Ronald Barrett, a network admin who consults throughout the New Jersey area and is the president of technology consulting firm R.A.R.E.-Tech, recommends a few tools that he carries on a USB keychain, including ClamWin Free Antivirus portable and OpenOffice.org Portable. ClamWin, from PortableApps.com, is a free anti-virus solution you can carry with you anywhere. It ensures you can sit down at any system and have it be virus free. OpenOffice.org Portable, which is compatible with Office, WordPerfect and Lotus files, is suitable for situations where you don't have your laptop, you're working at a client site that doesn't have the latest version of Office, and you need to open an office document.

Barrett says: "For an IT pro who needs to be ready for all situations, or the technology partner who needs to support anything that exists in IT, OpenOffice.org Portable is the perfect portable application."