# Something New For Computer Buffs



## RuskyWatchLover (Nov 12, 2006)

I found something new to mess up my computers with. There's this thing called a Portable Application Suite that you can put on a little USB flash drive and take all your Firefox bookmarks and things with you from computer to computer. It appears that if you get a 1 GB drive you can pretty much put your entire life on it and just put it in other people's computers and run them as if they were your own or something.

There are two versions to download, one for a 512mb drive and one for a 256mb drive but you can add as many other applications as you want plus data so I think a 1gb drive is the way to go. The beauty of it is that they are all free!!!

I also now see a very cheap way of pleasing my computer obsessed wife for Christmas.


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

sounds good tho i thought this could already be done with a cd/dvd and autoexe.bat commands ,you can easily save any info like that on disc ,the info it stores would also be accessed/stored somewhere on the host machine so i would be very wary of using it in another persons system as it will leave footprints like a yeti.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

If you're _really_ serious, you should try VMware (http://www.vmware.com/).


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

I think the idea with the Portable App Suite programs is that they don't require any kind of installation on the host computer and do all their reads/writes on the USB key so they shouldn't leave (m)any traces on the host machine. Could be wrong though; I haven't looked at them very closely.

I recently upgraded my USB key to 4GB after my 1GB one filled up. I see you can get 8GB ones now! Amazing how many handy tools you can accumulate over time









The only problem I can see with them is that, unless you really _need_ to carry around a USB "toolkit" like I do, I can't see a really good use for them. For example, if you own multiple machines, then you're already going to have the necessary apps installed on them so why do you need the portable apps on the USB key? How often would you need to plug them into someone else's machine and could you convince them that's it's safe to do? I certainly wouldn't let someone plug an unknown USB key into one of my machines. It could have something like USB Switchblade, or worse, installed on it! Then it's pretty much Game Over! Please be careful if you play with this 

Yep, VMWare is probably the ultimate solution, although it's not free apart from the "Player" and various freebie "Machines".


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## limey (Aug 24, 2006)

Rich,

Sounds like me! I think we're in the same kind of business. I'd be interested to see what you have in your toolbox.

I carry my 1GB with me all the time, but I really should encrypt the contents. I'm going to look for one of the keys that can run an app* when it's inserted, so I can set it with the encryption.

As far as taking my stuff with me I am trying out Google's Gmail and Docs & Spreadsheets so that I don't have to carry important info on the USB where it could be lost or damaged.

*Just checked last month's MaximumPC, as I thought I remembered seeing an article on the USB stuff. It is a head-to-head of U3 and Ceedo, both USB softwares. U3 gets the nod, and one of the reasons is that it cleans up after itself when removed "leaves almost no footprint in most cases".

Martin


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Limey said:



> I'd be interested to see what you have in your toolbox.


I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours









It's no big secret:

A range of antirootkit utilities; various antivirus programs; a selection of password crackers and rainbow tables; encryption software (although not for encrypting the contents of the USB key per se); a few firewalls; ftp/telnet software; the entire Windows i386 folder (always handy that one); an IDS; some MacOSX stuff I don't have a clue about; a large selection of live malware for testing/demonstration purposes (eicar gets so boring) and a classic example of why you shouldn't trust an "unknown" USB key; a million-and-one miscellaneous programs that don't fit into any particular category like fuzzers, secure delete programs, hashing programs, compression programs etc. etc. etc.; some great reading including the complete phrack archive and the complete UNIX CD bookshelf by O'Reilly; recovery and debug utilities, a couple of "Roguelike" games I've been meaning to try for ages but never gotten around to; scanners, auditors, sniffers and the like; a couple of antispam programs; spyware-related items from both sides of the camp; some Linux boot floppy images; some comprehensive toolkits like the complete set of sysinternals tools among various others; some HTTP proxies and a selection of wardriving tools.

I never leave home without them









Drop me a PM if there's anything you're specifically interested in


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Is it just me or did Richs post above just look like a random series of words









I did of course understand the first 2 lines, then I was lost


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## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

jasonm said:


> Is it just me or did Richs post above just look like a random series of words
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Rich often goes into freeform jazz poetry mode. Niiiice







.

We'll all be be talking like this by the end of the century Jason  ( I won't 'cos I'll be dead







) .


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## RuskyWatchLover (Nov 12, 2006)

jasonm said:


> Is it just me or did Richs post above just look like a random series of words
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was thinking the same thing...







even though I'm technically gifted enough to have now managed to get 6 operating systems multibooting on one laptop with a tiny 6gb drive... Dos, GEM, Windows 3.11, Windows 98, Windows XP, Suse Linux...


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Ooohhh, I just love it when you talk nerdy to me!


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

Once, just for the hell of it, I installed windows XP on my camera


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

um, you can get almost every main app portable from Firefox, Windows, Alcohol, Nero, Norton System Works, Office to Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on, I have some


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

If you don't need read/ write capability then livecds are the way to go. Live CDs are going to be Linux based as it seems to be "illegal" to make a Windows based one.









Most livecds can't be infected with shi* unless you make a concerted effort to do so, that needs a CD/DVD writer and a suitable OS and death wish.









It seems that PCLinuxOS can run quite happily from a flash drive, if you have a big one.









Advertisement for http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php over and done with.


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