Everything to go

[peekaboo]

here's the problem:
i use computers at my university or anywhere else and they don't have firefox/skype/msn/vlc... installed.
they have some crappy antivirus (sophos) and no firewall (windows firewall) and are probably jam packed with trojans/viruses/spyware...
i cannot check my email accounts or log on to anything for fear of keyloggers (and the rest of the malware gang).

what i want is to be able to run everything off my usb stick.
if possible, i'd like to run windows (or at least all my other applications) just like the linux live cd's. thus bypassing the crapware that's installed on the public computers.
possible?

[doctorgonzo]

Running things off of your USB stick may be impossible if the computers don't support booting from USB. There are Windows Live CDs out there, but...

Certainly your university has a policy against installing software or modifying university computers in any way, meaning that what you want to do is prohibited and could get you into some trouble. After all, you probably wouldn't appreciate it if somebody did the same thing to your computer without your knowledge. Is it worth it to risk academic punishments just to have Firefox?

Besides, the security situation probably isn't as bad as you think. Just because there is no software firewally doesn't mean they don't have a much better hardware firewall in place, or other anti-virus solutions running.

[sgtspector]

If you can boot from cd you dont need to install anything. You can boot a Linux distro that will give you email and other basic functions without installing the OS. That's if you can boot the pc from a cd. According to some research I have benn doing it may be possible to boot a working version of xp from a usb flash drive but it seems to me to be somewhat involved. My interest is peaked right now so I am going to keep digging. I'l let you know if I find anything that looks worth the time and effort.

[peekaboo]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Running things off of your USB stick may be impossible if the computers don't support booting from USB. There are Windows Live CDs out there, but... Certainly your university has a policy against installing software or modifying university computers in any way, meaning that what you want to do is prohibited and could get you into some trouble.

i don't want to reboot the university computers. i want to sit down, plug in my usb and turn on skype and start talking, run firefox and surf securely (hopefully bypassing all the keyloggers). i don't want to modify the university computers (too much hassle anyway).
i want my firefox to have all my extensions, bookmarks and plugins.

Besides, the security situation probably isn't as bad as you think.

every time i run a scan on a computer in my lab it comes up full of crap.
i'd also like to be able to check my email from a public computer without having to change my password immediately afterwards.

i've experimented with installing software to my usb. some applications run and some don't. skype and opera seem to run fine.

[doctorgonzo]

Portable Firefox: http://portableapps.com/apps/interne...rtable_firefox

But keep in mind two things. First, if you aren't rebooting the computers and changing the OS, you aren't going to be bypassing any keyloggers if they do in fact exist. Keyloggers just care about what you are typing, they don't care where you are running programs from.

Second, running any applications not installed on the unversity's computers may be a violation of their policies, so check them carefully. Our corporate policy bans altering, damaging, or uninstalling software, or installing or using unauthorized software.

If the computers are in such bad shape, you should really be talking to your university's IT department. Unless you are going to Podunk University located in a tar paper shack in a swamp, there is no excuse for any-sized educational institution to have such poor security.

[peekaboo]

looks good (although not updated to 1.5.0.4).

what else you got?

[peekaboo]

ok, did my own digging with the help of some of doctorgonzo's link and i've now got the following portable applications:
skype
vlc
firefox
opera
avast and mcaffee virus cleaners
foxit pdf reader
a calculator
system spec/resource app

i didn't bother with open office but that's available too.

no usb windows os (yet) but i'm pretty happy.