I carry a lot of applications around with me my on USB memory stick for use in impromptu testing situations. I need a tool to help me manage them. I use PStart from Pegtop Software to do that. If you haven't used PStart before, or haven't dabbled in the world of portable software then this review could help you on your way.

The freeware PStart from Pegtop Software helps me launch applications from my portable drive.

PStart acts as the 'start menu' for my 'on the road' portable application armoury stored on my USB memory stick.

Once loaded, PStart creates an icon in your system tray.

In normal use, a left or right click on the PStart icon will show a popup window, much like the start menu, where you can launch your portable applications.

You can create menu items (called groups), sub menu items (groups within groups), links to folders on the disk or portable drive, and links to applications themselves.

PStart can install as a portable application (as documented in the Pegtop Faq)  so no stray files will end up on your main system.

I have file links setup to launch java applications using JVMs installed on the drive, with multiples JVMs installed for varying degrees of compatibility.

All links in PStart get created relative to the PStart application so it doesn't matter what drive letter your portable drive gets assigned.

Configuring PStart

A Double click on the PStart icon and you get the Config screen.

Add applications by:

• drag and dropping the .exe file into the menu hierarchy.
• choosing 'Add File' from the edit menu
• right clicking and choosing 'Add File' from the popup menu
• or scanning the drive and having PStart automatically create a list of applications, which you can then organise into groups.

Once you have added a few applications, you can drag the icons around and organise them into groups. The groups show up as menus with sub menus in the popup menu from the system tray.

A simple configuration process means that a little thought around how you want to organise the files into groups will increase your productivity with your portable drive.

What else?

If you forget which group you put an application in then the handy Search function comes in useful.

A double click on the returned items launches them.

The Notes tab provides a very handy StickyPad of free format notes for reminders that you want to carry around with you.

Each note can have a long test description, you can put them in different colours, and you can even add a time and date to get reminded about it.

The reminders appear as little floating dialogs in the corner of your screen:

And the Info tab will tell you a little information about your portable drive so you can see if you require an application purge exercise or not, or if you have enough space left to install that cool application that you just spotted.

Recommended Next Steps:

1. Visit  Pegtop Software
2. Download PStart
3. Sign up for the Pegtop newsletter
4. Visit the portable apps list on Pegtop