New: WinPenguins Portable 0.6 (penguins on your desktop) Released

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on February 18, 2011 - 9:44pm

logoWinPenguins Portable 0.6 has been released. WinPenguins lets you have a number of cute penguins running around your desktop on the tops of your windows. It's a classic time waster or distraction app. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it's open source and completely free.

Read on for more details...

PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 users who already have this app installed, simply click 'Check for Updates' in your PA.c Menu to update to the new version.

Features

Screenshot Ever wanted cute little penguins walking along the tops of your windows? Ever wanted to send an army of cute little penguins to invade the screen of someone else on your network? Probably not, but why not try this program out anyway - it's free. Note that the penguins may not walk atop certain windows with Aero enabled but will walk at the bottom of your screen and on your task bar. Similarly, it will not work if you have a window full-screen, the deprecated active desktop enabled or an animated desktop background.

Learn more about WinPenguins...

PortableApps.com Installer / PortableApps.com Format

WinPenguins Portable is packaged in a PortableApps.com Installer so it will automatically detect an existing PortableApps.com installation when your drive is plugged in. It supports upgrades by installing right over an existing copy, preserving all settings. And it's in PortableApps.com Format, so it automatically works with the PortableApps.com Suite including the Menu and Backup Utility.

Download

WinPenguins Portable is available for immediate download from the WinPenguins Portable homepage. Get it today!

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Comments

John T. Haller's picture

John T. Haller

February 18, 2011 - 9:46pm

I wanted to thank Patrick Patience for his original work and analysis of this app. I've since updated it to use the PortableApps.com Launcher 2.1 release, added portablization of custom sound selections, added XP theming and updated it to the current PA.c Format and Installer.

For anyone confused by the selection of this app, it's been a bit of a favorite among a number of long-time PA.c developers and users and has been kicking around as a test release for years. I figured it would be a funny Friday evening release so others can enjoy it as well. Smile

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

OliverK's picture

OliverK

February 18, 2011 - 9:58pm

Oh, wow. This has been kicking around for a LONG time. Glad to see it make its way into the sunshine though Smile

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

Stevoisiak's picture

Stevoisiak

February 18, 2011 - 10:49pm

This thing actually got released? AWESOME!!! Biggrin

But wait, didn't this app have bugs with Windows 7 and certain desktop background types?

Simplifying daily life through technology

spg SCOTT's picture

spg SCOTT

February 19, 2011 - 1:21pm

I had to disable aero in Win7...and when I turned aero back on (while the penguins were going) it well...went a little weird...

“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

gluxon's picture

gluxon

February 19, 2011 - 3:10pm

WinPenguins doesn't have a problem with Aero, the problem is with the . If you disable the slideshow, (while WinPenguins are running) you get the weird penguins spgSCOTT posted.

I'm guessing spgSCOTT disabled the slideshow when he selected the non-Aero theme.

spg SCOTT's picture

spg SCOTT

February 20, 2011 - 12:40pm

whether I have slideshow on or off, it doesn't work with aero...oh well, nevermind...no penguins for me...

“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

Skitter302's picture

Skitter302

February 19, 2011 - 1:49am

It reminds me of the one cat that would move around an you desktop. Lynks, was the program I believe.

Load the App and Play :evil:

NathanJ79's picture

NathanJ79

February 19, 2011 - 2:24am

I believe the idea is going on about 20 years now. I remember shortly after Lemmings was released on the Amiga, somebody got into the game engine or something, and took the sprites, and maybe other game elements out (or, perhaps, fabricated them all from scratch) and made something like this on the Amiga. Fire it up, and Lemmings would drop from the top of the screen, behind the menu bar, and they would open parachutes, and drift down onto your windows. They'd climb the sides of windows, or in some cases, build their bridges from one window to another (which would disappear if you moved the window, causing the Lemming to fall if he were still working on the bridge). And they'd just make their way to the left or the right side of the screen.

I've never seen anything quite like it, though I have seen WinPenguins, and I think it's similar. But they don't "do" anything, do they?

Still, awesome release.

marcdw

February 19, 2011 - 9:29pm

I remember a little cat maybe on my Win98 desktop. Neko (Japanese for cat?) it was.
Very cute.
Way back in the day on Linux they had roaches that would scurry about.
I'll give these little penguins a go.

Honestly, it seems to me foolish to include in the package old (not developing) applications... But looking at this utility - I think as an exception, it is quite possible Smile

3D1T0R's picture

3D1T0R

February 20, 2011 - 12:57am

WinPenguins was released on the 18th of February, 2011 (2011-02-18) but the listing in the update.ini shows it as having been released on the 13th (2011-02-13).
Was this perhaps a Copy&Paste error? (from JPEGView?)
The update.ini should say 

ReleaseDate=2011-02-18
UpdateDate=2011-02-18

Smile

~3D1T0R

I have tried this over and over until I realize that it does not like windows 7 home premium x64. I double click on it, it's process is listed running under task manager but still, no penguins on my desktop, BTW FYI I'm not using aero. I already checked Ad-Aware antivirus to see if it got any problem with the app itself, nada. I liked the idea though. Oh well no penguins for me as well...

win 7 64 bit home premium service pack 1, avira antivirus, aero on ...

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis .." Friday Next -
"May The Schwartz be with You!" Yogurt the Yoda

AlleyKat

February 25, 2011 - 5:14am

Note that ActiveDesktop must be enabled for this to work, maybe you have this disabled?

I can't get it working right either, using Win7 x64, Aero theme and dual screen. Works fine if I disable Aero thou, so no real surprise...

John T. Haller's picture

John T. Haller

February 25, 2011 - 11:54am

Active Desktop will prevent it from working. As will slideshow backgrounds or animated backgrounds. Sometimes certain static backgrounds on Vista/7 will as well.

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

AlleyKat

February 27, 2011 - 7:12am

Quoth the homepage:
Note: WinPenguins will not work when ActiveDesktop is disabled. This will be fixed in the next version.

I'm not sure that there actually is an ActiveDesktop as such under Win7, guess that was a feature of 98/xp - but not sure, I'm not much into these things...

Pyromaniac's picture

Pyromaniac

February 25, 2011 - 1:03pm

This actually runs pretty well on my computer!

Peter_Rabbit

March 7, 2012 - 2:00pm

Downloaded latest Portableapps and WinPenguins looked like fun but...
It doesn't run on my machine (Win7, no aero, active slideshow) and I can't uninstall it from my PortableApps thumbdrive Sad

Sorry WinPenguins, you are outa there!