BrianHawkinsTech

I came across this portable application platform for USB (and other portable) Drives. The Portable Apps platform is an open source project (built by the community, free to use). It can be found at http://portableapps.com. It allows you to install programs on your USB drive and run them on any Windows PC just by plugging in your drive. Currently there are over 50 prepackaged programs available for download. There is also information available if you are interested in packaging your own programs for portability. The website also hosts a forum for requesting programs or getting help with the system.

 

There are a few ways to run a second operating system on your computer. Creating a virtual machine is one way to do so without risking your main OS installation. If you have a newer computer, you can probably do this. Here are the system requirements for Virtual PC 2007 according to Microsoft's website:

• 400mhz Processor (32 or 64 bit)
• Windows XP Pro, Vista Business/Enterprise/Ultimate, Server 2003
• Memory and Hard disk space requirements vary based on the guest OS installed.

 

From my experience these requirements are not very realistic. To get decent performance on a virtual machine, you should really have at least a 2 ghz processor(preferably dual core or HT). While Virtual PC doesn't actually use multiple cores, but it will allow your computer to run it's host processes separately. I would also recommend at least 1gb of RAM on your host system. Virtual PC 2007 will also run on XP Home and Vista Basic but will produce a warning message that your OS is not supported. You can ignore this message.

 

After installing Virtual PC 2007, you are ready to create your first Virtual Machine. If you don't have Virtual PC installed, see my article here. You will also need an install disc (and any necessary key) of the OS you wish to install. In this article we are installing Windows XP. First we have to create the Virtual Machine and then we will install Windows XP in it.

Many new computers come with some sort of Anti-Virus or Internet Security software pre-installed. Unfortunately it is usually just a trial that will expire after a few months. You are probably offered the option to renew your subscription, but may be left feeling like you have little choice. While it is true that you should take steps to protect your computer from Internet badness, the software that came on your computer may not be the best option. Here are some of tools that I have used in the past and recommend to others.