I found two portable apps that are very useful- 7-zip and AbiWord.Have always used Firefox (now 2.0.1) which the whole program directory was just copied to my USB Flash Drive. With a little tinkering it worked pretty well and complete with the add-ons, except I never realized I was leaving tracks on other machines. Of course, I have now switched to Fx Portable. I have found out that most of my favorite web apps (download manager and WinHTTrack are inherently portable.
I have been using and relying on Aqua Dock http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,24810-order,1-page,1-c,alldown... for more than 2 years and have made a copy on my USB FD, was simple to autorun everytime I plug it in and get an instant menu.
Oh, another thing- I use the Dvorak KB layout and would it be possible for some genius out there to write a utility for switching KB layouts on the fly. All of the net cafes I know don't have complete KB layouts installed.
Thanks a lot people.