I recently discovered portable apps. And I couldn’t be happier. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is precisely what the name suggests. Applications written with portability in mind. You can copy the app to your USB drive and move it to another PC and there you have it; setup exactly the way you want it, all set to go. I’ve spent hours working on other people’s PC, downloading stuff I need, configuring, setting everything up and then having to clean up everything when I’m done. No more. Just plugin a USB drive, everything is all set and ready to fire. Firefox alone, with addons saves me tons of time. Better yet, whenever someone remote tells me their firefox isnt working as desired on certain sites, I say download mine and run it. See if it works. And it usually does. Also, I don’t now need to carry my PC around when I travel. With all my apps on a USB, all I need is a host PC on the other end and I’m all set.
Another obvious advantage is that since apps are not installed on the PC, your registry stays slim and running faster. the files are not scattered all over the place, only where you installed it. Uninstalling is as easy as deleting the folder where you installed it. No more registry cleaners, orphan files all over taking up space. Overall, I find my system snappy with little to no bloat and yet everything there at my fingertips.
Now, if only everything else in life was portable. At leasy potty is.