# What programs should I keep on my USB flash drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799 "2009-12-11T00:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/1 "2009-12-11T00:50:24Z")
I’ve recently ordered a 8gb USB flash drive. I’d like to have a folder of basic installers and diagnostic programs for use at work, my parents house, etc. What are some basic software installers and programs that I should have? Are there any games that will run off a flash drive without too much trouble? So far I’ve got: Firefox portable Glary Utilities Winrar Winamp classic Media Player Classic with a large codec pack Divx Spybot S&D AdAware ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/2 "2009-12-11T01:14:26Z")
It is good to have a nice text editor, and something like the Norton Utilities of about 20 years ago, that can run without Windows (though you may need some intermediary to get them from a USB drive to a PC running DOS). Even a boot disk - though I confess I don’t know how to make a boot disk from the files that belong on it, meaning how to put them into the boot sector. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/3 "2009-12-11T07:10:41Z")
Might I suggest the persistent [pendrive flavour](http://www.pendrivelinux.com/) of Ubuntu or some other Linux variant? Why carry just some programs on your USB when you can carry a whole OS… ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/4 "2009-12-11T08:23:29Z")
-openoffice - -xnview for editing picture I still have a copy of Norton Textra from college. amazingly powerful word processor considering it fits on a 3 1/2 inch disk. ---
**Author:** ![old\_joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/58956e/32.png) [@old\_joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/old_joe)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/5 "2009-12-11T16:49:10Z")
> [@Captain\_C](#): > > I’ve recently ordered a 8gb USB flash drive. What are some basic software installers and programs that I should have? I keep these on mine: malwaybytes +manual update 7zip ccleaner robocopy firefox open office iview cdburnerxp Avast cutepdf I pretty much install these on everything I work on. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/6 "2009-12-11T19:04:29Z")
8GB? **8GB???** Pfft. [256GB Flash Drive.](http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/flash/dt300.asp) Now you can carry your whole computer on one. No special small programs needed. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/7 "2009-12-12T14:07:05Z")
I have [VLC](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/). Good media player, and I always keep a couple movies and some comedy/music on my flash drive. A couple games wouldn’t hurt either. Bridge Builder is a good one. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/8 "2009-12-12T14:21:22Z")
As an old fart I have lots off luddite friends who hate changes moving from machine to machine. I give them a pile of [Portable Apps](http://portableapps.com/) on a thumb drive and tell them to not bother with the stuff on the PC they are using. Everyone seems to like the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/9 "2009-12-12T16:42:30Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > As an old fart I have lots off luddite friends who hate changes moving from machine to machine. I give them a pile of [Portable Apps](http://portableapps.com/) on a thumb drive and tell them to not bother with the stuff on the PC they are using. Everyone seems to like the idea. Woo, great website. That made my searching quite a bit easier. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/10 "2009-12-12T17:14:56Z")
Yeah another thanks for that Portable Apps link. Will definitely install it on my thumbdrive and should come in very handy in a variety of situations. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-programs-should-i-keep-on-my-usb-flash-drive/520799/11 "2009-12-12T18:28:27Z")
I’ve got a boot disk at work which allows you to recover passwords. It boots into Ubuntu (I think) and there is a utility to grab any Windows passwords on the box. It comes in quite handy. It is also handy for virus removal as it mounts FAT/NTFS volumes so you can go in and nuke any viri files that you can’t get out any other way\*. When I get to work I’ll post the name of the thing, I forgot what it is called though I am pretty sure it is from the Lophtcrack folks. Slee \*This thing came in really handy this week. I had a user that got a virus I couldn’t get out. The virus rewrote the hosts file and redirected Google, Bing, Yahoo and some other sites to some Ukrainian site. It also locked the hosts file and you couldn’t edit it in Windows, safe mode or from a Windows boot disk. Finally I nuked the drive from space, it was the only way to be sure. I gave her back her PC and she managed to get the virus back within a day. The second time around I just booted off the disk, hunted down the viri and removed it and fixed the hosts file. Saved a bunch of time.