I was under the impression that PortableApps do not leave any traces whatsoever behind on the host machine. I did a little browsing today and found in DocumentsandSettings/myname/localsettins/temp/ many, many folders, and inside those folders were a couple of dll files and a jpeg. The jpeg showed the splash screen of one of my apps. Several of the folders were for Keeppass, several for Firefox, several for Songbird, and I don't know what all else. What are these files that are being left behind? I'm on a W2K machine without administrator rights. Thanks guys.
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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Some files/folders may be left behind (and only in temp locations, or a most recently used list). No PERSONAL or PRIVATE data is left behind, but due to the nature of Windows in general, there will always be some sort of minimal trace on the system.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
They shouldn't be. Some development tests and occasional pre-releases have had issues like that. Some of the releases had a splash screen issue about a year and a half ago (the launcher would close before the splash screen was done showing and couldn't remove the temp files). If you're using current releases, the only time this would occur is if there was a crash of the PC itself. I just checked the current KeePass, Firefox and Songbird Dev Test and all properly cleaned up after themselves. Please delete your temp files and then try all the recent versions on your PC to make sure.
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If an application isn't shut down properly, could it cause those files to be left behind? I noticed that as I was closing applications, folders were disappearing. If this is a case, would it be possible to create something that could go and find those items left behind and clean them out?
Even if an app crashes, the launcher will still clean up after it and remove its temp files. Even if you pull the drive in most cases it should, too. The only way it would normally leave those files is if the PC crashed or something killed the launcher (there are some unofficial "eject" utilities floating around that do kill apps poorly rather than shutting them down gracefully).
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I use EjectUSB with geek.menu, so that could be it. I should test that. Thanks for the info.
EjectUSB will try to close a process and then unceremoniously kill it last I checked. That means that the launcher doesn't get to close and clean up after the apps. In that respect, it actually leaves MORE stuff behind than if you just yanked your drive out of the PC.
I'm finishing up a proper shutdown procedure for portable apps that will be included with the next platform that won't have such issues.
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