Software for USB flash keys - Some ideas...

I've recently purchased a new SanDisk 512MB Cruzer Mini USB flash key (pen/thumb drive) as I thought it would be a nice handy thing for me to use to transfer things from one PC to another. Also I thought it would be good for keeping software on that I use for fixing peoples PCs...

Then that got me thinking... what do other people use their drives for... not really to be nosey (well ok, just a little)... but just in case there was a use that I hadn't thought of, and so we could share some ideas together.

So after compiling my handy USB key, I thought I'd share with you guys what I keep on mine. In true MSE style, everything is FREE... and hopefully I may be able to highlight some free programs that some of you hadn't thought about before. So here goes :

Utilities :

7Zip - A free, lightweight file archiving (zip) program. - http://www.7-zip.org/

AdAware SE Personal - Free utility to remove any adware from a PC - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

ASPI Drivers - Drivers to allow cdwriting s/w to run = http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/drivers_by_product.jsp?sess=no&language=English+US&cat=%2FProduct%2FASPI-4.70&prodkey=Windows+ASPI+Package

Avast AntiVirus - Very good fully featured virus protection. http://www.avast.com/

Windows 98SE Boot Disk (self-extracts to a floppy disk) - http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

BurnAtOnce - Nice, neat and lightweight CD/DVD writing program. Allows basic CD/DVD authoring and ISO burning - http://www.burnatonce.com/

CDEX - Audio encoding program - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

Everest Home Edition - Free version of their hardware diagnostics program - http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

FileSplitter - handy util to split large files into custom size chunks and a util to stick them back together again - http://www.dekabyte.com/filesplitter/download.html

IrfanView - Good, fully featured image viewer - http://www.irfanview.com/

KeePass Password Safe - Really nice utility to allow you to keep an encrypted database of all yout passwords. I also use it to store any registration codes. - http://www.codeproject.com/tools/KeePass.asp

nPOP - Lightweight POP server mail reader - http://www.nakka.com/soft/npop/index_eng.html

OpenOffice - Everyone's probably heard of this free Office suite alternative. However, it IS VERY GOOD. So good in fact that I always keep a copy on my USB drive for anyone who feels they should do the right thing and replace that 'dodgy' copy of Microsoft Office they've got on their PC... ;-) There are also portable ports of this, but my copy is just the zipped install file - http://www.openoffice.org/

Portable Firefox - Oh yes, you may have heard about about Firefox, but I be you didn't know that someone keeps an up-to-date port of it that is optimised to run from portable flash drives. Smaller, more lightweight and with less drive read/writes (to save wear 'n' tear of the flash drive), this is a great thing to have on your USB key. Also it keeps any internet browsing you do on someone elses PC contained within your portable firefox profile). Don't forget to set up all your useful bookmarks too! - http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_firefox/

Putty - free Telnet/SHH client. Lightweight and extremely useful for 'us techies' ;-) - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

FoxIt PDF Reader - The only decent alternative to Adobes PDF Reader (which is believe is getting rediculously bloated). It's small, quick and highly compatible - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Trend Micro Command Line Virus Scanner - Handy virus scanner/cleaner that does not need installing on the PC to run - http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp

UltraVNC - Good VNC Client/Server utility for viewing/controlling PC's remotely

ZoneAlarm - Good firewall program which is handy for installing on friends PCs. I keep an old Windows 95 compatible version as well as the lastest... well you never know, do you.. ;-) - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=GB&lang=en&lid=dbtopnav_zass

XnView - Really neat little Image viewer that handles hundreds of image types and runs straight from the USB drive (no installation required). Absolutely great. - http://www.xnview.com/

XmPlay - Now this IS REALLY GOOD. I mean it - try it... It's a really lightweight, fully featured, audio player that's skinable and has playlist/library and internet feed support. It never glitches.. not once. It takes up hardly any memory and makes me wonder why I ever installed Winamp. I uninstalled Wimamp, Itunes and every other player (except for those that do video playback, as this doesn't). The only things it doesn't do is offer video playback and ipod syncing... boogaloo I say... ;-) - http://www.un4seen.com/

GmailFS - Allows you to use a Google Gmail account as a drive in My Computer. You can use it to backup file to, given a few limitations (10 meg file size limit and 50 characters file length). Slightly glitchy given what it's trying to do, but fine if you don't demand to much from it. I use it to store more drivers and apps that I wouldn't ususally keep on my USB drive. - http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

Total : 202 MB.

I also keep a couple of CD's of MP3s - which I play on other peoples PCs using XmPlay ;-), and a few photos just in case anyone asks for a few photos of the family.

I also keep a READ ME.TXT file on the root of the USB drive, wiht emergany contact numbers, our names and allergies and my national insurance number.

Well I hope all this might prove useful to some of you... It would be interesting if anyone could add to the list. Should this be cross posted to the freebies board too... mmm... not sure(?)

Looking forward to anyones comments...

Munki.