8. Tool kit - Take Back The Tech! portable apps

We have updated the Tech Back The Tech! Portable App. Download it it here.

What is a Portable App?

A Portable App is a computer program that you can store and carry around with you using a USB flash drive. These are basically small portable devices to store data, and are plugged into computers through a USB port. You can also use a portable hard drive or your iPod. Portable Apps allows you to have your software and personal data everywhere you go. All you need with a USB flash drive that has Portable Apps is a Windows computer. Simply click the Portable App you need and start using it.

What's more, once you unplug your USB drive, none of your personal data is left behind.

Just think of it as having your own computer with you all the time - except in the form of a flash drive - even when you use public or other people's computers.

Why Use Portable Apps?

Portable Apps is perfect for people who:

• use Internet cafes to get online
• need to be mobile
• share computers with other people
• want to keep their online activities secure 

What's in the Take Back the Tech Portable Apps v 1.0?

The Take Back the Tech Portable Apps is customised to make your computer and online experience
safer. As such, we've included secure Open Source web browsers, email clients and other security
and encryption software.

You can ?nd out more tips on how to use the computer and internet while taking privacy and security
into consideration on the Tech Tips and Tools section of the Take Back The Tech! website.

We also include in this version, applications for you to create online content. This is in collaboration
with the Feminist Tech eXchange, a capacity building event aimed at supporting women's rights
movements on the creative and strategic use of ICT for activism.

1) Communicating & Browsing Online

Mozilla Firefox Portable: This is a web browser that lets you take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you. Privacy and security features include popup-blocking, keyboard shortcuts to clear private data, cookies management, protection against fraudulent websites and more. Check out the Tech Tips and Tools section of the Take Back The Tech! website on how to configure your web browser. 

• Thunderbird Portable: This is an open source email client. Download and view your emails straight from your USB Flash Drive. This version of Thunderbird is bundled with Enigmail and PGP, which allows you to encrypt the email messages you send out and lets you view encrypted emails.
• Pidgin Portable: This is a chat or instant messaging client that lets you connect with many different popular networks such as Yahoo, MSN, AOL and more. Like all Portable Apps, it leaves no personal information behind on the machine you run it on, so you can take your im client and buddy list with you wherever you go.

2) Basic Productivity

• Open Office Portable: This is the open source alternative to Microsoft Office. Create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and includes support for multiple formats (Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Microsoft Excel etc), PDF export, real time spell checking etc. This document was written and exported to PDF on Open Office.
• PDFTK Builder Portable: This application allows you to edit PDF documents. You can use it to collate, rearrange, split, rotate and watermark PDFs or single pages.
• Sumatra: This is a portable and lightweight PDF reader.
• 7Zip: This application allows you to extract zipped files and folders for multiple formats (7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS).

3) Digital Content Creation
a) Audio

• BonkEnc Portable: This application lets you extract, convert, and encode your audio files for various formats. It can produce MP3, MP4/M4A, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Bonk and FLAC files.
• Audacity Portable: This is a sound recorder and editor where you can work with your sound files, including live audio recording, support for multiple file formats (Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV), effects and filters and more.

b) Video

• VirtualDub Portable: This is a lightweight video capture, processing and encoding application for AVI files and BMP images.
• DVDStyler Portable: This is a DVD authoring application that lets you edit and create your own DVDs with an easy drag and drop interface, and lets you create your own menu.
• InfraRecorder Portable: This is a CD/DVD burning program that allows you to burn disks on the go with a wide range of features. This includes creating of custom data, audio and mixed-mode projects and record them to physical discs as well as disc images.
• VLC Media Player Portable: This is a media player that supports a wide array of audio and video formats. You can also use it as a server to stream videos on a high-bandwidth network.

c) Images

• GIMP Portable: This is a comprehensive image editor that you can use to process digital graphics and photographs, including creating graphic designs, editing photographs and making basic animated images in GIF format.
• Lightscreen Portable: This application lets you create screenshots of your desktop and take all of its settings with you. You can try this out by sharing your screenshot and taking part in the Take Back The Tech Capture It action!

4) Accessibility

• On-screen Keyboard Portable: Places a keyboard on your screen, and lets you keep your preferences with you. Great for people who have a hard time using computer keyboards.
• Virtual Magnifying Glass: This application makes fonts on the screen bigger.

5) Online Security Tools

• ClamWin AV: This a anti-virus software. Run it on your USB flash drive and the computer you're using to ensure a virus-free session.
• Eraser: This is a secure data removal tool that removes all traces of your computer use and deletes your files completely.
• KeePass: This is a password manager that lets you store all your passwords in one place and secure them with a master password.
• PortableTor: This application allows you to browse the internet anonymously from public locations, such as internet hotspots, library, school computers, cyber cafes and public terminals, by connecting you into the Tor anonymous internet system.

5) Copying, Sending & Backing up Files

• PortableApps Backup: Lets you to backup files on your portable device to your PC. It has a simplified set of options to make backups as quick and easy as possible.
• TrueCrypt Portable: This allows you to encrypt directories (folders) in your USB flash drive and your computer. This ensures that no one but you can view your selected directories.
• Toucan: This application allows you to synchronise, back up and encrypt your files and folders.
• Xenon File Manager: This ia portable file manager  especially designed to work with Portable Apps.
• Win SCP Portable: This is a secure FTP client where you can copy files safely between a local computer and a remote server over SSH.
• PuTTY Portable: This ia SSH and telnet client which lets you interact with remote machines securely.
• Win MD5 Sum Portable: This application allows you to do a MD 5 checksum – which is like a digital finger print of a file - to verify the files you send and receive. 

How to use the Take Back the Tech Portable Apps v.1?

You will need (at least) a 1 gigabyte USB flash drive. Or a portable hard drive.

If you want to verify the Tech Back The Tech! Portable Apps zipped file, you can first download and install the Win MD5 Sum software. We recommend this as good practice for all downloaded zipped files to prevent you from running unwanted software.

1.Download the Take Back The Tech! Portable Apps zipped file from the Take Back The Tech! website.
2.Open the Win MD5 Sum application. Select the Take Back The Tech! Portable Apps zipped file for verification. If you don't have this application or don't wish to run it, go directly to step 3.
3.Extract the zipped file to your USB flash drive (this might take a while).
4.Connect your USB flash drive to a computer.
5.Click on the Portable App you need to use.

That's it. You can now bring your USB flash drive anywhere with you and plug it into any computer that you're using. All your data will be securely in your flash drive.

Don't worry if you don't (yet) know what most of these programmes do. Experimentation and play is one of the best ways to find out about communicating and interacting through the medium of technology!