Best Portable Apps for a USB Drive That Still Get Updates

Put the PortableApps.com Platform on the drive first. It is a free, open-source menu and app store that installs portable programs onto the drive and keeps them updated, and its directory holds most of what is listed below. Then add only what you will use. An office suite, a PDF reader, a password manager, a media player and 7-Zip cover most needs.

Installing apps on the drive

To add a program, open the Platform’s menu, click Apps, then Get More Apps. Without the Platform, download the app’s installer from its page in the directory, run it and choose the USB drive as the place to install. The Platform’s download page lists Windows XP through Windows 11, and each app’s page gives its own requirements.

PStart, an older launcher, is still on its author’s site, at version 2.11, and it is a simple menu for starting programs. The Platform adds an app store and updates the apps on the drive for you.

Is PortableApps.com safe?

We cannot vouch for any download. What can be checked: the site says its packages contain no bundled extras, it publishes a SHA256 hash for each download, the Platform is open source, and LibreOffice’s makers send their own users there for the portable version.

The apps, sorted by job

Every app in the table except Allway Sync is in the PortableApps.com directory. KeePass is listed there in two editions, Classic and Professional.

Documents, PDFs and text

LibreOffice Portable is a full office suite and takes 681MB to 800MB on the drive, so leave room for it. It replaces AbiWord, which PortableApps.com says is no longer developed or supported by its publisher. For letters and notes alone, there are lighter word apps for a phone or PC.

For PDFs there are two choices. Sumatra PDF is open source, opens ebooks and comics as well, and takes 37MB. Foxit Reader Portable is still updated and does more, including annotating and filling in forms, and takes 400MB. Notepad++ is still the text editor to carry.

Archives, clean-up and sync

7-Zip Portable opens and makes archives and takes 14MB. Revo Uninstaller is still free, and its maker offers the portable version on its own site.

CCleaner is a different story. The portable build on CCleaner’s site is version 6.41, while the installed program has moved on to version 7. PortableApps.com says version 7 runs as a permanent service on the PC and will not be made portable. BleachBit Portable is the open-source cleaner in the directory.

Restoration has no page in the directory. Wise Data Recovery Portable does the same job, and the directory also has a launcher for Recuva.

Allway Sync still offers an edition that installs onto a USB drive, free for moderate personal use. Its site now names GoodSync as its new home, so expect that to change.

Passwords and encryption

KeePass publishes a portable zip of both its editions and tells newcomers to take version 2 if in doubt. The directory also carries KeePassXC.

VeraCrypt replaces TrueCrypt, whose own page warns that it is not secure and that development ended in 2014. Two cautions about VeraCrypt. Its documentation says portable mode needs administrator rights, so it will not open your encrypted files on a locked-down work or library PC. And current versions no longer open old TrueCrypt volumes. The project keeps version 1.25.9 available for that.

Trellix Stinger scans for a set of common malware and, as PortableApps.com puts it, is not a replacement for a full antivirus. It also needs administrator rights.

Browsers, chat and remote support

The directory has Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition and Google Chrome Portable. Firefox is the easier one to carry between PCs, because the directory notes that Chrome ties saved passwords and some settings to the computer they were set on, so they do not travel with the drive by default.

FileZilla and PuTTY are both current. PuTTY has always been portable in spirit: its site offers putty.exe as a single file.

For chat, Pidgin Portable is still updated. Miranda IM is marked as deprecated in the directory, which points to Miranda NG. Skype is gone altogether: Microsoft retired it on 5 May 2025 and moved its users to Teams, one of the free video calling apps compared by group size and time limit.

TightVNC is still developed, but its site offers only installers. TeamViewer Portable fills the remote-support gap, for personal use only.

Pictures, sound and video

IrfanView, GIMP, VLC and Audacity are all still updated and all in the directory. GIMP needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.

FastStone Capture has changed. It is now paid software, $29.95 after a 30-day trial, though its maker still offers a portable package. The directory carries the last free version and warns that it copes poorly with window edges in modern Windows. ShareX Portable is the free, open-source screenshot tool to use instead.

VirtualDub is out. Its site still shows version 1.10.4 as current, and the portable package dates from 2013.

Unit converters and games

ConvertAll Portable is the unit converter in the directory. Convert is still a free 153KB download on its author’s site, which lists Windows versions from 95 to 11. It needs no installing, but its author says it keeps its settings in the Windows registry, so it is not portable in the strict sense.

The directory’s Games section has about seventy titles. Recently updated ones include OpenTTD, SuperTux, SuperTuxKart and Lucas Chess.

What makes an app portable

A portable app runs without being installed into Windows. By PortableApps.com’s guidelines it sits in a single folder and leaves no files or registry entries behind on the PC beyond what Windows writes by itself. Put that folder on a USB drive or in a synced cloud folder and the program comes with you to any Windows PC.

There are two ways to get one. Some makers publish their own portable build, usually as a zip file: Notepad++, KeePass, VeraCrypt, Revo Uninstaller, Sumatra PDF and Audacity all do. For the rest, PortableApps.com packages the program itself. The makers of LibreOffice link to that package from their own download page.

Many portable apps run without administrator rights, since nothing is installed into Windows. Tools that work on the system itself are different: VeraCrypt’s documentation and the directory’s page for Trellix Stinger both say they need administrator rights.

Programs that have died or gone

• Retired or ended: Skype, TrueCrypt, AbiWord and Miranda IM.
• No release in over a decade: ImgBurn, whose last version came out in June 2013, InfraRecorder, VirtualDub and Lingoes. NirSoft marks Asterisk Logger as obsolete and says it does not work on Windows Vista or 7.
• No portable build: TightVNC, and CCleaner from version 7.
• No longer needed: On-Screen Keyboard Portable is still in the directory, last updated in 2018, but all it does is open the on-screen keyboard that Windows already has.
• Not in the directory: Restoration, RockXP, SendMail, KillAd, Fatbits, Resize, HJSplit, Folder2ISO, BurnCDCC, Qm, Country Codes, StartUpLite, TrayURL, iKill, Tiny USB Office, SG TCP Optimizer and FSuite. Most were small single-purpose tools from the Windows XP years, and several of their download pages no longer open.

Video downloaders and tools for cracking Office passwords are left out on purpose.