the set that I had started with, from PortableApps.com. It seemed likely that I would continue to add preferred portable apps from various sources indefinitely. In that sense, this post can only be a step along the way. Even so, by this time I had accumulated enough applications to say a few things on the subject.
Perhaps the single most important thing to say was that there were substitutes for Microsoft Office. This was important because it permitted some freedom from dependence upon Microsoft programs. I had already achieved some such freedom by switching to Ubuntu as my operating system and by running Windows XP within VMware virtual machines (VMs) on Ubuntu/WinXP dual-boot machines. Through that step, I had multiple alternatives, whenever Microsoft Windows and/or Office failed me: I could run Microsoft Office, or the freeware OpenOffice alternative, on either Windows or Ubuntu, either natively or virtually. After that, there were very few times when I was substantially unable to get work done because of some software failure arising from Microsoft software.
The next step in that regard was to move away from treating either Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office as my primary operating or office system. Where Windows was concerned, I had recently concluded that the computing world, and I, had not yet come up with a superior end-user alternative for PC-based (as distinct from e.g., Apple) systems. There were far more, and far more useful, software applications available on Windows than on Ubuntu or other varieties of Linux. But in the case of Office, it did increasingly appear that there were superior alternatives -- notably OpenOffice. Then, too, I was among those keyboard-oriented users who were put off by the mouse-oriented ribbon that debuted in Office 2007. In any event, I had had too many experiences with malfunctioning computer installations that desperately needed to be reinstalled, but that I was currently unable to reinstall because it would take too many hours to install and adjust Office and other heavyweight programs.
The current search for portable apps pushed me further in the direction of seeking an alternative to Microsoft Office. As described in a separate post, people were struggling with the non-portability of Office 2003 and 2007. Some pursued the option of downloading a presumably bootleg copy of Microsoft Office that was somehow converted into portable format. That option (as noted in that other post) entailed considerable risk of viral infection, instability, and inflexibility. Another option, which I did pursue, was to create my own portable version from my own copy of Office. That, too, did not turn out well, primarily because the software capable of doing it properly was still too expensive. Since I considered portability a real benefit, I was thus even more motivated to take seriously the OpenOffice alternative, which was freely available in Windows-based portable form.
Of course, there is more to the world than office productivity software. A complete set of portable apps must depend on the needs of the individual user. But it may be possible to select some, from among the estimated 150 categories displayed in the Portable Freeware Collection, from which a typical user might want to draw at least one portable app.
In preparing this list, I excluded many categories that did not interest me and/or in which I was not knowledgeable. Among these excluded categories (to name a few) were those having to do with iPods, mp3 tags, games, and IM. Also, in some instances, I took more than one example from a category (especially from categories with grab-bag names like "miscellaneous"), or took something other than the top-ranked program. I have also used my own category headings, rather those supplied by the PFC website. In short, this list is offered for purposes of interest, not precision.
Audio and Video
XMedia Recode
Audacity
IrfanView
Duplicate Music Files Finder
VirtualDub Portable
VLC
XBlender
Images, Graphics, Scanning
Photoscape
Dia
Softi FreeOCR
CD/DVD
ImgBurn
Virtual CDRom Control Panel
WinToFlash
Folder2Iso
BonkEnc
Files and Folders
Multi File Tool
7-Zip
TreeSize
Duplicate File Finder
ICE ECC
FreeCommander
FileCommander
Undelete Plus
Bulk Rename Utility
Index Your Files
Unlocker
Backup and Synchronization
Toucan
FastCopy
ozSync
Downloading, FTP
Free Download Manager
FileZilla
WinHTTrack
uTorrent
VDownloader
Security & Privacy
PortableTor
Blowfish Advanced CS
ClamWin Portable
KeePass
CCleaner
Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
Web Browsers
Firefox
Opera
FireTune
Opera Settings Import & Export Tool
Scan2PDF
Foxit Reader
Swift PDF
Registry Editing
Registry Commander
Regshot
RegFromApp
RegScanner
Remote Collaboration
ShowMyPC
TeamViewer
Bookmarks
TrayURL
AM-DeadLink
Fun & Entertainment
Raindrop
Sumotori Dreams
Wallpaper Randomizer
System Information
SIW
PC Wizard
Autoruns
Calendar & Time
Sunbird
TimeSync
General Reference
Convert
WeatherMate
HTML & Text Editing
KompoZer
HTML Portable Editor
Notepad++
Onscreen
ClipX
PNotes
SysExporter
Virtual Magnifying Glass
Phone & Email
Thunderbird
Skype
Math & Statistics
SpeedCrunch
R
Productivity & Desktop Layout
OpenOffice
WinTabber
VirtuaWin
Other
RamBooster
Stalled Printer Repair
EjectUSB
JkDefrag
AutoIt
Don't Sleep
PStart
Scribus
DSpeech
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