It includes Tor, Vidalia, Polipo, Firefox, and Torbutton. Like Democrakey, the Tor Browser Bundle packages together several apps that you can use from a thumb drive to protect your privacy while surfing. You can download it to your own USB drive from the link above or purchase a USB drive with Democrakey installed from . If you’re worried (or paranoid) about privacy and censorship, Democrakey bundles together open source applications for secure Web browsing, secure e-mail, secure chat, encryption, file shredding and anti-virus. You can download the apps individually or you can get the Full or the Essential suite. While its not as well-known as, winPenPack also offers dozens of open source apps in portable versions. In addition, the site includes a huge directory of portable versions of other software that integrates with the platform. The basic suite consists of twelve apps, including portable versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, ClamWin, KeePass, PNotes and others. is probably the best known suite of open-source apps that you can download and run from a USB drive.

Other individual portable applications come next, organized by category.Īs always, feel free to mention other portable open source applications in the Comments section below.Ģ5.2) Related Collections/Suites 1.) Because these collections and directories are so helpful, we put them at the top of our list. Others offer directories with many individual portable apps. Several groups, notably and winPenPack, have created suites of portable open source applications. Others are open source applications that have been re-packaged for portability by a third party. Some of these were originally designed by the project owner to be portable.

They also don’t leave behind any files on the host system, and they don’t interfere with other software installed on that system.įor this list, we’ve compiled some of the best portable open source applications available.

What makes an application portable? These apps can run from any portable device (a thumb drive, CD, DVD, portable hard drive or other device) without needing to be installed directly on the hard drive of the system you’re using. If you travel frequently, it can be frustrating to have to use a system that doesn’t have your favorite open source software already installed.įortunately, many of the most popular open source applications come in portable versions that you can take with you on a USB thumb drive or other portable media.

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