With more and more applications becoming deployable without the use of an installer (i.e. PortableApps and the like), you may wonder which option is best. After all, why install it if you don’t have to as this will surely clutter your system, right? As with just about any computer question, the answer is “it depends”.

Take 7-Zip for example which is available as a traditional installable application or a portable executable. Personally, I make extensive use of the shell integration (right-click menu options) 7-Zip offers, so I would go with the installable version. While this is personal preference, I would not want a program which is not “installed” making shell action entries in my registry for the simple reason that if I remove the program I would expect the uninstaller to clean up these entries. Notepad++ is another example which I would drop into this category.

On the other hand, a relatively flat program such as KeePass I would have no problem running the portable version. To my knowledge, this program does not modify any system settings other than an association with its data files (which I can live without). Also by running the portable version, you would not have the Start Menu entries and if the program supports auto updating, this may not work.

Again, it really boils down to personal preference. If you have any rules or factors which determine the deployment model you prefer, please share.

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