Portable USB Drive Hacks

Surf the web through your USB drive:
Install the free portable versions of Firefox (web-browser) and Thunderbird (email client) on your USB drive, then plug the drive into any computer to use email and to surf without leaving a history and you get to use your own bookmarks. Head to johnhaller.com to download.

Save your passwords:
Securely store all your usernames and passwords with Password Safe, a program that will even suggest passwords for you, including a master one to protect your list. Head to passwordsafe.sourceforge.net to download.

Office Apps:
Portable Open Office which is a USB drive size suite of apps allows you to create documents with a word processor, spreadsheet, and powerpoint-like program. All of the documents created with these apps can be read with Microsoft’s Office and vice versa. Available at johnhaller.com.

Sync and Secure Files:
Use a Windows briefcase to keep files synced with your PC. Cryptainer LE safely stores files on the drive in an encrypted password-protected folder. Download at cypherix.com.

Salvage your PC:
If your operating system goes down, you can start your PC directly from a USB drive with Puppy Linux which is a bare-bones OS with many of the applications above pre-installed. Go to goosee.com to download.