10 Cool and Free Portable Programs (You Need to See)

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Software Links:
• Logitech Onboard Memory Manager: support.logi.com/hc/en-us/art...
• Bulk Rename Utility: www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/D...
• OBS Studio portable: obsproject.com/download
• WizTree: diskanalyzer.com/download
• ValiDrive: www.grc.com/validrive.htm
• OpenRGB: openrgb.org/#downloads
• HxD - hex editor: mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
• OpenSpeedTest: openspeedtest.com/selfhosted-...
• Visual Studio Code: code.visualstudio.com/download
• HWMonitor: www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmon...
• Nirsoft Tools: www.nirsoft.net/
• Sysinternals Suite: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...
Other Videos Mentioned:
• Video about Nirsoft: • The Most Useful Set of...
• Video about Sysinternals: • 13 Awesome Windows Sof...
▼ Time Stamps: ▼
0:00 - Intro
0:28 - Logitech Onboard Memory Manager
0:55 - Bulk Rename Utility
1:59 - An Excellent Thing
3:48 - OBS Studio
4:34 - A Tip When Downloading
4:56 - WizTree
5:30 - ValiDrive
6:24 - OpenRGB
7:05 - HxD Hex Editor
7:51 - Open Speed Test
8:31 - Visual Studio Code (Portable Mode)
9:23 - HWMonitor
9:48 - All Nirsoft & Sysinternals Tools
10:55 - Why Portable Instead of Installed?
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[@cybernoid001]

Another note, portable version generally don't need admin privilege's to run, which can be handy if you an IT tech helping someone.

[@michamarkowski2204]

They do need elevated privileges for power operations. You can't use portable apps to bypass UAC.

[@liforra]

@@michamarkowski2204 right, thats the nature of uac, but they dont install thus they dong access path and dont need elevated permissions to just run, if they need to do extra stuff with elevation thats smth different

[@soulstenance]

The coolest free programs are the ones that are free as in freedom, not necessarily free as in beer, though that typically comes with. I actually voluntarily pay for a lot of free programs, because they're so good and I want to support the project.

[@nikunjkhangwal]

This is the right mindset.

[@anotheryoutubeaccount5259]

ok

[@BillAnt]

My favorite quote "An app worth using is worth buying". :) I've actually donated to many "free" app devs in appreciation of their work. That OpenSpeedTest is pretty cool, letting your test the speed even on an internal network.

[@AndyHoward]

another protable program: SubtitlesSynchronizer [sic]: Helps you synchronize and edit existing subtitle files vua a GUI (instead of having to do it "by hand")

[@theman8005]

Aegisub is also a good subtitle editor, and has a portable version

[@patrickbuswell]

Nice! I also love SubSync, does it all automatically using the audio track

[@jirehla-ab1671]

How about removing duplicate folders

[@marhensa]

there's also Monitorian, it can adjust PC monitor brightness inside windows (just like a laptop monitor), without pressing any button on monitor.

[@dimaverse]

6:51 Base OpenRGB can't do a lot of stuff, but the Effects plugin adds a lot more functionality - I use it to sync RGB to audio.

[@andricode]

I have to check that!

[@SMVery]

7:38 guitar riff in the song was so good they made it play twice!

[@jrmyg1621]

HAHAHAHHA

[@jupa7166]

Notepad++ with its vertical blocks, regex replace, bulk replace in several files, lots of plugins (e.g. sort, compare and many more), has also portable version. Another one - Wireshark.

[@TonyP9279]

Notepad++ RULES!!! It's the best for block editing and stripping of formatting codes.

[@stlbuddhist]

Nirsoft and Sysinternals have saved me lots of times doing support. Steve Gibson has always been a mad man writing utilities in assembler. I did not know you could run OBS in portable mode, that is very cool.

[@werethless12]

Dunno if it has a portable version, but Everything is AMAZING to find any files on your PC

[@xBINARYGODx]

excellent thanx

[@luketurner314]

On their website, under "Installing Everything", one of the versions is Portable and they give instructions for how to make it so, mainly "extract the exe file" (paraphrased). And there's a portable zip on the download page

[@sunla]

One I haven't seen mentioned here is called File Splitter. You know how there's a filesize limit when transferring files to some file storage devices, such as an SD card, even though you know there's enough space on the card/device? Well, you can take the file and split it into chunks. Then when the chunks are transferred, you can merge the chunks back up to recreate the original file!

