Most of us usually have our own favourite web browsers that we use to access the world wide web. Each of these browsers have their own characteristics and features that made us love them. For November 2008, 49.13% of TMS Network's blog visitors use Mozilla Firefox to visit this blog, 39.2% uses Internet Explorer, 5.13% uses Opera, 3.33% uses Google Chrome and 1.7% uses Safari. As for me, I like to take my favourite web browser in my pendrive so I can use it if I go to internet cafe or at work. This allows me to use the browser with my own settings, addons and any customizations that I've done. In this post, I will list a few portable web browser that we can install and run from a portable USB drive.

Opera@USB

Since this is my favourite web browser, I will start with Opera. The portable version of Opera has the same features as the normal desktop version, surf the web, write emails, or use IRC. In fact, with Opera Link, you can synchronize your bookmark, notes, history and speed dial. Opera Link works very well with the portable version of Opera. You can expect it to be functional as the desktop version. However, the portable version cannot run directly from network (using \\192.168.1.10\Opera Portable\ path for example). You need to mount the directory as network drive first.

[Opera@USB] [Opera] [Opera@USB support forum]

Amaya

Amaya is not exactly a web browser. It is a web editor that will let you to create and update documents directly on the Web. It has a built in browsing features integrated seemlessly with the editing and remote acess features. The portable version is called X-AmayaWX and created by winPenPack Team.

[Amaya] [Download: X-AmayaWX by winPenPack]

Avant Browser

Avant Browser is a freeware web browser that use the Internet Explorer layout engine, Trident. Avant Browser uses multiple document interface like Opera. According to Wikipedia, as November 2008, the total downloads of Avant Browser surpassed 22.5 million. Avant Browser has built in popup blocker, advertising server blocking and one-click disabling of potentian security vulnerabilities such as ActiveX, Java and scripts. Avant Browser can be considered as Opera browser with Internet Explorer rendering engine. If you love Opera style and Internet Explorer rendering engine you might want to try Avant Browser. The portable version is created by the developer of Avant Browser.

[Avant Browser] [Download: Avant Browser USB Disk Version]

Chromium (Google Chrome)

Google Chrome web browser by Google is actually based on Chromium open source project. You can create a portable version of Chromium yourself. It is very easy. First you need to download the latest release of Chromium. A newly compiled version of Chromium is released everyday. Go here and choose the folder with the biggest number. Download chrome-win32.zip and extract it. Create a .bat file (runme.bat for example) and edit it with Notepad or other text editor that you like. In the .bat file, put chrome.exe --user-data-dir="profile" and save it. This command will make Chromium to store your profile in 'profile' folder. Execute the .bat file to run Chromium in portable mode. Since a compiled version of Chromium is released everyday, you need to download the latest chrome-win32.zip to update Chromium.

[Google Chrome] [Chromium] [Download: Chromium]

Firefox

Without doubt, most of us use Firefox to surf the web. Firefox is a great open source and free web browser, developed by Mozilla Corporation. Firefox renders web page by using the Gecko layout engine. Extra functionality can be added to Firefox by using add-ons. Firefox Portable Edition is developed by PortableApps.com.

[Mozilla Firefox] [Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition]

Flock

Flock is a web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. The interface of Flock is customized to provide you with an easy access to social networking sites and Web 2.0 facilities. You can find the portable version of Flock at Flock Hacks Forum. The portable version is developed by Caschy from stadt-bremerhaven.de.

[Flock] [Flock Hacks Forum] [stadt-bremerhaven.de]

K-Meleon

K-Meleon is a free and open source web browser for Windows. K-Meleon is based on Gecko layout engine, the same rendering engine that Firefox use. While Firefox use the Mozilla's cross-platform XUL layer to create the user interface, K-Meleon uses native Windows API, which make K-Meleon more responsive and uses less resources. A portable K-Meleon launcher is available and developed by Apps To Go. In this post, I will use the KMVX K-Meleon Portable Launcher. To create a portable K-Meleon, first you need to download the 7-zip package of K-Meleon. Extract it to your USB drive. Then, download the KMVX K-Meleon Portable Launcher. Extract the launcher to K-Meleon folder that you've extracted before. Run KMVX.exe. Your profile will be stored in 'Profiles' folder. For for information, an empty K-Meleon folder will be created in your Application Data folder, but it is empty and no data is stored on local storage, so you don't have to worry.

[K-Meleon ] [KMVX K-Meleon Portable Launcher by Apps To Go]

Maxthon

Maxthon is a freeware web browser. Maxthon uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine, Trident and quite popular in China. Some features of Maxthon are: Tabbed browsing, saves your browsing session in case of system or browser crash, Flash, ActiveX, Java, advertisements and popup blocking, RSS reader and many more. Maxthon is skinnable and the features can be extended using plugins. According to Maxthon forum, you can directly copy the whole installed Maxthon folder to a USB drive to create a portable version of Maxthon. I've tested it and there is no registry entry or profile folders created on local drive. Optionally, you can extract the content of Maxthon's installer by using 7-zip. You just need to copy all files from $[39] folder and put it in your USB drive.

[Download: Maxthon]

As for Safari and Mozilla SeaMonkey, I cannot find the portable version of these browsers. If you found any other portable web browsers, feel free to leave a comment! So, do you use portable web browsers? What are your favourite portable web browsers?