I love my USB flash drive! I take it along with me wherever I go because it hangs on my keychain. But my USB flash drive doesn’t just hold data like images, source code, offline html files and personal stuff – I also have a few applications loaded into it. These applications are some of the best free applications I found off the web and I thought that it would be worthwhile to share it with my readers. Although I have quite a number of applications on my USB flash drive, I have selected the top ten in terms of usefulness and listed here. I hope that you will find it useful too.

1. TrueCrypt

What is TrueCrypt? It is a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. I’m sure you will have a lot of information on your USB flash drive which will need to be protected in case the flash drive is lost. TrueCrypt ensures that all your private information is locked. Encryption is actually real-time and on the fly. You will hardly notice the process and it is completely transparent.

Download TrueCrypt here.

2. Keepass

Keepass Password Safe makes your life a lot more easier by managing all your passwords in one place. I normally use this application to store my email, online banking, social bookmark sites and work related passwords. The encryption is excellent and you can have peace of mind. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database.

Download Keepass here.

3. VDownloader

Well basically I use this application to download any Youtube videos that I like. This is a great tool for me as sometimes I might not have the time to look at the video at the time that I am surfing. It is also able to download videos from Google Video, MySpace and a whole lot of other sites.

Download VDownloader here.

4. Skype

Who can actually go around without Skype anymore? I love Skype because I’m either able to make free calls or cheaper calls. Of course I do have Skype installed on my iPhone via Fring but I still carry around Skype in my USB flash drive in case I cant find a WiFi hotspot.

Download Skype here.

5. OperaTor

If I’m surfing on a PC that I don’t trust, I’d rather use OperaTor. OperaTor lets you surf the web anonymously and doesn’t store and information about your internet activity on the PC that you plugged in your USB flash drive. It combines the power of Opera, Tor and Polipo.

Download OperaTor here.

6. Filezilla

I frequently need to upload files into my server via FTP. Since I host my blog on hostgator I do this from time to time. My best experience so far has been with Filezilla and I try to carry it around wherever I go. Extremely useful application!

Download Filezilla here.

7. CDBurner XP

Imagine you’re at a customer’s site and you need to burn information on a CD. They might not necessarily have the best burner is town or worse – none at all! CDBurner XP does the trick for me and I carry it around on my USB flash drive as well.

Download CDBurner XP here.

8. Screamer

How about killing time listening to online radio? Screamer Radio is a freeware Internet Radio player for Microsoft Windows. Tons of radio stations to listen to and earns a spot in my USB flash drive!

Download Screamer Radio here.

9. IrfanView

Here’s an easy to use image viewer and basic editor. I don’t really fancy using Windows Paint and I tend to use IrfanView instead. I can make quick changes to images before I post them up. Ideal for live blogging as well.

Download IrfanView here.

10. VLC

Last but not least VLC tops my list of portable media players. It supports so many formats and doesn’t need any codecs to be installed. Awesome media player for someone on the go! Best part is it can run on Windows and Mac OS as well.

Download VLC here.

Although these are the top ten apps that I consider useful (and I use them a lot), I’d love to hear if you find them useful as well. Any apps that I might have missed?

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