PortableApps.com Suite and Platform 1.6 Released In English and German

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on January 28, 2010 - 6:08pm

PortableApps.com Flash DrivePortableApps.com is proud to announce the English and German release of the PortableApps.com Suite and Platform 1.6, making it easier than ever. This new update makes the world's most popular portable software platform even better than before, boasting an updated, feature-enhanced menu and updates of all your favorite apps. Browse the web, check your email, chat online, listen to music, keep your passwords secure, work on documents, check your datebook and even play a few games... all on the go. And, as always, it's all open source and completely free.

The PortableApps.com Platform and the PortableApps.com Suite 1.6 Standard and Light Edition are available for immediate download from PortableApps.com.

Read on for more details...

Included Applications

PortableApps.com Screenshot
Additional screenshots are
available in our Press Room
All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured at right) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:

*Note: The Light Suite includes AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable.

New In PortableApps.com Platform 1.6

The PortableApps.com Platform 1.6 release adds lots of new features including:

  • Favorites / Pin to Top - If you use a lot of portable apps, you can now pin your favorite apps to the top of the menu, making everything quicker to navigate. Just right-click and check off Favorite.
  • Integrated Eject - The eject button will automatically have Windows eject your device if nothing is locking it open.
  • Autorun Apps - You can now have apps automatically run when the menu loads. Just right-click on an app and select Automatically Start.
  • Uninstall Apps - You can now right-click on an app and select to uninstall it. It will remove the whole app directory after a confirmation/warning screen.
  • Run / Run As Admin - Apps can be run or run as administrator from the right-click menu.
  • Multimonitor Support - The menu's additional forms now properly appear on PCs with 2 or 4 displays
  • Check Drive for Errors - Check your portable device for errors with just a click in the Options menu
  • Windows 7 Taskbar - On Windows 7, the menu icon will appear on the taskbar in addition to the system tray (which is hidden by default). This can be disabled with an INI setting.
  • 120dpi Support / Missing Icons Fixed - The whole menu now properly supports 120dpi in Vista and Windows 7. There will be some visual artifacting (as with nearly all apps at 120dpi) but otherwise it all works as expected.
  • Transparency - You can now set the transparency of the whole menu from 0% to 90% directly from the Options menu.

  • Better App Hiding - App hiding is now accomplished by right-clicking and then selecting Hide. The app is hidden instantly without the app list being reloaded as it is in 1.5.
  • App Unhiding - You can unhide apps within the menu by right-clicking and selecting to Show Hidden Icons. Icons that are hidden are then show with a line through them. You can hide and unhide icons as you wish and then hide them again.
  • App Load Progress Bar / Faster Menu Load - The menu will now load much faster and will then show a progress bar indicating how long it will take before it is done detecting all your apps.
  • Improved Wine Support - The menu will now load a square theme on Wine and avoid the pink edges that appear. (A fix for the app icons loading without all colors is being worked on)
  • Better Icon Refresh (and F5) - When refreshing the app icons, you'll get the same progress bar as when the icon first loads. You can refresh by selecting it from the Options popup menu, by right-clicking an icon in the app list and selecting Refresh or by just clicking F5.
  • Hide Desktop Icons - The menu can hide the PC's desktop icons using a selection in the Options menu
  • Visual Changes - The menu no longer uses bold fonts and has the start of font switching which will let it use Tahoma on Windows XP and earlier and Segoe UI on Vista and later to better fit with the rest of the interface.
  • Better Multilingual Support - The Platform now supports 51 languages and has a 58 language installer making it easy for everyone to install and use.
  • And more...

Installing and Upgrading

Whether installing or upgrading, with PortableApps.com, it's a snap. Just download the new PortableApps.com Suite 1.6 release, Standard or Light depending on your needs, and install it to your portable device's root directory. If you're upgrading, it will automatically detect your existing install. Please note that if you are using a modified version of the menu or a theme from another release, it will be replaced with the official 1.6 menu and theme.

