24 Programs You Should Carry on Your Flash Drive

A while back I posted tips on turning your USB flash drive into a system-recovery tool. Of course, these ubiquitous little drives are good for a lot more than just saving your system's bacon, as evidenced by Download Squad's roundup of 24 killer apps for flash drives.

This is actually a collection of "portable" programs, meaning they can run directly from your drive. That's important when you want to run software on a client's or co-worker's computer: You're installing nothing on their hard drives nor leaving behind any trace of your programs.

The list includes personal favorites like Irfanview, Revo Uninstaller, and Abiword (an excellent word processor), along with various programs for file sharing, system maintenance, multimedia, and the like. Definitely worth checking out if you want to use your flash drive for more than just (scoff) data. All the programs are free.