[@desild5869]

There is a better way and you don't need extra software beside the omnipresent 7zip. Use 7zip to create a multi-volume 7z/zip archive but set compression level to "store" (i.e. no compression). This is just as fast as copying a file in several split files but has the added benefit that you can later check the integrity (CRC check) of the split files because they are in 7z/zip format.

[@sunla]

@@desild5869 that's interesting! I'll check that out in a few hours here - I had no idea 7-zip offers that feature, but I feel like that's something I should've guessed. I think 7-zip has to be acquired and installed anyway, and I'm sure some people are no longer installing it on fresh Win11 installations, since Windows now has native zip/7z/RAR support. But I always get 7-zip regardless because it has a lot more options to work with, and there are forks of it out there that can be used for additional, highly situational/specific compression support, like the LZ4/LZ5 files found in some Samsung firmwares (mcmilk handles those)

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Damn, I haven't had to split a file since like 1998!

[@sunla]

@@FlyboyHelosim it has other, more modern use cases - I've come to find it helpful when using a cloud storage service that scans and removes files. Just something to consider.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

@@sunla You mean like if the cloud service has a file size limit?

[@SS-vo9id]

Another cool program that has a portable version is Sumatra PDF. Ultra fast and ultra tiny, it can open not just PDF files but also a couple of other eBook formats. The best I found for reading so far.

[@hal-hb2of]

nice portable program. but i got some characters not being well read lately. like some letters with aposthropes. it replaces it with some other unknown character

[@lior_haddad]

Surprisingly informative! I've got several of these, but haven't heard of like half of them. I really appreciate how you get straight to the point with these. It's like a breath of fresh air.

[@backhdlp]

Another benefit of portable programs is that you don't have to check in what program files or app data folder their data is. Also, (very niche use case) at least at my school, the school laptops always reset most files (except in the user folder) after a reboot. Portable apps can just live in the user folder and stay usable even after a reboot.

[@TonyP9279]

Your school is probably using Deep Freeze, I hate that. I've lost so much stuff because I didn't save it to my personal drive and then if I had to reboot, everything was gone.

[@backhdlp]

​@@TonyP9279My school actually uses Dr-Kaiser PC-Wächter, something that looks like it didn't get a UI update in 20 years. It's really bad, I was able to get into the control panel by putting in a random IP I found in the registry as the password. To be fair, I couldn't replicate that on any other school PC because I don't know what ungodly sins I committed on my school laptop.

[@juliusreycalderon1998]

My favorite portable software would be Explorer++ since it's very minimal and takes less space than modern Explere where spacing takes a lot of space so it is very useful when you're working on a lot of files or directories.

[@juliusreycalderon1998]

"space" I mean like the interface controls does not take much space on screen unlike Windows File Explorer.

[@michamarkowski2204]

I use it in my WinPE toolsets as the default window after initial boot (mainly to easy run other portable apps).

[@WritesWithCare]

Wonderful! You alerted me to better versions of portable apps I'm using, and gave me some new ideas. Selecting freeware is difficult, with all of the malware floating around, so it's invaluable to have trustworthy recommendations.

[@180rotator]

linux content of 2024 when

[@ayefare]

Not enough views

[@Stanislav1928]

Never

[@shishsquared]

Well, I mean, it IS the year of the Linux Desktop

[@sdrtyrtyrtyuty]

Just switch to M$ Botnet 11 :)

[@everypizza]

​@@shishsquaredisn't that every year

[@TyphonNeuron]

Videos like this one are gold. Thanks.

[@mystica-subs]

Ah Steve Gibson and his ASM coded tools of amazement :) Am very happy to see the old timers GRC and Nirsoft mentioned here, and Sysinternals (Glad MS finally hired him!)

[@TheErgunPascu]

Sooooo helpful and practical! Thank you!