The Path to 2.0

This 1.6 release is another step on our road to 2.0. We'll be posting a new 2.0 Beta with the fixes from 1.6 added in to the 2.0 Beta 3 release followed by another beta release soon after. We'll be announcing these on the site, RSS feed, twitter, facebook and via our newsletter.

Download Today

The English Standard and Light Editions of the Suite are available from the PortableApps.com Platform / Suite homepage. The German Standard and Light Editions are available from the PortableApps.com Platform / Suite German homepage. Download it today!

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Comments

DJ PORTU-GABBER's picture

good job

just a dude who wants to share and work with his knowledge

spg SCOTT's picture

Browser to X:\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\Data

No need for the 'r'... Wink

“There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!”Richard Feynman

This has been a long time coming; thank you. Smile

There does seem to be a lot of noise coming from the "no Win7 taskbar icon" camp, though; seems to me like this is an option that should be in the GUI.

In the beta it was coming up at the bottom of the screen while the taskbar was at the top.

Is that meant to happen?

John T. Haller's picture

Yeah, but translations prevent that. For probably 80% of Win7 users, the taskbar is the best location. But we'll provide a GUI for those that want to manually configure it (since Win7 will entirely hide it by default).

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

NathanJ79's picture

Hey Paul, welcome to PortableApps.com.

Actually folders/categories is the most-requested feature; despite the fact that virtually every other portable menu offers it, PortableApps.com Platform loyalists continue to request it instead of switching to another.

It is faster.

One problem is though, that a single click on the systray icon makes it appear, but sometimes you need two clicks to make it disappear, not consistent operation.

Also, glad that it can re-appear via shortcuts.

John T. Haller's picture

Click anywhere to make it disappear (like another window, desktop, taskbar, etc). Or just hit ESC.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

OliverK's picture

microsoft is changing what goes there.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

I use PocoMail ok, and I wrote to them asking about minimize, and even before Vista SP1 they were saying "there's no standard method".

Funny they got it working so why can't it be implemented here?

John T. Haller's picture

It's a temporary issue due to the Windows 7 taskbar support. They interfered with each other. So the systray is used to show only. Not to hide as well as in previous releases. On some PCs, it will still hide because it registers the click before it loses focus and does the lose focus last.

So, for now, just click elsewhere.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

I'm pretty happy with how you can do that (click elsewhere) that in and of itself is an awesome feature, as is "bring-to-front" via vista desktop manager, that too is an utterly brilliant addition.

If you can respond, are you saying that the situation can be addressed via custom code or is there in fact a standard method.

All I know is the program I mentioned seems to do it very well, including not appearing on the taskbar so it's fairly complete from where I sit and you can make it portable as well.

All in all the menu is vastly improved over prior versions so much so I don't believe a beta is necessary at this time but rather an update to address this particular issue.

Thanks & regards

Screamdad's picture

The Themes on Version 1.6 Disabled? I must .ini Entry Theme? ^^
And the RightClick on PersonalyPicture RightTop Deleted by RightClick?
My Engl. bad sorry.

OliverK's picture

yeah, themes are disabled. I don't know about the personal picture.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

John T. Haller's picture

The next 2.0 Beta will have themes back in along with all the fixes in 1,6. It will be posted today or tomorrow.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

You'll need to copy the old themes from the 1.5 [going from 2.0 Beta 3 back to 1.6 is confusing. i meant to say 2.0 rather than 1.5] version to the new 1.6 version.
In both cases, the theme folder is located at:

X:PortableApps\PortableApps.com\App\DefaultData\Themes\

Then you'll need to manually edit the .ini file at:

X:PortableApps\PortableApps.com\Data\PortableAppsMenu.ini

Anyway, this new version loads the menu at lightning speed [after a few days of trying it, i would say its fast but not lightning fast and there are certain times when it is still slow. my fault for being a bit excited for this release]. Not digging the Windows 7 Taskbar Icon though; already got it disabled.

