Qs on portable harddisk and connection speeds

[Roarkiller]

Some questions from a poor soldier in Thailand.

Regarding portable harddisks, is it possible to install programs on the portable harddisk and still have it run on the computer itself? Asking becasue the only broadband I can have access is in internet cafes, and I really need some programs for my internet needs. MSN messenger I may not have to worry, but mIRC and bittorent (ask OA) could be a problem.

Also, regarding dialups, I heard of rumours of methods that can jack up the speed of 56k connections. Don't know if this is true or not, but if it is (hopefully), can anyone tell me what exactle I need to do so?

Much appreciated for any help provided.

[Kevin]

I know programs like mIRC will run by itself off any medium. And BT client would probably depend on which one you use. I'm pretty sure Azureus would.

As for speeding up your dialup... EasyMTU might work.

[youdontknowme]

Installing a program on a portable HD should work. Just as long as the HD is connected to your computer...

[Roarkiller]

Wow, that link really helped, Kev.

So basically as long as I have the program installed AND have the harddisk plugged in (before I turn on the PC, I'm guessing that much is obvious), the program should run? Because I know some program installs some files in the computer's registry and searches for that before it can work, though I'm not entirely sure about that. How about those? Or do the programs simply install every file inside the portable harddisk? Then how about thumbdrives? Same?

I'm using BitTornado btw, I like to have control over my downloads.

Sorry to sound so buggy, but I really kinda miss my downloads, and I really need to get my brother to send me my files over to me so I can continue my work.

[Kevin]

I think you need programs specifically made to run on portable devices since they won't need to put all their info into the registry like you said.

I saw that this site has some Mozilla related stuff that can run off a portable drive.

[Roarkiller]

Sorry to bother again, but then I can't believe I missed the part when it says that it works for 95, 98 and AOL, but no mention on XP. Because that's the OS my camp's PCs are using. But I haven't exactly tried yet (I'll be doing so tomorrow) so I don't really know.