Editing USB flash drive (section)

===Application carriers===
Flash drives are used to carry [[List of portable software|applications]] that run on the host computer [[Portable software|without requiring installation]]. While any standalone application can in principle be used this way, many programs store data, configuration information, etc. on the hard drive and [[Windows Registry|registry]] of the host computer.

The [[U3 (software)|U3]] company works with drive makers (parent company [[SanDisk]] as well as others) to deliver custom versions of applications designed for [[Microsoft Windows]] from a special flash drive; U3-compatible devices are designed to autoload a menu when plugged into a computer running Windows. Applications must be modified for the U3 platform not to leave any data on the host machine. U3 also provides a software framework for [[independent software vendor]]s interested in their platform.

[[Ceedo]] is an alternative product that does not require Windows applications to be modified in order for them to be carried and run on the drive.

Similarly, other [[application virtualization]] solutions and [[portable application creators]], such as [[VMware ThinApp]] (for Windows) or RUNZ (for Linux) can be used to run software from a flash drive without installation.

In October 2010, [[Apple Inc.]] released their newest iteration of the [[MacBook Air]], which had the system's restore files contained on a USB hard drive rather than the traditional install CDs, because the Air did not include an optical drive.<ref>[https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/20/a-compact-death/ "Yep, Apple Killed The CD Today"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603231339/https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/20/a-compact-death/ |date=2017-06-03 }}. TechCrunch.com. October 20, 2010.</ref>

A wide range of [[portable application]]s, which are all free of charge, and able to run off a computer running Windows without storing anything on the host computer's drives or registry, can be found in the [[list of portable software]].