A portable application is one that doesn’t need to be installed in order to be used. Some may store configuration files in a dedicated sub-directory within the application. These programs are convenient as they can be deleted when no longer needed without leaving excessive residual data on a system. Additionally, these programs can be stored on various storage mediums including cloud folders or USB flash drives.
I personally use PortableApps.com and its dedicated PAF format for various applications used on a daily basis. Not all of these programs are available on the PortableApps website and are published independently. All programs are open source or free. These are my essentials:
- Deluge – a fully featured bittorrent client
- FileZilla – a useful FTP client
- HexChat – a powerful IRC client
- Notepad++ – a text and code editor
- Telegram Desktop – an instant messaging client
- VLC Media Player – a powerful video player
- 7-Zip – an open source file archiver
- Mozilla Firefox – good secondary browser to Microsoft Edge
- OBS Studio – good for streaming and screen recording
- MediaInfo – analyze various content information
- Frhed – hexadecimal editor
- Audacity – complex audio editing tool
- WinDirStat – tool to calculate storage space
- Rufus – utility to make bootable flash drives