Portable Apps for Computer Techs
I am a tech and I have found all of these portable apps to be very useful so I thought I would share them with you. All of them can run directly from your USB flash drive. I hope you will find them useful too.
Also for Computer Techs
If you are in IT (and reading this page, there is a good chance you are!) then you might be interested in something I am getting into at the moment.
It is called Atera, and it would be great for anyone with a small IT services business. Have you heard of them?
If you want to learn more about Atera Click Here!
All of the computer technician software in this list can run directly from your USB flash drive. Very portable! I hope you will find them useful too.
List of Portable Applications for Computer Technicians
1. Angry IP Scanner
Angry IP Scanner – Scan a range of IP addresses to see which ones are in use. Not sure why it’s Angry, but it is memorable. Also tells you the hostname, MAC address, open ports, computer name, workgroup, and logged in Windows users.
2. Follow-Me IP
Follow-Me IP – Utility for finding your external IP address quickly. [Editor’s note – this link to fmip.org times out, so not sure if it will be fixed]
3. Restoration
Restoration – Allows you to undelete files that have been accidentally deleted from the computer. I cover its use in more detail with step by step instructions in another article called How to Restore Files Deleted from the Recycle Bin.
4. ClamWin Portable
ClamWin Portable – One of the best free antivirus utilities and it is available in portable format.
5. LockNote
LockNote – A simple text file that allows you to store usernames, passwords, phone numbers, and more with 256bit password encryption.
6. Portable OpenOffice
Portable OpenOffice – An open source office suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office, Word Perfect, Lotus, and more in portable format.
7. Portable System Analysis Tool SIW
SIW – A system analysis tool that tells you almost everything you need to know about a computer. Useful for finding information about your hardware, Windows configuration, and settings.
8. WinAudit
WinAudit – Another analysis tool that is useful for finding out information about a computer (not sure if their tool is always working).
9. RockXP
RockXP – View and change product keys for installed Microsoft products including Windows very quickly. [Editor’s note: this now redirects elsewhere to a page that doesn’t work. If you know an alternative please add to the comments below.]
10. Server2Go
Server2Go – Allows you to install an apache webserver right on to your flash drive with no configuration.
11. FileZilla Portable
FileZilla Portable – I have always been a big fan of the FileZilla ftp client. Now FileZilla is in portable format.
12. Portable http file Server
HFS – An http file server that allows you to easily share files right from your USB drive.
13. Firefox Portable Browser for USB key
Firefox Portable – Bypass those spyware-infested browsers and use Firefox straight off of your USB drive.
14. Portable Opera
Portable Opera – Or if you would rather use Opera it is also available in portable format.
15. Portable BitTorrent uTorrent
uTorrent – A very powerful standalone BitTorrent client.
16. Wiki on a Stick
Wiki on a Stick – Useful for storing product keys, configurations notes and more.
17. Portable App to find CPU data CPU-Z
CPU-Z – Very detailed information about your processor and other components.
18. Menu for Your Portable Apps
PStart – A Start Menu like program that allows you to organize and quickly run your portable programs.
Conclusion
This concludes the list. If you have any that are useful to you please post them. I am interested in hearing what helps you on a daily basis. Because it was so popular, I’ve expanded the list of portable applications for Computer Techs.
You can view it with many more utilities added at 35 portable applications every tech needs
This article has some great portable utilities for computer techs and DIY buffs.
21 Comments
Covarr
September 9, 2006Ghostzilla. It’s a browser based on the Mozilla engine, but it has the unique ability to not leave any tracks on the computer you use it on, and it has a higher level of over-the-shoulder privacy due to the ability to make pictures invisible, turn page to B&W, etc.
Butchiebags
September 11, 2006Convert. this is a tiny program whith which you can convert just about any measurement, does bit’s and bytes, very handy!
http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/
kon
September 12, 2006key changeer no longer works. Try winkeyfinder (google it)
Ping
September 17, 2006TiddlyWiki is lightweight wiki that does not need a web server, just a client browser!!
Great for Wiki on a Stick.
Qwexer
September 25, 2006A good portable browser also is firefox portable. Thats all I use. http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
or just search google for firefox portable.
AnswerMan (Ruben)
November 9, 2006WOW. THANX.
realin
January 30, 2007thanks mann .. it rox 🙂
Peter Tootill
February 27, 2007Nice list of tools… I would add porta-putty for ssh.
Also, I would love a portable virtual desktop.
I use Unix/Linux a lot and am lost without multiple desktops on Windows. I use Virtuawin on my own machine – but it writes to the hard disk on first run. It is GPL, so I’m sure it could be tweaked.
