Installed programs cannot be copied to a pen drive for migration to
another computer because installation inserts Registry entries which
would not be present on the second computer. However, many programs have
a "portable" version which do not require formal installation into the
operating system. This makes portable programs usable directly from pen
drives and allows workable copies to be transferred to another computer.
Instructions
1. Locate and download the portable program you wish to carry with you.
Some good sources for portable programs are portableapps.com,
portablefreeware.com and pendriveapps.com.
2. Hold the "Windows" key and press "E" to open Windows Explorer.
3. Extract the downloaded file in Windows Explorer. These files might be
ZIP compressed or contained in a self-extracting executable file.
Double-click the executable file and choose an "installation" folder,
which is really just an extraction location. For ZIP files, right-click
the file and select "Extract All."
4. Insert a USB pen drive into your computer's USB port. If an "AutoPlay"
windows appears, close it. A new drive letter will appear on the left
pane of Windows Explorer, which corresponds to the USB pen drive.
5. Click and drag the entire folder, where you extracted the portable program, and drop it on the USB pen drive letter to copy it.
6. Right-click the USB pen drive letter from the left pane of Windows Explorer and select "Eject."
7. Remove the pen drive and insert it into your new computer or laptop.
8. Click "Open folder to view files" to open Windows Explorer on the new computer.
9. Double-click the program directly from the pen drive in Windows Explorer
to run it on your new computer. Alternatively, drag and drop the folder
onto your new computer to copy it there.
