really, WHY?
I choose 'portable' because i hate to track installations...it can be then completely removed...
Why do you prefer 'portable'
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Welcome to PortableApps.com.
I can see you are still a beginner, but have you considered reading ANYTHING on this site at all?
You could start with:
https://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a_portable_app
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
I use PAC stuff on my work laptop because I have no admin rights to install any software, simple as that.
I use them on my home computer so that I never need to worry about the state of the OS, at any time I can re image the PC, plug in my usb stick and I'm good to go.
What is PAC?
and what do you mean by "re image the pc"
re-image is to restore a PC's operating system to a previously saved state. The previously saved state is usually a perfect copy of the hard drive. Typically an "image" is created once the operating system is installed, all the drivers are installed and working, and critical security patches have been applied. This way you have a clean operating system that doesn't have any unnecessary files.
If you use portable apps, then once you restore to this state (re-image your computer), getting the apps working again is trivial, it's just copying files back to the newly "imaged" hard drive. This saves lots of time because you don't have to install each application individually and it's one of the reasons why I used portable apps.
How would I restore my computer to an earlier image?
You need to use an imaging program like DriveImage XML to save a copy of your hard drive to another location (e.g. an external hard drive).
This isn't something that you have to or need to do. It's just something that many people do, particularly businesses because if they have a fleet (more than one) of laptops (or desktops) that are all the same (hardware/manufacturer) then they can quickly and easily restore all those laptops (or desktops) to a near "clean" state.
If you don't really know what this is, or what it's for then you probably don't need to do it. Keeping simple backups of your most important files is probably sufficient. Even so, if you ever have to reinstall Windows (because it stops working) then using portable apps allows you to quickly get all your important applications working.
Some things, you should wait until you are no longer a beginner.
Particularly, imaging a computer is hazardous to your data, and if you don't have a good backup, you WILL lose files you want to keep.
This is in the same category as formatting drives or playing in the registry - unless you know what you are doing, you can screw yourself, so avoid it.
If you want to learn about these things, the best thing to do is do it on a computer that you don't mind breaking! (I learned a lot about computers by breaking them and hurrying up to fix them before anyone found out - not always successfully)
That being said, once you are familiar with these and other system tools, they are extremely useful.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
imaging a computer is hazardous to your data,
Are you serious?? Imaging is how you safeguard your system, and data. I image my system usually once a month. The secret to imaging is not the backup but rather knowing how to restore the backup. You need a working OS in order to run the restore software. That can be on a 2nd pc, a CD or a USB stick.
Ed
It's hazardous the way fire is hazardous. If you don't know how to use fire, and you play with it in your house, you can burn it down!
The OP is an admitted beginner who had never heard of imaging. Therefore, it's important to tell him about the potential dangers first. If you've read my whole post, it says that he should learn on a non-critical system, and then says that once you learn these tools they are useful.
As someone who worked as a system admin, I heard more than my fair share of shrieks as inexperienced users lost months worth of data, because they didn't realize that re-imaging a computer wipes out all the data that was on the disk.
Anyway, @ImStillA: As you are obviously someone who is looking to improve your skills, please continue to ask questions, and forgive me if I seem over-protective...
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
I think what Solanus means is that you have to be careful about differences between your image and the current state of your computer. If you fail to take into account recent files, and restore an older images then you could potentially lose files. Of course, if those files are corrupt or the system as a whole doesn't work then it doesn't really matter anyway.
I agree with Solanus, imaging is not to be taken lightly and probably overkill for most every-day users. Common sense and backing up of critical data should be sufficient. (and by "critical" I mean personal data that couldn't easily be replaced such as digital photos, as opposed to critical system files which can be replaced by doing a lengthy reinstall if absolutely necessary.)
I look at imaging as being the backing up of a hd partition, you two are looking at it from a restore aspect. And yes the restore aspect is crucial and can/will overwrite the current partition and everything on it. However, DriveImage XML and other imaging apps will also allow you to restore individual files which does not wipe out the whole partition.
And in the ideal situation the hd is divided into two, or three, partitions and data files are stored on the 2nd partition rather than the system partition so that restoring the system partition does not overwrite the data files.
Imaging is a good thing, restoring is also, but one needs to be told/warned/advised how to restore and when and what.
Ed
you know, there are so many problems with this and that imaging tool reported in their respective forums. Often goes in the direction: ..I have restored my computer with the tool, but now it does not work any more...
Sometimes all the answers sound like: we did sell you a backup tool, we did not say anything about restore...
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
But Im happy you are sharing your thoughts and of course I will ask more questions.
You are all a one nice community.
Thanks alot!
easy to keep 3PCs in sync and makes a OS restore so much easier.
When Win7 SP1 comes out, I'll format and reinstall rather then update, and create a fresh backup from that. Then copy over all the portable apps and be ready to go.
Sure, I like the Portable Apps because I can take them wherever I want.
But, also, I have a very old computer with only a 10 Gig Hard Drive. So, several Apps that don't absolutely have to be installed ... I put them on my Flash Drives. This way they don't use up my limited, valuable Hard Drive space.