Difference between portable version of apps and regular?

[jtusa]

Just picked up a 1gig USB drive the other day so I've been poking through all the portable applications out there, a lot more than I realized. Most of them run surprisingly well off a flash drive, even better off the harddrive.

Hence my question, what are the differences between the regular and portable versions? All of the features seem to be there. Just wondering if there's a reason I shouldn't use portable versions for everyday use off of my HD.

 

[xtknight]

Isn't it that the portable versions don't need to be installed into the registry?

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Portable versions don't have to be installed, but extracted. And sometimes, there's some features not there that might be in the regular version.

 

[jtusa]

Yeah, I realize they don't have to be installed, which is the perk, because whenever you install something and uninstall, there's usually a trace of it somewhere. I'm just wondering there's some other handicap the portable versions have that I'm not aware of.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I've got about a GB of portable apps that I keep on my hard drive and I keep the one I used most on my USB drive. For me, having portable versions usually means I don't bother installing the same programs on my desktop...I just run the portable versions when needed.

Portable Apps is a great place to start looking.

 

[secretanchitman]

some features arent there, there is less writing to the program itself (to save a flash drives life for instance), etc.

 

[jtusa]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I've got about a GB of portable apps that I keep on my hard drive and I keep the one I used most on my USB drive. For me, having portable versions usually means I don't bother installing the same programs on my desktop...I just run the portable versions when needed.

Portable Apps is a great place to start looking.

That site is exactly what got me thinking, mainly with OpenOffice. I'm thinking why should I install OpenOffice, if I can just use the portable version. I'm a very light office user, so I'm not seeing why not. Also found a site that showed what needed to be changed to make Trillian portable. I think I might just trying using those off the network drive so I don't have to install them on each PC.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: jtusa

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I've got about a GB of portable apps that I keep on my hard drive and I keep the one I used most on my USB drive. For me, having portable versions usually means I don't bother installing the same programs on my desktop...I just run the portable versions when needed.

Portable Apps is a great place to start looking.

That site is exactly what got me thinking, mainly with OpenOffice. I'm thinking why should I install OpenOffice, if I can just use the portable version. I'm a very light office user, so I'm not seeing why not. Also found a site that showed what needed to be changed to make Trillian portable. I think I might just trying using those off the network drive so I don't have to install them on each PC.

The portable apps work great off a network drive...well, any drive for that matter. I'm like you as well, most of these apps I don't run day-in and day-out, so the portable apps suite my needs perfectly.

Besides, when it comes to reinstall XP, I don't have to waste the time installing each app. Just run the executable and go.