SSuite Office Blade Runner for Windows

Using multiple computers doesn't mean that you can't always have a full complement of useful programs with you. SSuite Office Portable Edition packs a surprising number of applications for both business and pleasure into a reasonably sized package. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of full-featured programs, but for a portable suite, it's pretty impressive.

The core of SSuite Office Portable Edition comprises its word processor, spreadsheet program, and e-mail client. We had no trouble with the first two; they're not the most beautiful or comprehensive programs we've seen, but they do offer a decent array of basic features. We didn't have as much luck with the e-mail client; we tried to configure it but we were never able to get it to connect to our account. Still, that is far from all that this program has to offer. It will also launch Firefox, Windows Explorer, and a variety of system utilities. There are an address book, a photo editor, a basic PDF creator, a chat client, an envelope printer, and more. If all of this feels like more productivity than you can handle, it also includes Tetris. Each application comes with its own brief built-in Help file. We're not sure that we've ever encountered a portable program that does so much. Its interface is a little dated and unsophisticated-looking, but in the end SSuite Office Portable Edition is easy to use and extremely versatile. It's worth keeping handy if you frequently use machines that don't have these kinds of programs installed.

SSuite Office Portable Edition comes as a ZIP file. It's accessible after extraction with no need for installation.

• Added Excalibur and Premium HD office suites and other enhancements.