Ever wished the computer you were working on had Firefox and your bookmarks? Perhaps you'd prefer to use a popular email client instead of your email provider's webmail, and even have a powerful IM client at your disposal whenever you need it?
Well, thanks to portable flash drive software, all these activities are possible to run directly from your flash drive -- no matter what computer you are on. Giving your jump drive some of the functionality of a personal computer, these USB storage devices are capable of running special flash drive versions of popular software packages.
We've put some of the best flash drive software available to the test, and offer our best picks below.
Web Browsers
Firefox, one of the world's most popular and powerful web browsers, is available for your flash drive. Firefox's portable browser does a great job rendering most pages, and functions just like your PC's Firefox installation in more ways then not. You'll have all the pleasures of tabbed browsing, extensions, integrated search, bookmarks, and popup-blockers. Portable Firefox for your flash drive will also let you rest easy, leaving no trace behind on the host computer. [More Info & Download]
Email Clients
Let's face it, the web-based interface of most email service providers is terrible. Thankfully, Mozilla saves the day again, with a powerful portable version of its popular Thunderbird email client. The portable version of Thunderbird is full-featured, with customizable views, support for POP & IMAP email, RSS support, and even message search. Like it's web browser cousin, Thunderbird portable will leave no personal information aside, so your email is safe and secure. [More Info & Download]
Instant Messaging (IM) Clients
The most resounding complaint of frequent users of foreign computers is often the lack of any instant messaging clients. Well, with the portable Trillian instant messaging client, AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, and ICQ users can travel around never without instant messaging abilities. As by now should be becoming a familiar trend, Trillian will leave no trace of your conversations on the host computer. To install Trillian on your flash drive, you will to first download and setup the software on a personal computer, and then transfer it to your jump drive. [More Info & Download]
Office Suite and More
Are you looking to go well beyond the basic, arming your flash drive with an entire suite of office applications (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.) or any other advanced and full service software packages? A great list of available portable flash drive software packages is available here.
