PortableApps makes it easy to manage
more than 400 USB-frie ndly programsSelect the tools you want to incl ude in
your personal buildof PortableAppsInstall Tails on a USB stick and you can run it on
any PC without leaving a trace of your activitiesRun anything from a USB stick12 - 25 June 2019 43COVER
FEATUREU
SB-friendly apps can run
indi vidually, but many of the best
oneshave been bundled together
in PortableApps, a hand y co llection of
more than 400 programs, wrapped up
in an easy-t o-manage, simple-to-
update suite. The tools themselves can
be sa ved to a PC, cloud drive or USB
stick and run withoutbeing fully
installed onyour PC’s hard drive.
Go tobit.ly/portableapps477and
click ‘Downloa d from PortableApps
.com’. When asked whether you want to
run orsave the linked fi le, click Run.
Select a language, click Next and check
through the Licence Agreement.If
you’re happy with its contents, click I
Agree, select New Instal l and click Next.
Plug in an empty USB stick and leave
Portable selected when asked where
you’d like to instal l the PortableApps
platform. Click Next, select the USB
stick from the drive options, and click
Next, then Install.When PortableApps first runs, it wi ll
update its built-in directory of programs
and present a full li st of options with ti ck
boxes beside each one. Select the toolsyou want to include in your
PocketApps platform, then click
Next. Each app will download, and
some will pop up instal lation
windows in the background, so
listen for Windows alerts and allow
them to instal l on your USB stick.
Each program will be addedto
the PortableApps launcher, which
opens with a click on the Taskbar’s
PortableApps icon. It lo oks like the
Windows menu, but opens on the
opposite side of the screen.
Of course, just asthe
PortableApps tools aren’t instal led on
your hard drive, neither is PortableApps
itself, so if you quit it , you won’t be able
to relaunch it from the Windows menu.Instea d, you have tonavigate to your
USB stick and launch Start.exe.Compile a portable app suiteOtherOS optionsfor USBsticks
These aren’t the only operating systems
you can run from a USB stick. If you’re
worrie d about securi ty, check out Tails
(The Amnesic Incognito Live System),
which ro utes your internet traffic
through the Tor network to obscure its
origin and destination, and makes it
difficult for digi tal evesdroppers to see
what you’re up to. It le aves no files on the
computer it boots, so it’s a hyper-secure
alternativ e to piggy-backing an existing
Windows instal lation in a hotel or cyber
café. Download it frombit.ly/tails477.
Sugar (bit.ly/sugar477), the USB-
booting variant of which is called Sugar
on a Stick, is an operating systemdesigned specifically for
school pupils, which has
been engineered to
encourage discovery
and collaboration.
Mac users can likewise
instal l macOS on an
external dr ive and boot
from it on Macs built
using Intel processors.
This is particularly
useful if you’re using an
all-in-one device such as
an iMacor MacBook
because it lets you carry
on working even if the internal
drive needs replacing.Plug ina USB stick with at least256MB of
spac e (the bigger and faster, the better) and
right-click its icon in Windows Explor er. Select
Properties, then click the ReadyBoost tab in
the dialogue that appears. Click the button for
‘Use this device’, then dr ag th e slider to
specify how much of the stick Windows can
use as a temporary stor e for any files it’s
working on writi ng to disk.
By dumping them out of its internal memory
to fast flash storage,rather than waiting for
them to transfer to a slow hard drive, th at
internal memory can be reused for the next
queuedprocessmore quickly, making your PC
feel more re sponsive as a result.
If you have an SSD rather than a hard drive, any benefit you derive from
ReadyBoost may be negligible , but if you use an older PC, the difference it
makes could help you put off an upgrade for another few months.USE READYBOOST TO SPEED UP YOUR PC