Thanks for this very useful list. The only difficulties are with Thunderbird which doesnt really manage a large mass of mails. Of course Outlook even doesnt work on a USB, and Foxmail is too basic... So on the way I recommend Gmail...

Thanks for the comment :)
I've never tried Thunderbird with POP. However I find Thunderbird with IMAP works very well -as of course only the headers are downloaded and then the body is brought in when you click on it. That way even with Gb's of email in your Inbox only a small amount of data is kept on the key and when you log back into your "static" email client all the changes you made are there.

I've been using Thunderbird with POP for quite a while right now, and yes, it isn't performing well when you have lots of mail already-- i noticed that the search functions don't work anymore. You can use WebMail and/or WebMail-Yahoo extensions so you can download those mails from yahoo and google.

How do you install the Java runtime environment from a flash drive? I needed that one, since I don't want to go from computer to computer and install Java everytime :(

"How do you install the Java runtime environment from a flash drive?"
I don't think it's possible at the moment. As I understand it Java looks at registry keys that are modified (by Administrator) at installation.

But when it is available it'll be straight on my drive (& this list :) )

This is a great list of application and utilities for a USB drive. I plan on looking into many of the options/ideas that you have presented here. Although I will say that I tend to be inflexible when it comes to my encryption software. For me StompSoft's Portable Vault (http://www.stompsoft.com/portable-vault.html) is the only way to go for file security.

I guess it's mostly due to fact that I happen to really love the 256 bit blowfish encryption and having a good interface is a good thing too. At any rate, I did have a question though, "What makes NOD32 anti-virus better than, let's say Norton or McAfee?"

This is an excellent list. There are a couple that I do not have on my drive but I think I will very soon!

Here is my list:

http://www.dailycupoftech.com/?page_id=51
http://www.dailycupoftech.com/?page_id=52

It looks like your take on the USB drive is very similar to mine.

Now while I still maintain my inflexibility in regards to my StompSoft Portable Vault software, you have presented an extremely hard to deny answer to my question about anti-virus applications. I currently make use of Norton and I can't say that I have been ecstatic with it. I know that it often delays my startup time and it does miss viruses during it scanning. So, now I'm seriously considering NOD32. I perused their website but I am wondering if there is any more detailed info like spec sheet or something. A link to that would be great.

I'm not sure there is a 'spec' sheet as such comparing different features between Norton & Nod as I'm sure each vendor will sing the praises of their particular product and it'll be just marketing guff.

The proof is in the use I think. Nod allow you to download a 30 day trial version - install it and see the difference after you have removed Norton.

Thanks for the post Tim, your site looks very interesting and I shall be poking around it over the next day or so!

Thanks for the compliments. Feel free to dig around the site but keep in mind that it is very young (only started September 1, 2006) so it may be a bit lean at this time.

Tim

P.S. If anyone else wants to check out the site, the URL is www.dailycupoftech.com.

I have about 2 thousand songs, and I use a hard drive to take my music to friends and other places computers and listen to music. Problem is that most don't have iTunes and can't get the program, and other programs can't play every single song. Is there a way i can keep my songs synced with my home computer or at the very least, get some kind of portable application similar to iTunes that i can run straight off my hard drive?

Thanks for the info. I think that I will give it a try :)

Feel free to link to our site as well!

I use:
ad aware
spybot search and destroy
windows malware remover

do google for jotti scan they have huge list of antivirus products.

I would also recommend you check sysinternals for TCPview and process explorer to see how much bandwidth, cpu, ram each product consumes as well as times for scans.

I have used NOD32 on my home computer for the past three years and love it. In the past I have used McAfee and Norton. McAfee is nothing special and it's not horrible. But Norton is evil. It worms it's way into your system and screws things up. I wouldn't use it if it were free; in fact you couldn't pay me to use it. My employer, a Fortune 500 company. uses Norton and our systems run so slow it's frustrating. I have had friends who I have converted to NOD32 and they are all happy with it; especially those coming from Norton.

>How do you install the Java runtime environment from a flash drive?
>I needed that one, since I don't want to go from computer to computer
>and install Java everytime :(

With this tool, you can make Java apps run directly from a flash drive

http://www.excelsior-usa.com/jet.html

I think he was looking for the actual java runtime environment that runs from a USB drive, not a program that converts java programs so it can run from a flash drive.

I would like to point out the AVG free edition anti virus.I'm using it for years now and am very satisfied with it. NOD32 is very good but you have to buy it AVG comes free for home use. And it is low on consuming system resources.

You can call me biased, but I would still recommend spending £23 on NOD32 over the free AVG. Admittedly in the last two years AVG has got hugely better than what it used to be and the Virus Bulletin website shows it picks up all the viruses now (a couple of years ago I used to regularly come across AVG systems that were infected)

However, I would prefer to support Clamwin Free Antivirus project over AVG as it is truly "free".

SyncToy can synchronise files/folders & is quite configurable - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx

VLC Media Player isn't reliant on installed Codecs & will play most/all media. Interface isn't necessarily the greatest but once you are familiar with it it is useable... http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Hi Dan,

I just copied the Java runtime folder onto a stick, called my
Java program with absolute paths - et viola! it runs without
Java runtime installed.

Example batch file (assuming "F:" ist the USB stick):
F:\java-runtime\bin\java -jar F:\myprog\dist\myprog.jar

happy to have discovered this!
Daniel Keller
www.keller-informatik.ch

Hello. I like your list. But I have one question, does Daemon tools really have spyware attached? I have been using version 4(.08 I believe) for some time now and I can't say I've noticed anything suspicious... how did you discover this and what did you see (maybe the tool I can try to see the result?)
thanks.

Tyler

"Spyware" may be slightly over the top. But daemon tools does contain "adware" and is advertised as such.

NOD 32 is horrible. Yes it is simple and fast, but detection of virus is so bad, and real time protection is ultra bad. Norton is stupid, and it is stupid and stupid. Mcaffe has good guard but, scanner is absolutely worts. I recommended bitdefender antivirus. It is the best. It has good guard (real time protection), great scanner, biggest base of virus, and update that use every 1 hour.

Well the "Virus Bulletin" website - an independent website that tests all anti-virus products has a different take on it.

VB100 Results Overview: BitDefender (SOFTWIN) - 16 Success / 6 Failure / 34 No Entry
VB100 Results Overview: Eset NOD32 - 48 Success / 3 Failure / 5 No Entry

Even Symantec beats Bitdefender hands down.... I would recommend that when rubbishing products you may want to do some research first.