[@ChrisWilliams-pu8pj]

Love these type of videos. Thank you!

[@someoneoutthere1866]

Lots of good tools.. nice list thanks

[@samuelshubert]

Solid video!! 10/10. This is why I’m still subscribed

[@nermhouse]

shaderglass is another cool program that i think needs more attention. its built off the retroarch game filters, but it can be used on any game/program and i’ve used it a bunch for graphic design purposes

[@DVingaming]

I love your videos, it's so educational, keep it up!

[@Jorge.ALXNDR]

This Bulk Rename Utility is perfect for when I download Spotify playlists and have to rename them all to delete the 01 -, 02 -... of the songs

[@iuhere]

the info liek creating a file for obs or data folder for vscode are very helpful and thank you for including those details

[@rahulahl]

Openspeedtest sounds excellent to test how well your wireless VR will perform and highlight any network issues letting you know if it's worth an upgrade or not. This is a very common issue with Quest 2/3 or Pico 4 devices.

[@kandym3478]

I didn't skip the add, thanks for being here Theo.

[@KryzysX]

Rest assured, sir. Whether or not you choose to skip, it will have no impact on his channel monetization situation. Feel free to skip at your convenience. ;)

[@user-qh3dr7rg3o]

🤯

[@fizixx]

I do the same

[@robertrocheville7769]

If you're talking about the sponsor, I'm sure tissue fully skippable. The Google ads I think count towards monetization. From my understanding as long at you go past the half way point it counts. Let me know if I'm wrong.

[@tsbrownie]

Really great info, thanks! Also, went and bought a gGreen charger.

[@loubano]

Great video and program !!! Thank you so much !!!!!!!!

[@ivovass195]

Very useful indeed. Thanks

[@surgestrip]

Steve Gibson at GRC is a legend

[@hyplayer]

Thanks Joe!

[@PeterR0035]

Some real must-haves!!! ❤❤❤❤

[@dakaargamer]

bulk rename utility! ive been working with a ton of pbr textures over the past couple of year but none of them are named consistently. this sounds perfect for what i need!

[@grilsegrils9330]

Wiztree definitely 👍 Used that one or similar utility. Very good for very full SSD drives, as it isn't to healthy to run those drives to full

[@RedOneM]

Thank you, I'm finally able to change the LED color on my MSI suprim 3090 to off 😍

[@JessicaFEREM]

Make sure to run OBS as administrator on windows, apparently there's some edge cases that cause it to lag a stream out that doesn't happen when in admin, some windows process priority and game mode shenanigans

[@user-dt7cy9lk9h]

thank you very much you helped me alot with my PC .repeating my thanks Thio

[@Sierra_Vice]

Portable OBS helped me alot. One, I can put it all in a folder for easy transfer to other systems without setting it up over and over again, and second, for creating backups, if an update broke some plugins.

[@mriverlands9584]

For me the biggest advantage of portable apps is you can try checking the different boxes and options then easily reset back to "factory defaults" with a simple folder delete without having to remember what you experimented with. This avoids the annoying Windows habit of splattering preferences in C:\programdata, 2 appdata folders and various reg keys that likely won't get removed with a standard program uninstall.

[@JP8431]

Nice vídeo! Thx!

[@smallqwaro]

Bulk rename utility has saved me multiple times. Kudos to whoever made it.

[@Philipp..]

Some more: Revo Uninstaller Portable Advanced IP Scanner

[@maxgood42]

This is more powerful than expected. Even the free version is great. Jay just made a vid about it.

[@ExTea]

ThioJoe with another banger useful video

[@ShivanshThapliyal]

I have already used: 🗿 1. Bulk Rename Utility 2. OBS Studio 3. OpenSpeedTest 4. VS Code (Portable)

[@rphilipsgeekery4589]

Good security suite , process explorer, proc mon, tcpip view, last activity view, glasswire firewall

[@ashcheeks1]

Thanks Joe 😁

[@Petch85]

OCCT is also great. You can test the stability of CPU, memory, GPU and VRAM while monitoring a lot of stuff. It can do a little more and you can pay to remove a 10 sec delay if you use it a lot.

