U3 vs PortableApps
I’ve been using PortableApps on my USB drive for a while now, mostly to store my passwords and check my email when using other people’s computers. I recently purchased a new U3 enabled USB drive to see what all the U3 hype was about. I was expecing something polished and professionals, but to be honest, compared to PortableApps it really doesn’t have that much going for it. It’s ugly too.
U3
Many new USB drives now include a special U3 partition, which contains the U3 base files - so all you need to do is add some U3 applications. Many of the applications are free (Firefox, Thunderbird etc), although there are a significiant amount that you have to pay for. Although U3 offers everything that PortableApps does, I don’t think the interface is as nice, and unfortunately many USB drive companies (e.g Toshiba) ‘brand’ the U3 launcher interface, which makes it look even worse. U3 requires admin rights to function - which is a serious issue for something that will be used on work and school computers. It also writes to the host computer’s hard drive, and leaves a ‘temp’ directory behind when the U3 drive is removed. One of the big advantages of U3 is that it can password protect the USB drive, so if it’s lost or stolen, you data remains safe(ish) - without the password, Windows can’t identify the USB stick and won’t read it. A warning to anyone that has just purchased a U3 enabled USB drive: DO NOT uninstall the U3 partition! Once you remove the U3 functionality, you’ll most likely never be able to reinstall it.
PortableApps
PortableApps is much the same as U3, but can be installed on any USB drive. PortableApps is proudly open source, as are all the applications - which means they’re all free and generally well supported. PortableApps is available as a ’suite’ in either a 90MB or 30MB package, or as a 1MB Base Edition which contains only the menu and backup features. The Suite packages contain the most popular applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird and Gaim, whereas the Base Edition requires you to install applications yourself (which involves about 2 mouse clicks per application!). You can also install nearly any ’self contained’ application that doesn’t require registry entries, and that keeps any configuration files in the same directory as the executable.
Best of both worlds
After trying U3 and PortableApps extensively, I finally made the decision to keep them both on my USB drive. The only feature of U3 that I’m using is the password protection utility, which will prompt for a password when the drive is first plugged in - if the password isn’t correct, then no data on the drive can be read. Although the U3 password protection isn’t bulletproof, it will stop 99% of people accessing any data on the drive if it’s lost or stolen. Once the correct password has been entered, instead of U3 starting up (I’ve disabled U3’s auto start), PortableApps will autorun.
PortableApps applications
I’ve tried nearly all the major applications from PortableApps, but these are the ones that are staying on my USB drive for good:
- 7-Zip Portable - file archiver and compressor
- ClamWin Portable - Antivirus
- FileZilla Portable - FTP client
- Firefox Portable - browser
- Miranda Portable - AOL, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo IM
- Thunderbird Portable - email client
- PSPad - code editor
- Restoration - file undeleter
- SIW - computer configuration analysis & diagnostics
- µTorrent - BitTorrent client
- VLC Media Player Portable - ‘play anything’ media player
- YamiPod - excellent iPod manager for PCs without iTunes
Links
» PortableApps.com
» U3.com
Related posts: Ultra micro USB drive,
Filed under USB, Software, Computer accessories
Comments
6 Responses to “U3 vs PortableApps”
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I just used the U3 removal tool to completely erase U3 from my drive, I didn’t find a single thing it could do that PortableApps counldn’t do better. PortableApps rocks, no going back now!
I have a 4 Gig U3 and was about to remove the “ugly” and restrictive U3 software, but I like your keep the best of both worlds approach. I however have not figured out how to enable auto start with PortableApps.
How did you enable the U3 device to autorun the PortableApps menu? Is there a way to do this without haveing to ‘burn’ a new ISO image to the CDROM drive portion as describe in
http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/research/hackingU3/
Your approach is exactly what I want to do (autostart to the PortableApps menu). Espically now that SanDisk have said they will be phasing out U3.
I have PortableApps in autostart.inf - which I’m pretty sure is the default when you install PortableApps to a USB drive.
[Autorun]Open=PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exe
Action=Start PortableApps
Icon=PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exe
Label=PortableApps
Cracked it….
Even though when you install portableapps and it creates an autorun file, the cdrom portion always wins….
There is a freeware utility that allows you to create shortcuts to anything you want. So….
1) Install portableapps on your usb stick at root so
k:\ (Obviously it might not be K on your computer)
2) Download and run this little utility….
http://usb.smithtech.us/projects/shortcut_creator.php
You can just run it without installing it.
3) Fill in the boxes:
Shortcut Name = PortableApps
ApplicationPath= navigate to your portableapps launcher (exe) file.
4)After its added, launch u3 and right click on the newly created Portableapps program and tick “Run on insertion”….
Job done…..
Why not just use the package factory here: http://www.eure.ca/ to make the P-apps exe load on the program list on the U3, then after entering password, just click it and it loads P-apps?
Or repack your programs with it? I repacked picasa2, FScapture, FSviewer, Winamp 3.5, and a couple of other things I liked, the all work and are icons in the U3 launcher…but anyways
do the first part, then mark it for start on insertion…does the same as the other commenter but after you download the package installer (which pretty much makes any stand-alone program convert and install in U3) you can keep it in casse you would rather just load ANY program on your U3 as long as does not try to use registery (IE all the programs you all already have with portable apps and MORE)…
Either way Good Deal!