Edit: Made corrections to review, and would like to acknowledge 2.0 Beta 3 is still better than 1.6 in my humble opinion, so I ended up switching back.

i realise that it's hard for some people to get used to the taskbar button but the menu isn't something to be accessed via the systray. It's like a start menu so, it makes sense having it on the taskbar, and I have it loading next to the start button, with the menu popping up docked left to. Takes a while to get used to it but it's worth it. love the new release.

but i still think it makes more sense to rearrange the documents folder structure to a vista/linux like one, having a portable home with the documents folder in it and the videos, music and pics folders alongside the documents folder, not in it.
If you want to put in a Downloads folder, it fits better inside a home dir, instead of inside a Documents dir, cluttering it.

Just my opinion... Otherwise, great job Wink

[quote][b][ricardofilipemoreira]but i still think it makes more sense to rearrange the documents folder structure to a vista/linux like one, having a portable home with the documents folder in it and the videos, music and pics folders alongside the documents folder, not in it.[/ricardofilipemoreira][/b][/quote]

Please explain more?

What I meant was instead of having the Music, Videos, Music, and other directories inside Documents, like this...

X:\
  + [PortableApps]
  - [Documents]
    + [Pictures]
    + [Music]
    + [Videos]
    + [Downloads]
    + [WebPages]
      Doc1.txt
      Doc2.doc

We could have them all inside a "Home" directory, like this...

X:\
  + [PortableApps]
  + [PAHome]
    - [Documents]
        Doc1.txt
        Doc2.doc
    + [Pictures]
    + [Music]
    + [Videos]
    + [Downloads]
    + [WebPages]

Instead of using the XP-style Documents\Music folder structure, use the Vista/Linux-style Home\Documents, Home\Music structure.

This way we won't clutter the "Documents" directory with files and folders that aren't documents.

The problem is though, what about if you install directly on say D:\

That's what I do and already it's changed the default icon of my secondary drive, which is ok but I'd like an option for that.

What I'd like to see in regard to this situation, is to have a default download directory for PortableApps themselves, so when you click on "get more apps" besides the menu location changing, I'd be wanting it to go to a specific folder and download it to that location so I can manually go and remove old versions, eg RC's & betas etc

P.S. @ John, please don't release another beta until a long time.

you can do that already by hand. firefox has an addon called "automatic save folder" for which you can create rules for downloading specific file types or files from specific locations to different folders automatically, or you can use WGet Portable too, for each download you specify a target folder to store the file.
Also, the PortableApps suite 2.0 beta 4 will have the PortableApps Auto Updater installed, according to John.

Still, I want Linux-like Documents folder in portableapps, even when installing to a pen drive, or C: Smile
I tried editing the source code but it wouldn't compile then after that, so I gave up :S

What I'm saying is, when I click or select "get more apps" and go to the product pages, because if Firefox is already on the system ok, magically it is instanced, so would it not make sense to load a certain page (ftp) that gave you default downloading options, unless of course the protocol cannot perform this kind of operation.

We must think of the future and not only the past.

John, please tell me if my idea is one for you to think about or if you don't think it makes sense and why Smile I'd really love some feedback on this, because I think it's easy to implement and makes more sense than the way folders are distributed now...

It's how it should be of course, hence why I got you to lay it out... Smile

All I was trying to do of course in addition to what you've said is note how PA Menu does not remember the last used download location, why is beyond ridiculous I feel unless it's to do with the *registry*.

Try working the source again, if you do it, it may just be included and I for one would support you in this.

sorry I didn't reply before, I just didn't understand what you wrote. now I do Smile PortableApps menu isn't the one responsible for the downloads, it just launches firefox portable with a url as a parameter. So, it doesn't recall what is the last download folder because that's handled by firefox, not the menu.
But like I said there are addons to firefox that are designed for firefox portable too, and can adapt the locations according to portable drives.

I looked actually at "install new app" option, and interestingly it remembered the last specified (navigable) location! Awesome, something I've always wanted but was afraid might not be implemented.

Now every time I want to install a new application, eg after uninstalling in order to remove hard-coded settings in sub-applications, ie Skype, now I can simply re-install without fuss, so I guess that NSIS could have further options programmed in relation to automated re-installing of programs?

Thank you very much PA program people you are awesome builders.

The Options > Install a New App option isn't new, and I thought it was Windows remembering the last directory. Correct me if I'm wrong. Wink

Ignore silly users that PM you on IRC. What? You're one of them?