[@luketurner314]

Although I prefer installed versions, having a USB drive of tools is helpful when I have to put on the hat of Family Tech Support

[@facelessvaper]

I didn't need a charger, but I did buy a ugreen cable, tbf I already have a ugreen USB SD reader before I'd heard of ugreen and it works well. My B550 tomahawk has USB C PD so I can charge my new phone via that, although the phone maxes out at 33w.

[@ardianhotii]

If you install the portable version of the VSCode does it pull all literally all the files in that data folder that you mentioned also when you update it too? I'm curious

[@toseltreps1101]

CPU-Z, HWInfo64 are also portable

[@miningbruno]

How about programmes that have built-in updaters? If I unpack (e.g.) Notepad++ onto my system and it announces an update is available, will they download the correct file, or is there a problem?

[@skatcat743]

Ones I use quite often at work are DDU, GPU-Z, OCCT & PatchMyPC

[@acegear]

rename tool + explorer and plugin compress and decompress files which i usually use name total commander and it has free to use if you can accept the nag screen everytime you open

[@stephenluttrell8958]

As a blind user, some installed programs have settings that aren’t screen reader friendly or a pain to set up such as OBS. Having a portable version that we only have to mess with once is very nice.

[@sharukhlinkon9457]

Tnx a lot❤😊

[@69k_gold]

As you mentioned VS Code, I use a Ubuntu VM in VirtualBox. VS Code runs really slow in it. How can I speed it up/Do you have any alternatives you can suggest?

[@dobisskill]

A cool thing that should be noted is that Winget supports portable application updates if the application is in the repo and it was originally installed through Winget

[@maxanimator9547]

How would one install an AppXPackage locally ?

[@Solarpunk_SciFi]

These are so much more useful than the non portable programs, I don't care whether they're portable!

[@BombadilBeardie]

my fave are Rufus and Notepad+ portables

[@billg5584]

A lot of "Portable" programs create folders in the User\AppData\Local and/or User\AppData\Roaming folders. A lot also create registry entries when they are run. There are very few truly portable programs that do not create any registry entries, or create any files outside of their own directory.

[@flamencoprof]

I keep a heap of Portable Apps on a USB stick on my keyring, including a key password-encrypted app, a file viewer that can Irfan, uh, even view pix, music, vids and even HEX, a .mp3 tag editor, I Kid you not, and a few more. I also have an EDC bag I never use, but you never know. Well, the one that Keeps my Passwords is actually often used.

[@raging666]

Joe plays Destiny 2?! Subbed just for that! ...OK, and because the content has been useful.

[@ChrisW228]

Bulk Rename Utility has been a fave for years. I am so so so bummed that I can’t find a version for Mac.

[@Robert8455]

Thanks ThioJoe

[@tombohawk]

cool video, past me would've defo liked this

[@midao139]

Is there anything like the logitech app but for corsair?

[@robbybankston4238]

I've used many of these and I agree. The thing that bothers me is that this used to be the norm for programs back in the 90s but the industry pushed us to accept large bloated, non-portable programs. Understandably, some programs are complex enough that it would be difficult to do so but I think a lot of it is just laziness on the part of some devs. Of course this lends itself well to utility programs.

[@BarisUnver]

Instead of Bulk Rename Utility, I'm using Advanced Renamer for years. Its UI isn't as overwhelming and I'm pretty sure it has way more features, if not the same ones with BRU.

[@5h0pp]

for the renaming, why do you have to get it portable? for me microsoft power toys has a renaming function and it does good and is easy to use its installable but as i said why portable for this?

[@balsalmalberto8086]

You should do a video on sandboxie. You can make many other programs that have an installer "portable" in sense they can't muck up your windows install directly, like steam games with atrocious drm or less savory executables. It's lighter than a VM. I've used it since 2004 and it's kept windows lean and mean for decades.

[@Fizzy-Bubblech]

Using Bulk Rename every day multiple time. 👍🏻

[@loganfong2911]

I used to use Firefox in portable mode before I switch to Chrome. Quite useful too.

