You can get almost anything on a stick these days, including an entire computer. OK, just the operating system — but that's all you need to enjoy the ultimate in portability, security and privacy.

Because portable operating systems are completely self-contained, as long as you can access a compatible host, it's like having a PC in your pocket. You can not only compute from almost any location without leaving a trace, it's also a great troubleshooting tool, useful for booting into a PC with a dead or disabled hard drive, for the purpose of retrieving data.

There are two ways to use a computer without touching the hard drive:

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