John, last I saw a few weeks ago you said FF Portable for U3 was in the process of U3 certification testing. Any status update on this?
P.S. I could swear I posted this a few hours ago, but it's gone... maybe I forgot to hit submit.
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The future of PortableApps.com doing work for the U3 platform is currently up in the air. I've been pretty disappointed with the ways things have unfolded within the company and the platform in the past couple months.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I love your work, but it seems like U3 is poised to be the standard when it comes to running apps from a flash drive.
U3 is not poised to become a standard despite what some PR out there would like you to believe. U3 is really one company: Sandisk. It's entirely owned and operated by the largest player in the USB flash drive space. Nearly all U3 drives are actually Sandisk drives (nearly all non-Sandisk brands of U3 devices are manufactured by m-Systems, which Sandisk bought... so it's now just one company).
Few outside manufacturers are going the U3 route for two main reasons. First, you have to redesign the hardware of your drives. Second, you have a VERY high licensing fee (5%). [Would you want 5% of your revenue going to your largest competitor?] Plus there's the technical issues with the platform itself (like its incompatibility with most popular CD burning software, which results in system crashes).
Another big issue with it is the fact that it's not open source friendly at all. It's preferred packaging format, U3P2EXE, can't be used on open source software with GPL, LGPL, or several other open source licensed components. U3 won't open up any of their development tools, packaging utilities, or anything else.
On top of all that... add in the fact that it takes lots of extra time to get the U3 packages of Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org working and tested. The fact that most donations coming in to PortableApps.com are for the standard portable apps instead of the proprietary U3 ones (and thanking me for *NOT* going the proprietary U3 route with everything). The fact that there is much more volunteer developer and translator interest in the standard portable apps than the proprietary U3 ones. The fact that U3's software central is a "walled garden" with no links back here at all for donations, etc. And the fact that Firefox for U3 only sees about 33,000 downloads a month while Firefox Portable sees 300,000 in the same time period... despite the fact that millions and millions of U3-enabled devices have shipped.
Why put in all the extra work for a small niche of people on a proprietary platform when the open version works just fine on any flash drive, portable hard drive, local PC, iPod, etc you want?
In short, the future of U3 is actually a bit uncertain right now.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Just reading the forums here I can see that there are many people who would rather uninstall U3 and use the programs at PA.com, I was one of them. In fact, it was because of Firefox for U3 that I landed on this site. IMHO, PortableApps.com will be the standard for all portable programs, specially once John finishes up the *.paf specs.
---------------
Marge: Homer, the plant called. They said if you don't show up tomorrow don't bother showing up on Monday.
Homer: Woo-hoo. Four-day weekend.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
I my self am pretty technical, and had previous to my U3 purchase made many of my favorite application portable... I'm an IT guy that has a day job and I do evening work for home bodies. I have always looked for a way to make the tools I require easier to carry. U3 looked promising, its nice to be able to know something will just work! The alternative going back and forth between PC's trying to find every last dll or what ever.
U3 might as well just advertise them selves as developer enemy #1
John you have become an extremely respected voice in the portable drive community. If your discouraging statement made above doesn't offer someone over at good ol' sandisk some sort of eye opener, they never will get it.
As for anyone wanting FFP for U3 just google packagefactory, I'm fairly sure the results will satisfy your need for a U3 launchable FF.
Will Static
Will Static
Hi!
Just downloaded the program, from http://www.eure.ca/, but it doesn´t work with the two programs from portableapps that I have tried... do u know why?
// t
SmithTechs Shortcut Creator 4U3
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
John,
I meant no offense by my statement above. The reason I think U3 is in the right position is precisely because of Sandisk backing it. Most name brand flash drives I see in stores have U3 on them now. I think that, regardless of whether a better product exists, users are likley to use what they already have, rather than looking for a better solution. (Internet Explorer, for example)
Perhaps without support of developers like yourself, U3 might fail. I would like to see the best standard win, I'm just used to seeing the biggest bank account win.
I got an U3 drive, I bought it with U3 support "by accident" (It is my first USB drive) after I found out about what U3 was about I liked the idea (for a couple of weeks it seemed just like an annoyance that wouldn't go away)
Well I felt kind of frustrated with U3 because the menu brings 0 customability and what is worse, it thinks that the best approach is to hide the apps you install, I swear I was unable to find firefox in the USB disk after installing it by U3.
