Run programs independant of the main operating system

[Guest]

Hi,
I am running a Windows XP operating system at home and at my place of work.
Is it possible to load a program onto a external hard drive and run the
program independant of the operating system. I would like to be able to work
within a program at home and then take the external hard drive home and
continue to use the loaded program. to date, I have had to load the priogram
on all the machines.
Thankyou

 

[Rock]

Hi,
I am running a Windows XP operating system at home and at my place of
work.
Is it possible to load a program onto a external hard drive and run the
program independant of the operating system. I would like to be able to
work
within a program at home and then take the external hard drive home and
continue to use the loaded program. to date, I have had to load the
priogram
on all the machines.

Most programs need to be installed, entries are made in the registry, and
files copied to specific folders. A few programs just run from the .exe
file so that would work. For the others you'd have to install the program
on each system and choose the external drive as the location for program
files. I don't know if it will work, and it could also depend on the
particular program.

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Hi,
I am running a Windows XP operating system at home and at my place of work.
Is it possible to load a program onto a external hard drive and run the
program independant of the operating system. I would like to be able to work
within a program at home and then take the external hard drive home and
continue to use the loaded program. to date, I have had to load the priogram
on all the machines.
Thankyou

Basically unless the app is either a; 1) PortableApp or a 2)
non-install app, it may or may not work.

Also, there are apps that say they are no-install, but will
automatically write data and settings to the current user's profile.
To be sure that the app is going to work where-ever you go, get the
PortableApp version if they have one.

Because of how much I move around, I have a 4GB thumbdrive that I
keep a set of apps and data that I can use on any machine.

I even made sure that the PortableApps would run under Win98 or
higher. Unfortunately a lot of the new PortableApps want to run
under WinXP or higher.

Granted some of the PortableApps I use aren't very fancy, but I can
use them anywhere. To my mind if I can't use them on most Windows
based machines, then they are not truly portable.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph