Trying to make my netbook run faster in prep for taking it to ocs, so that it can pull weight like a full size computer. Otherwise, the base will make me buy one and charge me through the nose to do so. I am trying to dump some of my heavier programs and apps. Portableapps seemed like a good substitute. Can portableapps do a good job of taking the place of most programs on a netbook? I don't want to have to keep track of a jump drive through ocs so I was just going to install and use it straight from my netbook. Is this a good idea?
Also, if anyone military is on the boards, how secure is portableapps? Will a base have an issue with it?
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The only real difference a PortableApp will make versus the non-portable original app is that (if it uses the registry) you won't suffer so much from a bloated registry, which should help slightly with your speed issues.
The list of official apps here is quite extensive, and honestly should be able to replace most things you would need on a netbook. There are yet hundreds more apps in the beta testing forum that are under active development, many of which are quite stable and release-worthy, but just haven't made it to release yet.
Installing apps directly to your netbook's hard drive will work fine. Quite a few of us have local installs on our desktop PCs and/or laptops, myself included.
As for security, the apps here are as secure the their non-portable counterparts. So if a base doesn't like Firefox, they probably won't like Firefox Portable.
Just note that you will more than likely have issues (whether running from the hard drive or from external media) if you let your netbook go to sleep. Powering down the display is fine, but if the hard drive powers down, it is essentially like pulling a USB drive that hasn't been properly ejected. Doing this you may experience a number of bad things from apps crashing to having data/profiles/settings corrupted and gone forever.
But to add to what he said, portable apps also have an advantage when it comes to space and, in a couple of apps, speed. They're all made as USB-drive friendly as possible, and most of the open source apps are compressed, and can save you a good deal of hard drive space (more than 50% in some cases).
Also, if you do install portable apps, I suggest you install the PortableApps.com Platform to C:\ (the root of your harddrive), so you can download new apps outside your browser, automatically update your apps, and have your menu to organize them all.
Portable apps, to restate what winterblood said, will cover pretty much all of your computing needs, and then some. And if you find yourself needing an app you can't find in the directory or the beta forums, you can request it and with luck, can find a portable version in the beta forums soon afterwards.
There are some cases, though rare, when the original app is better than the installed version. Google Chrome (which in my opinion, is the most secure browser available) for instance automatically updates itself to protect you from the latest threats without you having to worry about it.
And don't forget to grab a copy of the best free anti-virus software while your setting up your netbook. Wouldn't want some foreign intelligence agency hacking into our important military documents would we?
Personally, netbooks are junk. Over 1 in 10 fail in their first year, and even that number varies by brand. And performance is extremely sluggish. No matter how hard you try to keep it fast, it's doubtful it'll ever perform as well as a desktop, or even a laptop. I suggest shelling out a couple hundred bucks more for a laptop instead, but if you much get a netbook, consider Asus; I think had the lowest failure rate of all brands.