I was also used to have code::blocks in the USB disk (It is not too portable, but the info left in registry seemed kind of harmless), when I figured out about the U3 menu I thought that the obvious thing to do was to make an icon for it and make my life easy (so I wouldn't need to browse the whole drive to find it...) It was impossible, The U3 menu is simply not flexible at all.
Anyways I was using firefox and couldn't find 2.0 in the U3 site, after 1 week with 1.5 I found out that I can't get used to 1.5 again... so then I decided to google for firefox 2.0 for U3. It brought me here.
When I found out about portableapps, I first removed U3's firefox, U3 was only worth the problem for passwords, but then even the password was not looking that important, and U3 was just making launching portableapps harder.
I had to google for U3 uninstall.
I just think that U3 may have had good intentions but currently it is a pretty broken platform.
Have a look at this link http://www.hak5.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4584
It provides a way (by replacing the CDROM partition of the U3) to effectively autostart whatever application you want from your USB drive.
So it is possible to have the best of both worlds;
* A USB drive that autoruns/autoloads
* PortableApps based approach
Way to go !
Dorian
Everything from Hak5 is spyware/malware.
Don't download anything from there.
----
Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
So, I'm guessing at this time FF 2 will not be shipped, yes? If not, do you know of another party who will be developing version 2, if not, I guess it is the Portable Apps version I will have to use.
I am in IT, and I like U3 apps. Since I am an admin on my PC, I can run U3, while end users in my company wouldn't be able to (drawback or benefit, depending on where you're sitting :)).
You are correct being SanDisk is king of U3. I have two U3 drives a Kingston and a SanDisk. Kingston (which I got really cheap for a 2Gb drive), never upgraded their U3 LaunchPad. While SanDisk just released a second update within 3 months. The one that just shipped seems to be the upgrade to make it Vista compatible (among other things).
The only software I have seen U3 lockup on was packet writing software (Nero InCD, Roxio DirectCD), I hate this software anyway, so it was no big deal.
I might download Firefox from PortableApps directly, if no one will ship a ver. 2 for U3. If you lose your drive your bookmarks, passwords (which I don't save anyway) can't be locked down (or am I wrong) as it can on U3. I know U3 isn't strong encryption, but it is better than nothing (I use another non-U3 piece of software for encrypting critical things on my drive anyway).
If U3 goes by the wayside (since SanDisk just upgraded the LaunchPad again, I don't see it soon), what I would really miss is CruzerSynch for U3. This app. is expensive, and it came free with the drive. Considering I got my Sandisk for a good price, the app. just paid for itself.
Again, if you are going to ship ver.2 of Firefox or not, please let us know, otherwise I'll use the non-U3 version.
Thank you for your help.
A few things...
The U3 app will lock up any burning software even without packet writing installed... I know this because I don't install IN CD or anyother PW... yet launching Nero cause a lockup... just pull the U3 key and all is well.
Read my post above and you will see an alternative to waiting for someone to release FFP2 for U3.
As for Vista I have been testing for sometime now, and can state that Sandisk has NOT release a compatible version of their Launcher.
Will Static
Will Static
I have Nero CD/DVD burning software on my PC without InCD, no lockups, no issues whatsoever.
The Vista released for the launcher came out this week it seems, so yes, it seems they have.
What version on the Launchpad are you running, as the new one that lists Vista as compatible is 1.4.0.2.
You may have a point with Vista... I have 1.2.0.9 and I am not offered an update when I run the check. So a full roll out is possibly around the corner just not yet???
I use nero on many workstation and if I have the U3 key plugged in nero will lock up until I pull the key. That's not too say that your new launcher version will also do this. Also unique situation certainly do arise, checking through the community will certainly point out to anyone that this is a common issue...
Unique example: lots of people complain that Avast for U3 causes false positives on many portable apps. I have scanned with the demo version of Avast and have never had it declare a false positive on firefox or any other portable app.
(also of note I have a version of the U3 firmware that Sandisk states will require a special software update to make it compatible with Vista. 2.18)
Will Static
Will Static
The Kingston drives are manufactured by m-Systems which was bought by Sandisk. So, it's Sandisk/U3's responsibility to get an update to Kingston to send to you. Word is that most of the other brands will get a single update to the launchpad (for Vista) and then no more updates after that point.
