Hardware

Five indispensable apps to carry on a USB stick

By · June 18, 2012, 4:58 AM PST · jlwallen

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  • Introduction

    Ah, the USB stick -- one of the IT admin's best friends. It travels with you and helps you rescue machines, work magic, and make end users sigh with relief. Some of these apps you copy to the hard drive and install; others can be run from the stick itself. A few of them are full-blown operating systems that can help you completely recover a corrupted or infected platform.

    Whatever the style and purpose, there are plenty of portable apps for the USB stick that can be hard to live without. Here are five tools I deem must-haves.

    Note: If you'd prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog.

    Photo: iStockphoto.com/grekoff

     

  • SystemRescueCD

    SystemRescueCD is the Linux distribution to have if you're going to carry one around on a USB stick.

  • SystemRescueCD

    With this distribution, you can recover partitions, recover data, image a disk, test a hard disk, edit configuration files, burn a disk, check for rootkits, run an antivirus scan, securely wipe a hard drive, and much more.

  • Portable Firefox

    Sometimes, a Web browser is a necessity for solving a problem. But when the browser on the desktop won't run, what do you do? You break out Portable Firefox.

  • Firefox Portable

    This version of Firefox has all the great features you're used to. In fact, some will be hard-pressed to figure out that Firefox is running from a USB stick.

  • ComboFix

    ComboFix makes almost every recovery tool list for me. No admin kit is complete without this powerhouse. It is my go-to tool when I encounter some of the nastier viruses and rootkits. Almost without fail, if an antivirus can't catch it, ComboFix can.

  • ComboFix

    Unlike common antivirus and anti-malware applications, ComboFix will display (upon completion of running) a detailed report of exactly what it took action on. Note: To run ComboFix, you'll need to copy the .exe over to the computer and install it.

  • FileZilla Portable

    FileZilla Portable is the one and only FTP client to carry around with you. Why would you need an FTP client? There will be times when you must load a file from a troubled computer to another machine. The easiest way to do this (when all other methods fail) is by using a portable FTP client.

  • FileZilla Portable

    An FTP client is especially crucial when a file is too large to fit on a USB drive or if the file must be loaded to a remote machine you do not have physical access to. This application is run directly from the USB drive and isn't installed on the PC.

  • Explorer++ Portable

    Explorer++ Portable is a file manager with all the usual features you've grown to expect from a file manager. But why should you carry a file manager with you? Have you ever had to repair a machine where Explorer won't run? Makes for a major challenge. Having a portable file manager gets around that issue with ease.

  • Explorer++ Portable

    Explorer++ Portable offers features like tabs, keyboard shortcuts, a customizable UI, drag-and-drop support, and file merging and splitting.

Introduction

Ah, the USB stick -- one of the IT admin's best friends. It travels with you and helps you rescue machines, work magic, and make end users sigh with relief. Some of these apps you copy to the hard drive and install; others can be run from the stick itself. A few of them are full-blown operating systems that can help you completely recover a corrupted or infected platform.

Whatever the style and purpose, there are plenty of portable apps for the USB stick that can be hard to live without. Here are five tools I deem must-haves.

Note: If you'd prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog.

Photo: iStockphoto.com/grekoff

 

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By Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.