Ever wish you could have access to your favorite Open Source applications and personal documents, spreadsheets and music on any available computer? With a flash drive with ample room and portable versions of your favorite Open Source applications from PortableApps.com you can do just that.

From OpenOffice to Mozilla Firefox , PortableApps.com has a portable version of the tools that you need to remain productive and entertained. All that you need is a Windows PC with a free usb port.

With its own application manager, installer and backup application, pen computing could not be any easier. Don’t know what you want? The suite is a good place to start. For those who know that life is not all work, don’t fret there are plenty of applications to keep you entertained as well.

Now that you have decided what applications you want to install, why not be sure that your information stays private and safe by reading through my encryption post? With the information and tools that I explore there, you can balance personal data security and portability.

So, what applications can you not live a portable life without? Here is my short list. These applications are installed on my 2GB flash drive dangling from my keyring:

• OpenOffice.org Portable
• Sumatra PDF Portable
• Mozilla Thunderbird – Portable Edition
• Mozilla Sunbird – Portable Edition
• Calendar Extension
• VLC Media Player Portable
• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition
• Pidgin Portable
• WinSCP Portable
• PuTTY Portable
• Nvu Portable
• ClamWin 0.91.2

Happy portable computing!