It's not that U3's password protection isn't strong encryption... it's
encryption. It just locks the partition. Reset U3 and then you can use any undelete utility to access all of your "secure" data. It's security through obscurity. I'll be adding a security through obscurity feature into the PortableApps Menu for folks that want that sort of thing. Along with an ACTUAL security feature for encrypting your important files.
Also, CruzerSync was not written by Sandisk. It's written by a company that makes it available to folks to re-brand. You can get it on lots of different drives these days. (here's an example).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for the info on Kingston, I knew that SanDisk purchased m systems, didn't know Kingston was under their umbrella.
Dmailer makes CruzerSynch, I knew it was re branded, but I like the app. and since I got the flash drive very cheap (it was a Titanium drive--which are higher priced anyway), and CruzerSynch comes with it, the cost of purchasing it alone would have just about paid for the 2Gb Titanium drive.
This is my first time posting, and I do like your site and work. Again, thanks for the info.
Also, for some reason if you check for updates for Launchpad it will still show that you're up to date. I had to update via the download link on SanDisk's site.
Well RichA as you stated, the launcher does indeed fail to notify about the 1.4.0.2 update.. I manually updated my Sandisk U3 to this version and can now confirm without doubt that U3 still fails on Vista.
I have screen shots see the link.
http://www.alexlennox.com/u3_error.jpg
(note this screenshot will be removed after a couple of days)
*edit* tested this version with nero on my XP workstation... Success... no more Nero Crashing.
*edit 2* The help file for this version of U3 Launchpad states that it supports Vista... this could still be a firmware issue and not an easy software update fix to make certain U3 drives compatible with vista. More work to be done by sandisk.
Will Static
Will Static
Ok,I jumped the gun it seems, you're probably correct, a firmware upgrade is needed.
Glad they got the Nero thing squared away, that is a step in the right direction.
Thanks for the input on Vista.
Well, you are absolutley correct. I recently replaced a 7 yr. old Win XP PC with a new Vista PC, and indeed it does fail. I needed to get some items off the drive so I had to go back to a WinXP PC to retrieve them.
I called SanDisk support, and they usually have been good about things like this, but all they told me a firmware update is needed, and if I wait until March, I can purchase their new Contour drives.
I told them, "not going to happen", I purchased this two months ago, and I am not about to lay out more money for more USB drives. He then said, just keep an eye out, and it should be avaialbe soon (for my U3 Titanium drive).
I hope so, in the interim, I have to wait, and since I mostly use it at work (we are still an XP shop), it will be find for now.
well personally i really like the way U3 does things, however i have had a few minor problems in the past but i found a way around them. for an example i found a solution to a problem that i was having with my virtual CD Drives and my U3 Drive. if you are having the same problem I'll gladly help you out on that.
the update that was previously mentioned, that i didn't know it was out yet and now it it is up to date thanks to you guys.
A while back i found out about packagefactory and yes it is very easy. Thanks to it i was able to make U3 Apps out of some Portable Programs that is use very often in my work and a few for play. For an example i downloaded firefox protable from this web site and used packagefactory on it and now i have firefox 2.0 for U3. thanks john i love what you did with it. I also made many other programs into U3 Apps and loving it. If anyone would like to know how to do it please just ask and i'll be glad to help.
with that being said john, as far as I'm concerned you can stop making U3 Apps and keep making your portable Apps they work just fine for me now. as long as us consumers can use a program like packagefactory to turn the portable program into a U3 Application. you no longer have to make the U3 Application and can concentrate on your main projects.
Thanks John!
, how i can make some Apps U3 Conform. Can U write an Manual? My eMail-Addy is fajag1@yahoo.de. Thanks for an Answer. MfG Blendwerk
Hi mac2,
I downloaded packagefactory and tried to create U3 compatble FF2 = no luck - can you message me your intructions? david
well if anyone would like help or suggestions on making your own U3 app please e-mail me at mymacgeek@yahoo.com
Where is this new LaunchPad firmware you speak of. All I can dig up on Sandisk's site is version 1.2.0.9 And the only other thing I can find is the LaunchPad install drivers for Windows 2000 and XP which are incase you don't have working drivers.