I'd love to get some feedback on this idea but I guess John doesn't like me so he doesn't answer me Blum buuuuh

If you compile the source to output those folders and show someone, it will probably be included.

The thing is, with this kind of change as "minor" as it may seem,it's major in the sense that people might have many documents and be so used to working in a particular fashion that upsetting them may be detrimental to product brand as a whole.

Keep heart.

I doubt that would happen. folders in vista and linux are much better organized and nobody complains because it makes more sense than how they were in xp. it's an improvement. the only thing I'm suggesting is implement that in this app, it makes sense and I guess it takes about 5 minutes to change the source Biggrin

As I say simple in one respect, potentially a disaster in another.

What if someone were to think that was their directory and then delete the "real" one from before, they would come at rage against our friend John and we'd never hear the end.

that won't happen. the OS' user's home dir is located either in c:\users\username or c:\documents & settings\username and has it's own icons, and portableapps folders use other unique icons, and a unique path, so, how would you mix up for example e:\PortableHome with your C:\users\Username ? doesn't make much sense, i guess

I'm only talking about arbitrary user-made folders, not ones done in the OS.

That would need to be the first step, eg education.

I wouldn't know the first thing about how to take the sourcecode and compile this feature into it!. but I believe having the ability to have an option to have a folder structure like:

X:\
+ [PortableApps]
+ [PAHome]
- [Documents]
Doc1.txt
Doc2.doc
+ [Pictures]
+ [Music]
+ [Videos]
+ [Downloads]
+ [WebPages]
for me is a must{I don't care if I have to edit this in manually}.
I am sticking with Smithtech portable menu and R32 Mod as these both allow me to have these options, I like so many features of PA.c menu, and the community is one of the best there is! the portableapps suite is fantastic and I applaud the devs for their great work and encourage them to keep it up. But my vote goes to having the option to have a customisable folder structure if the user wants it.
Linux, Vista, Win7, Mac OS X (my personal home OS) all have a similar structure to this and I personally find it the best way to have it, and that is my own opinion others will like it a different way to me and many others I've seen asking for this option.

thanks for your time and great support I'll always be lurking waiting for this feature/option to be implemented.

P.S would a bribe... err.. um ... Donation help to see this happen help lol Smile

NathanJ79's picture

1. The lack of theme support will be a deal-breaker for casual users, but casual users should note that this release is not for them, despite it being plastered on the main page. The current best option for 'everybody' is still 2.0 beta 3 or 1.5.2.

2. The Windows 7 stuff is great. I just wish shortcuts on the taskbar didn't have that frosted square behind them. It's tacky, like the shortcut arrow and if I knew how to disable it, I would, and I think it would look 100% better. For those who don't like it, you can have any systray app you like always visible, or just its notifications (the default setting) -- or you can hide everything. Tell it to display the icon and the notifications and it will behave like normal.

3. I'm testing 1.6 at home. It docks with the sides and bottom OK -- my taskbar is at the top, and this is Win7 -- but when I want it to dock to the taskbar, it won't, but I can dock with the top (past the taskbar border) and it will snap back to the taskbar. This is tacky, but I think Windows might be more to blame than the Platform.

John T. Haller's picture

1.5.2 didn't have theming. A rudimentary way to manually enable it was provided. The same exists in 1.6. You just need to set Theme=Custom in [DisplayOptions] and then have the theme files in the Data\Theme directory. The GUI is removed because the PA.c Theme format is not finalized yet and this is a stable release, appropriate for most users.

2.0 Beta 3 is a bit buggy, but the update with the 1.6 fixes is being posted tomorrow, at which point that will be the recommended release for the techies and testers.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Tomorrow being the 31st of Jan.
Today is 2nd of Feb,still no sign.

