PortableApps.com

USB/Flash memory drives are very useful for storing information. But did you know you can expand the use of a USB drives by adding programs.

Portable programs are designed with one thing in mind, the ability to run from portable devices like USB drives or flash memory without installing itself on the computer it is connected to.

PortableApps.com is one of my favorites tools to have on a flash drive. As described on there site: a portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.


Once I installed the ProtableApp menu here are some useful things to have on your USB flash drive:

• Web Browser and Email: Mozilla Firefox Portable is currently my favorite web browser. Having a portable version with me allows me to have all my bookmarks and Firefox settings with me everywhere I go. Any extension and add ons installed will also be available on any computer the USB drive plugged into. Mozilla Thunderbird Portable is my first choice for email program. It functions like outlook but has the added support of add ons and extensions, allowing you to customize it.
• Scheduling/Calendar: Mozilla Sunbird Portable is a great calendar and scheduling program and you can even get an add on that displays Sunbird information in Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Office Suite: Open Office is a complete Office Suite offered for free from OpenOffice.org but available on PortableApps you can get a portable version to carry with you on your USB drive.

I will be highlighting these tools in more detail in the future as well as other portable applications available on the site PortableApps.com

Meet Snippy, one of my favoriate applications

What is Snippy?

How often have you carefully selected some text from a Web page and copied it to an email message? Snippy makes this a snap! Simply click on the little Snippy icon in the taskbar notification area, and mark out the region of the screen that you want to copy — that's it, you're done! The cut-out image will now be in your clipboard, and you can paste it in another application.

If you are cutting out a portion of an Internet Explorer window, the URL will also be copied to the clipboard; this makes it very convenient to select something interesting on a Web site and send it out in an email message.

Download Snippy now.

ieSpell - A Spell Checker for Internet Explorer

ieSpell is a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage. It should come in particularly handy for users who do a lot of web-based text entry (e.g. web mails, forums, blogs, diaries).

Download and install ieSpell checker by following the link below:
Download ieSpell checker!