Portable Applications are the softwares that can be run directly from a portable device without requiring installation. These are quite useful if you travel a lot and need your softwares with you all the time. You can keep portable versions of your favorite softwares all the time with you on a USB drive and they can be run from any computer with a USB port.

Moreover, the greatest benefit of using portable applications is that none of the settings, history, data is kept on the host computer as everything is stored on the portable device.

We have compiled a list of 10 essential portable applications for your USB drive that will work on any Windows system.

1. Firefox

Firefox is perhaps one of the must have applications when one talks about essential utilities. With Portable Firefox 3, you can keep all your history, bookmarks and extensions with you always without leaving any trace of activity on host computer. You can also try out OperaTor – portable version of Opera 9.51.

Download Portable Firefox 3.0.1

2. OpenOffice

While on a public computer, viewing or editing your documents can be pain if no office software is available there. But with Portable OpenOffice, you can edit your documents anytime anywhere. OpenOffice is also compatible with all versions of MS Office.

And if you just need a Word Processor, then you could try out AbiWord, which would save you a lot of space on USB drive as OpenOffice will eat up around 220 MBs of your portable drive.

Download Portable OpenOffice

3. Mozilla Thunderbird

The portable version of Mozilla Thunderbird will take care of your e-mail with all your settings and preferences. With it, you can take your e-mail and address book wherever you go.

Download Portable Mozilla Thunderbird

4. Sumatra PDF Viewer

Sumatra PDF Viewer is a portable PDF viewer using which you can view PDF files easily and quickly as it is very lightweight and responds quickly.

Download Sumatra PDF Viewer

5. FileZilla

The portable version of FileZilla, the popular freeware FTP software will let you use FTP protocol whenever you want to transfer files to or from another machine.

Download Portable Filezilla

6. VLC Media Player

If you are an entertainment junkie, then this one is for you, the portable version of VLC Media player that can play most of the popular Media formats.

Download VLC Media Player

7. Pidgin IM

With portable version of Pidgin, you can chat using Yahoo, Google Talk,  AIM etc. anytime anywhere with your friends from a computer connected to Internet.

Download Portable Pidgin

8. 7-Zip Portable

7-zip portable version will let you handle compressed archives easily on any computer as these types of utilities are seldom available on any public computer.

Download 7-Zip Portable

9. ClamWin

ClamWin is a free anti virus software for Windows, the portable version of which can be used to scan files from USB drive. It doesn’t offer real-time monitoring and the scanning needs to be done manually.

Download Portable ClamWin

10. InfraRecorder

InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows. It offers a wide range of powerful features with an easy to use application interface. The portable version can be quite handy for all CD/DVD burning tasks.

Download InfraRecorder

In case you are looking for a portable version of a specific software, then these resources can be quite useful for you:

• PortableApps
• PortableFreeware
• SourceForge Portable Apps

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