your computer, without the computer™

PortableApps.com Suite™ is a complete collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.

Many of the most common issues that arise when using PortableApps.com Platform and PortableApps.com Suite are addressed here. Please read through the various topics to see if any of them address your question. You can also post a question to one of the forums for the apps within the suite.

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PortableApps.com Platform and Suite Issues

• Installing the PortableApps.com Platform or Suite
• Using the PortableApps.com Platform
• Adding Apps to the PortableApps.com Menu
• Removing Apps from the PortableApps.com Menu
• Adding or Removing a Personal Picture on the PortableApps.com Menu
• Using The Built-In Wallpaper Swapper
• Moving the PortableApps.com Menu and Changing Its Startup Location
• Rename Your PortableApps.com-Enabled Drive
• Change the Language of the PortableApps.com Platform
• Backing Up Your Settings (Bookmarks, Email, Preferences, etc)
• Known Issues
• Version History
• Uninstalling he PortableApps.com Platform or Suite

Installing the PortableApps.com Platform or Suite

To install the PortableApps.com Platform or Suite, just download the installer for the version you'd like from the PortableApps.com Platform and Suite homepage and run it. It's best to install it right to the root directory of your portable drive (X: where X is the drive letter). It'll take anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes depending on the edition you select (Platform Only, Light or Standard) and the speed of your drive.

Using the PortableApps.com Platform

To start up the PortableApps.com Platform, just double-click StartPortableApps.exe in the root of your portable drive. In many cases, Windows will ask if you'd like to start PortableApps.com when you plug in your drive. Then, use the intuitive PortableApps.com Menu to launch your apps, browse your drive, search the web and more.

When using any portable software, here are a couple tips:

• Stay Safe - When using portable apps, it's always a good idea to practice Safe Portable App-ing.
• Removing Your Drive - When you're done, exit all portable apps and then wait for the activity light on your removable drive to stop flashing. Then click the eject button in the PortableApps.com menu and select to safely eject your drive. If you remove the drive while it is writing, you may lose data.

Adding Apps to the PortableApps.com Menu

The PortableApps.com Menu can automatically add apps in PortableApps.com Format. Just download the file you'd like to add (like FileZilla Portable, for instance). Then, in PortableApps.com Menu, click Options - Add a New App - Install and then select the FileZilla Portable .paf.exe file you just downloaded. The PortableApps.com Menu will automatically install it to the proper location for you.

The PortableApps.com Menu will also work with other standalone and portable apps. You just need to place them in a directory "next to" the PortableAppsMenu directory. So, in a standard layout, you'd create a directory within the PortableApps directory (MyAppName, for instance) and then place the application you want to use within that directory (MyAppName.exe, for instance). Then, just click Options - Refresh App Icons within PortableApps.com Menu and your new app will show up.

Removing Apps from the PortableApps.com Menu

To uninstall a portable app, you can just delete it. From the PortableApps.com Menu, just click the Explore button and browse to the PortableApps directory. There you will see a list of the directories containing the installed apps. To uninstall Mines-Perfect Portable, for instance, you'd just delete the Mines-PerfectPortable directory from your device. You can then click Options - Refresh App Icons within PortableApps.com Menu and the it will detect that you uninstalled the app.

Adding or Removing a Personal Picture on the PortableApps.com Menu

Starting with the PortableApps.com Menu 1.1 release, you can add a personal picture to the menu. To do this, just move your mouse over the upper-right region of the menu. A highlight box will appear. Click it and select the picture you wish to add. 48x48 pixel images work best. To remove your personal picture, just right-click on it.

Using The Built-In Wallpaper Swapper

The PortableApps.com Platform has an easy-to-use wallpaper swapper built in. It will change the wallpaper on the PC to your own while it's running and change it back when you exit. To use it, just save the wallpaper of your choice as a Windows BMP file (RGB encoding for the geeky) to your X:DocumentsPictures directory and name the file portableapps_wallpaper.bmp. The next time you start up the PortableApps.com Platform, it will find it and use it.

Moving the PortableApps.com Menu and Changing Its Startup Location

To move the PortableApps.com Menu, just move your mouse to the PortableApps.com logo at the top. You'll see the mouse pointer change to a four way directional arrow. Hold down your mouse button and move the menu wherever you'd like. When you close the PortableApps.com Platform, the menu will remember it's relative position on the screen (top, middle or bottom as well as left, center or right) and start up at that same location even if you move to another PC.

Rename Your PortableApps.com-Enabled Drive

To rename your PortableApps.com-enabled drive, just click on the drive name in the lower left corner of the menu. Type in the name you'd like and click the ">" button or hit enter on your keyboard. You may need to eject and reinsert your drive for the new name to show up in Windows Explorer.

Backing Up Your Settings (Bookmarks, Email, Preferences, etc)

The PortableApps.com Platform comes with PortableApps.com Backup, an easy-to-use backup utility. Just click the backup icon on the PortableApps.com Menu and select backup. You'll get to pick what you want to back up and where you'd like to store your backups.

Note: PortableApps.com Backup's app data backup feature only works with apps in PortableApps.com Format (since their data is in a standard location). For other apps, you should be sure to backup your entire drive.

Change the Language of the PortableApps.com Platform

To have the PortableApps.com Platform appear in your own language, just click Options and then Language in the menu and select the language of your choice. The menu will instantly change to your selected language.

Uninstalling the PortableApps.com Suite or Platform

Since the PortableApps.com Suite and Platform is self-contained, uninstalling is a snap. To remove the suite, you simply delete its files. This would be the Documents and PortableApps directories as well as the StartPortableApps.exe and autorun.inf files in the root directory. If you don't have any data you wish to save on your portable device, you could also format it if you'd like. If you do have data within the Documents directory you'd like to save, simply delete the directories you don't wish to keep. To remove the custom icons on the Documents directory (or any others), just delete the hidden desktop.ini file within each directory.

Known Issues

Some applications have known issues. These are details on each application's support page.

Version History

• Portable Apps Suite (& Light) 1.0 Final! - November 20, 2006
  • First non-test release of the suite
  • Introduction of PortableApps Menu
  • Update of all apps
  • Custom icons
  • Lots more

• Portable Apps Suite (& Light) 1.0 Release - November 10, 2005
  • First public release!