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Release: AutoBG change the background wallpaper while in use And now PStart

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nightwolf81
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Release: AutoBG change the background wallpaper while in use And now PStart

This tiny app will change the wallpaper in windows while you are using the removable media (as soon as media is ejected or removed it'll change back to old one)

Read the readme for more details.

download: http://mihd.net/70v1mt just click 'download' (hard to find I know)

enojy your personal look!!!

LaunchFromPort: NEWER NEWER NEWER

Moved to new Thread/FRED:

https://portableapps.com/node/3626

rich.bradshaw
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Does it support tiled

Does it support tiled wallpaper? I use a tiled paper, and most apps of this sort won't tile it...

mw2005
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How can i download this, i

How can i download this, i cannot see a link

Ryan McCue
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It's

a small link.
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Ryan McCue
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the kind of people who didn't need people.
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"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

nightwolf81
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New version of

New version of LaunchFromPort has tile feature enabled (the only way I could bypass the STUPID microsoft bug (not applying Wallpaper) was to store it in a .ini file (just open Style.ini in notepad and change it to your desired style

tappet
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Great Start!

This is a great start on a program that I've been looking for for quite a while. There are a few issues, though. Please let me know if there are existing solutions that I did not see:

1. The fact that the program is still running prevents the drive from being safely ejected. I got around this by setting a process killer to execute when PStart exits, but it would be nice if this could be handled automatically by the program.

2. The program only supports bmp's. It would be nice to be able to use jpg's, as well.

3. The process for changing wallpaper is fairly cumbersome. This is no big deal to me, but for folks who like to change their wallpaper fairly frequently, it would be great to have some mechanism for doing so easily.

Having said all that, I still think the program is a great start, and I'm looking forward to anything you come up with in the future. If you have a site for your projects, please post a link (assuming that you can do so withing the forum rules, of course).

Thanks again,

Tappet
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Tappet
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"I am still learning."
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nightwolf81
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It is safe to remove the

It is safe to remove the devices as the program dosen't access anything from the removable media except itself (and once in memory it never touches anything). . .

The whole purpose of this project was to make it detect when the Removable media has been removed and to change everything back to how it was!!

Also this project will never support JPG as from extensive research. . . Windows only applys BMP files to the wallpaper (it actually converts JPEG's to BMP's on your HDD to display them (I could make it automatically convert it on the removable device for you) but I don't want to modify peoples pictures without them knowing!!

I've managed to get PStart included into my project (and make it close itself when media has been removed (nice) and it works perfectly!!) it will lose it's settings if you don't manually save them (by closing the panel) but once your've set it up it works perfect)

The whole 'Change Theme' Idea was a flop (I searched EVERYWHERE for a way to change the xp theme from my app (but nothing tells me how to do this. . . I even went through the uxtheme.h file looking for an answer)!!

as PStart worked so well I see no reason (personally) why I would bother making a new launcher just yet (once Vista has hit the scene I'll test that and then think about it)!

Best of luck to this whole site (it's very handy)

p.s. Feel free to take on this project, I just did it to get some wheels turning inside peoples heads (the REAL idea I sent to Vista developers was to make it possiable to have your roaming profile on the Removable media (so you can take it EVERYWHERE) but I think they didn't bother with it!!

zacharyliu
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Link broken

The link is broken... any mirrors?
EDIT: Thank you for mirror. I have created mirrors, see
https://portableapps.com/node/3614#comment-16594

My Portable Apps-
http://zachshomepage.googlepages.com

nightwolf81
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LaunchFromPort: NEW NEW

LaunchFromPort: NEW NEW NEW

DownloadNEW: http://www.uploading.com/files/3PPH0BAL/LaunchFromPort.exe.html

Has PStart included (which also unloads on media removal)

rich.bradshaw
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What exactly does this do then?

What exactly does this do then? It changes the background, then loads Pstart. Then if you pull drive it unloads them both?

nightwolf81
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Yep (no point in leaving it

Yep (no point in leaving it running one all the programs have been removed is there!!)

And the background is a gimmicky feature (but like me most people want it)!!

rich.bradshaw
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So the difference apart from

So the difference apart from the background changing (which I agree, is pretty cool!) is what? Does it automatically close any open files on the drive?

P.S. When I first installed it, when I pulled out my thumbdrive, the computer lost power instantly and restarted - hope this isn't related! It has never done it before...

nightwolf81
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Nope not related (well it is

Nope not related (well it is to do with removing your thumb drive. . . but it wasn't anything I did. . . altho PStart doesn't have a exit option so I send a Close command to it (also so it doesn't attempt to save settings on a drive thats not there) so your virus scanner might have thought it was somthing BAD and then tried to scan it (causing that to malfunction). . .

Just a thought (not too likley tho) what Virus scanner do U run?

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so your previous background wasn't a boot screen???? lol lol ha ha ha (now thats funny right there)!

rich.bradshaw
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Using AVG antivirus - it

Using AVG antivirus - it didn't give me a warning or anything though...

So what exactly does this do, aside from changing the background?

nightwolf81
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Like I said above. . . it's

Like I said above. . . it's a Work in progress. . . I thought I'd just introduce myself to the forum by producing a Unique app!

It is Safe to tug out your USB stick or eject it first (your choice) but my app doesn't use the usb stick once loaded and monitors for removal of the usb drive (via API's). . .

HMMM I did have it run a script on disconection (one it copies to %systemdrive%\) and I also had it run a script when you pluged it in (but took them out as I didn't want to confuse people with my half finnished project)!

so all it does is change the background and run PStart and then exit itself and PStart and restore the Background when Media is removed!!

WHY what do you want it to do. . . I need feedback. . . this is only one of many little project I've started. . . I've got a Launcher I am building (but it's in VB 2005 and not suited for this application. . . I can rework it back to VB6 without using any comctrls but it'll take time and I want to know people here would appreciate the work!)

Another Idea I have (if anyone wants to build on it) is to have a Username Folder on the usb stick and sync it as a remote folder) keeps both Used PC and HomePC up to date with your Share folder (incase U don't want to have your STICK in the hole every minute your checking your emails or adding your favourites) it'll just copy them to the stick when U plug it in. . . ALSO it can work the otherway and upload things back to this folder that U may have aquired on your travels (eg downloads/information.etc)

STICK - can also be any Removable (writable media)!

If this site is to succed it'll need new things to offer (cause one other people hear about the concept behind portable apps and realise how useful it really could be, there will probablly be a few apps on the market. . . so to stop this I will release what I can first. . . I am an Open Source of information and ideas.

twnty3svn
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BTW Great work!

this is a fantastic idea, works as described! Thanks, however the LaunchFromPort.exe process is still running, which means that i cannot eject the usb using the safely eject fuction of windows. I actaully have to kill the process to eject the usb, then to reset the image i need to reset the computer which then reverts the image.

Is there a way for the program to exit once PSTART is no longer running?

PS. can you please date any updates you make on your topic. Just makes it a tad easier to look for updates.

ie. 06.11.07 - New release version 1.0x

zacharyliu
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Mirrors
nightwolf81
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This Project has been moved

https://portableapps.com/node/3626

click here to get Updates

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