Any one any other suggestions?
Rgrds
Peter
Cameron
March 15, 2007RootkitRevealer and Process Explorer from Sysinternals (originally created by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell – now owned by Microsoft) are both handy USB apps when using any computer, especially public access computers. KeePass is a nice utility for storing passwords etc., uses AES and Twofish. For more robust security, TrueCrypt can be used to secure a USB drive.
Rgrds
Cameron
Brandon
March 21, 2007I use a variety of apps on my flash drive. Including:
Bart’s PE (with lots of add-ons)-it allows you to install a bootable version of windows on your flash drive;
a-squared HiJackFree-shows a list of what is running on your computer (explorer add-ons, startup items, etc.);
Ad-Aware- detects and removes adware and spyware; CCleaner-(I use a batch file to register and unregister dlls) it deletes temp files and can clean up your registry;
ClamWin Portable- a portable anti-virus program;
Devcpp-a portable c++ program with a built-in compiler;
HiJackThis-shows a list of startup items and bho’s;
HoverIP-networking tool;
SUPER-a program that can encode/play audio/video files;
uTorrent-a bit torrent app;
as wall as many others previously mentioned: firefox, siw, process explorer, as well as some resource editors, spybot, open office, putty, etc.
Brandon
March 21, 2007Here is a list of some useful websites to find some of the apps I previously mentioned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_software
http://www.theinfobox.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://portableapps.com/apps
http://www.portablefreeware.com/
http://www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html
http://www.tinyapps.org/
Peter Tootill
May 10, 2007I’ve found the solution to my virtual desktop need: monitors from http://www.godlikesoft.de/html/products.html
Also useful for snmp devices is ireasoning’s mib browser, which also doesn’t need install if you use the zip version: http://www.ireasoning.com/mibbrowser.shtml
Rgrds
Peter
Techguns
May 30, 2007This TCP/IP has been portable for years.
NetstatViewer
http://www.misec.net/freeware/
badR
June 25, 2007you can find any portable app in
http://usbtools.wordpress.com/
regards
icemax
July 13, 2007Hey .. people …
very very good portable application 😕
please go to
http://www.WinPenPack.com …..
very very good …. please go to it…..
helo friends. 😉
James
September 6, 2007Follow-Me IP seems to be a dead link. fmip.org does not respond to DNS searches. If you have a copy of the app and the license allows it, please post a copy on your server so the rest of us can benefit.
Thanks for a great list of useful apps.
There are several sites that have tremendous lists of portable apps (tinyapps.org, no-install.com, etc.). Depending on your needs, there are many that are very helpful to have on your thumbdrive. I personally like a copy of Perl installed there (portable xamp or other sources) and I use quite a few of the GNU Win32 tools (all portable by definition).
One hint that I find useful, I use a lot of command line tools so I have a batch file in the root of my thumb drive that appends the executable directories on my thumb drive to the path. I’ve included that below for those who are interested …
—————————-
rem Setup DOS path to access thumb drive programs
@if ‘%1’ == ” goto Usage
set PATH=%PATH%;%1public;%1GnuWin32bin;%1PortableApps;%1xamppxamppliteperlbin
@goto done
:Usage
@echo Usage: %0 drive_letter:
:done
———————
Obviously you will have to change the PATH= statement to fit your configuration.
Usage is simply “thumbpath i:” where you replace “i:” with the drive letter that your thumbdrive gets assigned.
Thanks,
– James
Marcus
November 6, 2007Truecrypt is a very powerful on the fly encryption program. Either on local or USB mode. See http://www.truecrypt.org/
Tobeus
November 26, 2008Dial-a-Fix
A very useful shortcut for common windows XP repairs (includes re-registration of common dll files, registry fixes, etc). I usually get it from softpedia.com. Not exactly designed as a portable app, but it runs as a stand-alone tool without need for installation.
Aaron
March 11, 2010Excellent tools. Thanks for posting all these, saved me decades of finding them on my own. I agree with the top comment, ghostzilla is amazing and I’m running off it right now. Thanks for all the nice tools; I’ll have a blast using all my new toys!!!
Charly
November 8, 2011Serva32 /64
Best multi-server out there..
Seven protocols, less than 1Mb, portable and it won’t touch your registry!
http://www.vercot.com/~serva/
Eliminate bad breath forever
December 16, 2016An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who was conducting
a little research on this. And he actually bought me breakfast simply because I
discovered it for him… lol. So allow me to reword
this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss
this issue here on your internet site.
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