On a second note I have something I need to say about FireFox 2.0 for U3. I purchased a U3 drive because I didn't know that PortableApps,Ceedo,MojoDrive, etc.. existed. I was under the impression that U3 was one of a kind technology. I bought the drive and was very happy with it, I spent hundreds of dollars on software for it. I bought ZoomPlayer, Signupshield, Arcade Lines, Solitaire, Invaders, Avast! and WinRAR all for my U3 drive. I was however told the U3 license for WinRAR and Arcade Lines would work on the desktop versions. I have been using U3 for quite a while now and am used to it and love using it at work with the FireFox browser. Now the only solution that people are suggesting is to just through away everything I bought for it and uninstall U3? I do have a Sandisk drive and Sandisk said once it is removed you cannot reinstall it. Also for the person who suggested PackageFactory, yes I have used that. Lets say you have the same program installed on the computer as your U3 drive. When you run the U3 version you made with PackageFactory and change any settings in that program it also changes the settings of the program which is installed on the computers. This isn't always the case but I have run into a few problems.
Developers of FireFox for U3, I will gladly pay for a U3 version. No need to ask for donations. Just simply charge for that version. I would really like FireFox for U3. One last thought I also tried running partableApps and also Ceedo along with U3, it works but what a mess with how you have to open anything.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my opinions and my experiances. You have done a great job!
Ok the LaunchPad Install on SanDisk Support site is actually the installer for the LaunchPad even though they say it is just drivers. I am now updated to version 1.4.0.2. But please if someone could get back to me on the rest of what I wrote in the prior post that would be great. Thanks again!
I would never say just dump the U3... I do believe that John's statement about how U3 politics work are very discouraging.
I still use U3 apps and Portable apps side by side... you can do the same.
Yes it is true some portable programs touch the registry etc. Sometimes making package factory not your first choice. The settings I have seen differ so far is the download location with in firefox portable converted to U3 use with package factory.
Assume FF2 for U3 will never come out, make due with 1.5 or FFP2 etc... Then if John does put up a U3 version cool... I'll use it too!
*edit* if you remove U3 you certainly can put it back... the installer you downloaded is capable to recreating a fresh U3 drive if you remove it.
Will Static
Will Static
I haven't used packagefactory, does this app. to U3 compatible app., make it U3 friendly to the point the Windows registry isn't touched and/or would it make a difference if it was the non-portable FF vs. the portable version you were converting?
Thanks.
No... what the program touches on the host system would not change one way or the other. I have never tried to make the non portable version portable. Why when John has done this. If you want it U3 package factory should suffice.
Will Static
Will Static
Ok, thanks. It is not critical, I'll see if a ver.2 U3 version of FF comes about. If not, I will use either packageapps or portable.
I personally would post the U3 Package that i made using the Packagefactory program but i think this site and John would have a fit about it. However I'm currently using John's FFP 2.0 and just used Packagefactory and now it is a U3 App. Also if any one would like instructions on this or other info please leave me a msg or something.
They are not the same thing though, at least not from what I have expieranced. The U3 version doesn't leave a trace that you were there on the host machine. Where as if you take the portable version and use Packagefactory, it does leave behind traces of you being there. I don't want to do this on my work's computers. Also at work they use FireFox. So I have expieranced making changes in the converted version I made and had it actually change the settings of the FireFox they have installed at work. Where as the U3 version does not do this. I continue to use FireFox 1.5 for U3. I just really hope that version 2.0 gets released sometime. So what is up with U3 (the company) anyways, are they starting to give up allready? It seems like latly they have done nothing at all. I wonder if their just waiting to see how their product works on Vista? Also what ever happened to the Toshiba 16gb U3 flash drives that were supposed to be released in Dec. 2006? Sorry for all the questions but I hate to see a good product that I have spent alot of money on recently just seem to fade away. Thanks.
-Jim
I was on U3's site and they updated the FireFox link to the new 2.0. I updated on their site to the 2.0. My friend later that day tried to update to 2.0 and U3 had changed it to version 1.5. Also they have Zoom Player 4.52 on there when 5.0 was sent to U3. So The people that made Zoom Player sent me the 5.0. As for Firefox 2.0 for U3 the link is: [Link Removed] I hope this helps anyone out there looking for it. U3's site seems kind of screwy.