John T. Haller's picture

Sorry about that. Spent the last couple days rebuilding the newsletter subscription database after a database hiccup. As a result, the January newsletter is being sent on Feb 2. Sad

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Screamdad's picture

German:
Ich habe im moment 2.0B3 und habe mir nur die .ico in der .ini angepasst ansonsten unverändert. Im moment finde ich persönlich die 2.0B3 am besten und bleibe erstmal bei dieser version. Ich habe XP Pro und keine Probleme mit 2.0B3 und nun auch das .ico symbol mit dabei. Wink
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
English:
I have in moment 2.0B3 and have adapted myself only .ico in .ini otherwise consistently. In moment I find personally 2.0B3 best of all and remain first with this version. I have XP Pro and no problems with 2.0B3 and now also .ico symbol including.;-)

Hello I do not like the new default Windows 7 Taskbar location, I would much rather have it stay in the notification area, and yes I do see how to manually disable it, but maybe for future versions, add it as an option in the portable apps menu itself for users that don't like to play around with code. Thanks.

wajmhome's picture

The bar at the bottom of the PA.c menu is reading the memory I have left incorrectly. I am using a Toshiba External HDD (250GB) on WinXP SP3.

I delete gigs of data sometimes and I noticed that it still said I had 192GB left when windows says 215GB left. d:
I think that the menu is wrong. I checked recycler and etc and its all nice and empty. This doesn't happen with 2.0beta3
I really hope the new beta comes out soon, I'm sorry to say that I really don't like this release. I mean, faster loading = awesome. Win7 taskbar button that when you don't use win7 puts a little window by the start button that you have to manually go into the ini to delete, not that great, but a neet option to add.

Like others said:
Try adding a direct-menu option for this, like...
---Win7 and StatusBar icon
---Win7 icon only
---StatusBar only

I would like that, and I am sure others would as well. As for some 'poll' I heard people talking about concerning menu folders, thumbs up from me.

rawr

wajmhome's picture

I cannot get rid of the window over the start menu Pardon

And also, its the [DisplayOptions] not [Display] d:

Any help with this issue I am having would be appreciated
(and any news on the next beta)

rawr

Would it be possible cache the programs at startup and only re-read them (update cache) on a manual refresh or an app install? PortableApps starts up quickly on my harddrives and not bad across the network, but on my geek keys(usb flash drive) it starts rather slowly. It maybe because I have almost all of the apps that you offer, but you never know when you might need an app which you left at home. I haven't read every post you have so you might already have a good reason for not reading the program list just once.

John T. Haller's picture

Other menus cache apps by taking the icons out of the EXEs and saving them independently. All apps in PA.c Format already have their icons out and stored independently. An option to do this for non-PA.c Format apps is coming shortly.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

It looks like you are reading the entire directory structure to create the menu.
I think Window's File Opens/Initial Reads ( and directories are just files) are very slow.
If you were to create a file in your main data directory with the information you collected from the app install/manual refresh, you would only need to read it to create the menu. That would reduce the number of open/reads to just 1. To create just one file may not be efficient, so you may want to create the new icons too. But the number of directory opens/reads should be greatly reduced.
It would not replace the normal refreshes it really would only be used on startup. I know that reducing writes to flash is important, but in my case I probably start PortableApps several hundred times more than when I add an app or change the directory structure.
Please don't believe I'm tring to tell you how to design your apps, it's just an idea.

John T. Haller's picture

Yeah, I've been considering that as well. I think the slowness is from opening and closing multiple INIs. So I may try caching them to one. Maybe keep it off by default and make it available under the new Advanced Options tab in 2.0. If it works well, switch it to default on.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Forgot about all those closes, they are just as bad. I sure you know best about where and how to apply this process. Thanks.

PTC's Mod34 uses a DB for the Menu as an Option and it is so much faster. I have over 200 Apps running from PortableApps Menu and am hoping the ver 2.0 is better and faster than PTC's Mod34 as 1.6 still is not as good!

awmsuhail's picture

Now I find it easy to perform my day to day tasks without requiring to install the application in every computer. It saved lot of my time.

Thank you

SAW

Its closed source and therefore will never appear here unless Adobe gives us permission which isn't likely to happen.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

great program and page!! i just found it

it would be realy good a synchronize option, that let you to synchronize your documents and stuff in your usb with the ones in your pc

And also a way to search programs on the menu by typing text like in mac