PortableApps: My U3 Solution
December 26th, 2006
Written By: Adam Sussman
About a week ago I posted I Must Buy A U3 Right This Second. This post received a comment by someone named Jeremy who informed me that it is possible to run software on any USB drive by using a free copy PortableApps.com. He also mentioned that U3 is buggy.
Thanks for that excellent tip Jeremy! Yesterday while digging around a bunch of loose change to find a pen, I came across an old Memorex 256 MB USB ThumbDrive. This was a nice little surprise considering I have not used it for a few years and I had completely forgotten I had it.
Now that I have a USB drive, I decided to put PortableApps to the test.
I found downloading the PortableApps application super easy. It took just a few seconds once I decided what bundle I wanted to download. I picked the Lite version as I do not require all the applications that come with the Standard bundle.
Once I download and tested the PortableApps application, it was nice to see how the user interface runs right off the USB drive.
For work I sometimes need to do some real quick website analysis. I typically use several FireFox extensions for this so as soon as I installed FireFox using the PortableApps installer I installed:
AI RoboForm
Live HTTP Headers
Sage
Search Status
User Agent Switcher
Web Developer
Installing the extensions on a USB drive is much slower then off the PC. The loading times are just a bit slow, but it is not painfully slow. This could also have to do with the fact my drive is a few years old.
In addition to FireFox, I installed FileZilla Portable and Miranda IM Portable. It is sweet to know that I can sit down at almost any PC and pull up all the tools and extension I use on a daily basis in addition I can use my Instant Messaging clients anywhere.
December 26th, 2006 16:40
Thanks for the update! I’m going to give it a try.
Can you share what FireFox plugins you use?
I posted my list a while back. You can find it categorized under “Firefox Extensions”
Thanks again!
Dave.
December 26th, 2006 16:43
In this post I named all the ones that I bothered to put on the USB drive. I am not sure if I understand. Do you want me to list all of my plug-in’s that I use on my workstations?
December 26th, 2006 17:29
The only one that you listed that I also use is “Web Developer” I just installed the others. I just thought to myself that you must use more than 6 plugins
December 26th, 2006 17:38
I went through a phase where I was using quite a few but FF likes to update itself leaving some plug-ins to fail. I got tired of coming into the office having to play catchup with my web browser.
For real quick look-over’s, the ones I listed in this post are good enough for me. When I do need to dig deeper, we have custom built tools in-house to handle the heavy analysis.
January 2nd, 2007 12:02
Be sure to back up your thumbdrive. Flash memory has a limited number of write cycles, and actually running things from it may accelerate the rate of “decay”, since any config changes will go back out to the USB drive.
Are there guidelines about Firefox caching with it running from a USB thumbdrive?
January 11th, 2007 14:14
[…] I found this via ShandyKing’s excellent site, and I immediately thought of all of my friends who work for a company that does not really allow them keep personal apps or work on their computers. This seems to me to be a really fine alternative to using Google Docs and other online tools. For one, you do not need to be online at home to continue working, and two, this cannot be tracked by the corportate firewall. […]
January 22nd, 2007 13:01
Methinks Jeremy knew not what he was saying.
U3 is a very stable platform, with a large and expanding range of software.
FireFox for U3
Mozilla for U3
Open Office for U3
Skype
Find My U3
All exist on my U3 happily, leaving no trace whatsever on the host computer after it is ejected.
The only “bug” if you could call it that (it will hammer all usb devices) is where shared network drives have letter designations immediately following the physical drives.
We did extensive testing across a wide range before releasing our product (www.findmyu3.com) onto the U3 platform.
We did this because we know that U3 will be the market leader in this area for some time to come.
Older U3 devices (early 2006) may exhibit some bad behaviour due to the Launchpad software having had initial bugs.
That is not the case with current U3 devices.
I would suggest trying again with a newer device and do your comparisons based on that.
Also the number of apps released between the two products websites should give a clue.
Gartners predicts that in 2008 of the 150 million USB flash devices that will be sold worldwide, at least 70% will be U3.
February 22nd, 2007 10:12
seems like downunder has a personal interest in the u3 thing. u3 is buggy, though. lots of drives will never work on vista. it causes system crashes with nero and other cd burnin stuff. and it only works on sandisk drives. and there are 10 times as many downloads of the portable versions of firefox and thunderbird as there are of the u3 versions (according to portableapps.com, which makes both). and it looks like portableapps.com may be druppoing support for u3… so no more firefox or thunderbird for u3. the open source community is kinda down on u3 since it is so closed. without firefox, thunderbird, openofice and other open source stuff, u3 is dead.
April 15th, 2007 22:21
I bought a Sandisk Cruzer 2.0 when I decided to go the portable way.
While I get to know about portable application concept through PortableApps.com, upon some research, I also comes to know that U3 is another format.
The main reason why I choose Cruzer is becuase, it’s a U3 drive.
When I tried both, I found that I like PortableApps more because, it is so much easier to install, just pop ANY application into the portableApps’s directory and the Launcher recognise it. This means that I can have any portable application incorporated into the PortableApp Menu.
This is not true for U3 launch pad. Once I download an application, the application is installed into the System directory with some cryptic directory name. It also seems that U3 launchpad only accept application from U3 website :(.
However, there’s a U3 apps that is interesting, (AppSnapper Lite) this application Link docs to apps on your U3 drive. I wish PortableApps has a similar application too :).
July 6th, 2007 05:33
Thanks for the update! I’m going to give it a try.