[@anildokmetas2399]

I just noticed on your hwmonitor amd my own, it only shows two gpu fans gpu 0 and 1, I have an RTX 4090, do you know why this happens?

[@CelesteOnYoutube]

Thanks for Wiztree

[@rationalbushcraft]

Surprised that winscp wasn't on your list.

[@farhat5325]

What to do if the c is full that windown starts up into a black screen ?

[@linuxstreamer8910]

do all of these apps keep there setting files in the same folder if not they are not portable

[@KryzysX]

1:15 This is definitely helpful!

[@Cool_Browsers_Apps]

Awesome

[@chhavikantsingh]

I have a folder with bunch of similar or duplicate videos and I want to keep distinct copy of each image but I can't find a free utility tool to accomplish this. Can anyone help me with any such free tool to address this issue

[@Earthcrosser]

Thanks for this Thio as always. I was happy with the 1st one as I have Logitech MX Master from 2S, 3 and 3S. However, I found out that this portable app is only for Logitech gaming mice. So, not for me. Wanna get rid of that bloated software of theirs. Or am I wrong to assume that?

[@Ntt903]

For bulkrename, is there a MacOS version?

[@EMiller500]

If you use the portable version of Bulk Rename Utility, will it still be integrated in the right-click context menu?

[@forgotten893]

You would have to use regedit to export the right-click context menu from the installer version, change the value to your current portable version, and then import the file onto your new computer. You can keep the registry file in your portable folder and just import it on any computer you use. If you change the path from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, you won't need admin privileges to import, but it will only affect the currently logged on user and not other users on the computer.

[@Smartzenegger]

You are the high-tech godfather on youtube. :)

[@MStrong95]

ValiDrive for Mac OS would be nice

[@briancason6579]

I would love to find a decent free pdf editor for work purposes. I know there are plenty available through the browser, but that requires uploading the document to some cloud, which does not seem consistent with workplace security values. It sounds like using a portable version would be a good solution - any suggestions for free pdf editors that have portable versions?

[@Eternal_Tech]

PDFgear is a free PDF editor and is considered useful by many. There is a portable version, but this portable version is not produced by PDFgear themselves, but by a site called FileCatchers, which makes many portable applications.

[@michamarkowski2204]

PDF X-Change Editor (Plus) has a lot of free editing options. There is an option in the settings where you could hide paid options. Sejda PDF Desktop has a lot of free tools, but it's limited to 3 or 5 documents (each document 100 pages max) a day.

[@jimlynch9390]

For Linux users, BRU appears to load up and display using wine. I didn't have a use case for it so I didn't test it any further. In wine, the z drive is apparently the root directory (/). I loaded the 32 bit, portable version.

[@abe-danger]

i wonder if there's a "VailDrive" but for hard drives, I got an iffy "2"tb m.2 which im suspecting of being less than half of its actual capacity

[@jacobboening6421]

SpinRite

[@laurenlewis4189]

I know CLI is taboo for most people, but you can do everything that Bulk Rename Utility can do with a single line of text instructions in Powershell (or any other shell)

[@thomasbohl6924]

Including a preview so you know you have typed the right thing?

[@michamarkowski2204]

@@thomasbohl6924 if I understand documentation correctly, yes

[@vanci3449]

Any similar software to Validrive for verifying android sd cards?

[@xila8861]

Bulk Rename app seems pretty cool to me

[@joelfrom08]

The Bulk Rename thing is really useful - I usually run a Mac which has bulk renaming built-in, but am on Windows from time to time and I was very surprised that Windows didn't have such a feature.. like why???

[@Mr_L_i_am]

Mildly surprised happy computer man 😂

[@yolobro2071]

You’re the best

[@abdulbasit0123]

I use another portable program called Dimmer; it will let you reduce the brightness of you monitor to a lower level than what the system allows by default.

[@kunka592]

OpenRGB made Genshin Impact freeze on startup most of the time so watch out in case something similar happens to you. Using the (old) Corsair RGB software works fine for me.

[@leatherwiz]

Thanks for sharing. Sorry too much for one video.

[@Ronxlotlmapper]

I never tried these and i dont have any interest but good video