Internet cafes are very widespread these days, particularly in areas frequented by backpackers. Connection speeds, however, can often leave much to be desired. Some places have broad band and some places have dial-up. And of course sometimes you’re working on a fairly new PC, and sometimes you find yourself on something that can barely run Windows 95.

We have our own laptop, but 95% of the time we do all our updates from computers in internet cafes. When accessing sensitive information (like bank accounts) or uploading large files, it’s often difficult to trust or use the frequently sluggish computers available. Most of these machines are running older versions of Internet Explorer, resulting in frequent pop-ups, lots of viruses, and web pages not looking right. And of course there’s the possibility of a key-logger or other malicious program designed to steal important passwords and information from users. In short, it’s less than ideal.

Fortunately there are some programs you can take advantage of while traveling to make things more secure and easier. There have been lots of articles written recently about things you can do with your ipod while traveling (like this one), such as use it for storing digital pictures, listening to language guides, etc. I thought I’d discuss one way we use ours to help us with BTB: portable applications.

What they are

A portable application is a smaller version of a program that doesn’t need to be installed on a computer to run. They can run off a CD or DVD, an ipod, a thumb drive, or any other form of removable storage. Most programs run only in Windows, but there are a handful of useful Mac ones floating around. Most of the ones I use can be found at portableapps.com.

Why they are useful

Due to an unfortunate incident in an internet cafe in Diyarbakir, I don’t use my iPod anymore; I use my Hi-MD recorder instead. The results, however, are the same. I have Portable Firefox, a cross-application version of Portable Thunderbird (more on this in a minute), and Portable Filezilla installed on a disk.

Whenever I visit an internet cafe, I bring my Hi-MD and disk with me, and hook it up via USB. From there I just launch the applications, and I don’t have to worry about what browsers are installed on the computer; I always use Firefox, with my favorite extensions and bookmarks. This makes surfing secure, because no information is left behind on the hard drive. You don’t have to worry about someone looking through the history or the cache and trying to access your email or bank account. Even if you don’t have anything important to do online, just having Firefox to use instead of IE, an older version especially, makes it worth it.

It’s difficult to upload large files to the site using web FTP, and most managers of internet cafes don’t like you downloading and installing programs onto their machines. With Portable Filezilla, I can easily and securely upload a file of any size (connection speed aside), without having to download or install anything.

Watch out though

They also have some basic anti-virus programs available. If you are traveling with a Windows machine, this would be important to have either on your removable media or on your computer. Several times now I’ve connected my drive to my laptop only to see that it’s been infected with a virus. Since I’m always using Windows machines and I’m on a Mac, this is never a problem; my Mac acts as my virus protection. If I were using Windows I’d be extra careful.

But wait, there’s more

Because we have our own laptop with us, we can edit HTML files, sort and resize pictures, create and edit mp3 files, and anything else we need to do to maintain the site whenever we want. With some of the other programs available, however, it would be possible to do a lot of work in internet cafes, without having to bring your own laptop. There’s a basic web editor, image application and audio application available.

If these were stored on an iPod, you could download your digital pictures to your iPod using an adaptor (link), view the files on a computer in a cafe, and then edit them, upload them, edit your web page, even create a podcast and edit it, all no matter what programs are installed on the computer.

You can also store important documents, like scanned copies of your passport, traveler’s checks, etc. Of course you’d be in a lot of trouble if your iPod got lost or stolen, but you can put a combination on that, which you should do anyway.

Cross-Applications

For the Mac users out there, there even a few cross-application programs available. These programs can actually run on either a Mac or a Windows PC. There aren’t many of them, but there are bound to be more eventually. I only use one right now, but it’s a good one: Portable Thunderbird.

Webmail is handy, but it can be slow to load in internet cafes, and if you forget to logout someone could access your account. If you have cross-application Thunderbird on your portable drive, you can use it on any computer, Windows or Mac, and have all your emails safely downloaded. Thunderbird works with Gmail or any POP-enabled email account, and it’s really easy to set up.

Writing emails in internet cafes can be a chore: strange or broken keyboards, sluggish or dropped connections, even power outages can all slow you down or make a long email disappear forever. If you have a laptop and portable Thunderbird, you can write them on your own computer and send them later.

In Summary

In short, these programs are awesome for travelers. They are easily stored on anything from an iPod, which many people bring with them anyway, to a small thumb drive.

They could also be useful for anyone who uses lots of different computers, or someone who doesn’t have a computer. I think they are particularly useful for travelers, since even if you only surf the web when you are away, you can benefit from the convenience and security of portable Firefox. If you are doing lots of blogging and taking lots of digital pictures, they’re even more useful.

And I forgot the best part: they’re FREE!

Got any other tips for updating a website from the road, or ways for getting more out of the computers in internet cafes? Post a comment!