On the off chance that you computer savvy users have not heard of PortableApps.com, I thought I’d bring it to your attention.

Basically all of the best open-source applications have been shrunk down and configured in a way that doesn’t involve embedding itself in your system registry. Apps include Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice3.0, ClamWin (antivirus), InfraRecorder (cd authoring), Pidgin (chat), Notepad++ (pretty much my favourite text editor) and more.

I used to keep everything on my laptop and generally I do, but since I can’t always bring my laptop with me and I have this nasty habit of needing to be connected all of the time, I carry around my trusty USB key so I can even check my email from several accounts using Thunderbird.

The programs offered even include a portable PHP and MySQL server, which can come in handy for when you need to work offline and don’t already have a local environment.

Many of these programs are useful to me both as a programmer and a mobile tech. The program names will be more familiar to linux users due to the open source nature and the wide availability of mainstream products. Pidgin, for example is a chat program that can interface with MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, AIM, and even Google Talk. It doesn’t support any of the extra features such as video or voice chat, but it does a great job where it needs to.