That's not the final version of Firefox for U3 that they had posted before. It still has bugs. It fails U3 certification. It should not be used. Someone at U3 decided to post it today after reading this very thread.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I'm just as impatient as the rest of you, but why don't we all wait for John to post it on THIS site before trying to get it from the U3 site. You know he'll post it here before they post it on their site anyway...and you'll know that it will have passed John's standards for clean, bug-free apps. You should know that U3 has a nasty habit of providing buggy and error-prone software before providing the updated/patched/finalized versions; kinda reminds me of Microsoft and the first three versions of Windows 95, original Windows 98, and Windows ME.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
i just got my first u3 drive, so of course the first app i started to search for was ff2 u3 which brought me here. there are some very interesting points in this thread. had i read it first i might not have purchased a u3 drive. but having done so i think ill stick with it a while.
anyway, i hope this question isn't ridiculous... but i didnt realize till reading this thread that portable apps are touching the registry. am i missing something... shouldnt one of the specifications of portable apps be that it DOESNT touch the registry? Is it truly portable if it does?
I thought the whole point of a portable app was to keep it contained in the one folder. Touching the registry, for any reason, seems to violate that. Moreover, as one of the previous posters mentioned, i use the drive to have access to personal apps and info from my work laptop without having to pollute it... i do not WANT to leave any breadcrumbs behind on the work system. Thats the point of using the apps on a portable drive.
Lots of apps touch the registry. Lots of apps actually leave stuff behind. Lots of U3 apps do this, as does the U3 platform. So does the Ceedo platform. You can always tell when U3 or Ceedo is run on a given PC due to the breadcrumbs they leave behind.
The apps published by PortableApps.com may touch the registry while running, but it is cleaned up on exit, even if the app itself crashes, due to the launcher running alongside the app. Apps like Thunderbird, for example, keep track of some preferences in the registry. Thunderbird Portable backs up and restores these settings when you use it. And it'll restore the correct ones even if Thunderbird itself were to crash.
Also, unlike U3 or Ceedo, the PortableApps.com Menu and does not leave registry keys or files behind on the local PC you use it on.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I found a piece of software called Shortcut Creator 4U3. I put in Firefox 2.0 portable edition into it, and it gave me an installer. I don't believe that Shortcut Creator 4U3 is open source, but I know that Firefox is. I found this program on one of Portable App's forums.
The link to the website for Shortcut Creator 4U3 is: http://usb.smithtech.us/projects/shortcut_creator.htm
The modified Firefox 2.0 can be downloaded here:
[Link to illegal package removed by moderator JTH]
Just double click the file once you have downloaded it, and it will auto install onto your U3 flash drive.
First, you can not repackage any of Mozilla's applications and redistribute without express permission from Mozilla. The MPL and other open source licenses do not give you trademark rights so, while you're free to recompile Firefox as your own app and redistribute it without the Mozilla names and logos, you can not make any changes and retain the trademarks.
Second, you can not use U3's packaging system U3P2EXE on most open source software. U3P2EXE is closed source/proprietary and is, thus, incompatible with the GPL, LGPL, CPL and other open source licenses of similar nature. Using it on code licensed under the GPL (like the Firefox Portable launcher) and redistributing it is a violation of the license, which means it's a copyright violation, which means it is illegal.
I realize this was probably an innocent mistake and you probably weren't aware of these issues. Please remove your package from anywhere else you may have posted it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I just recently replaced an ancient PC with a new Vista PC, and as was previously stated U3 isn't compatible.
I called SanDisk support, and they said a firmware upgrade should be coming in March (although one person said SanDisk will supply it another said Microsoft).
Also, my security software (non-U3) doesn't work in Vista, as it seems Vista handles removable disks differently than XP. When I tried to run a repair from the app. developer (a seperate .exe), in XP it would recognize tne flash drive right away, now it doesn't see it, although Vista sees it as a USB (Readyboost) drive.
This is also SanDisk (CruzerLock) and the separate manufactuer I emailed told me that they knew of this, and are working on a fix.
You had mentioned a encryption software for Portableapps (which I am now leaning towars and away from U3 if an update never materializes), that you were developing. What is the name of the app., and I'm guessing yours is already Vista compatible, is it out yet?
Thanks for your help.
As a side note: I didn't like the way SanDisk support tried to push their upocoming Contour drives. They said an upgrade is coming, but hey in the meantime, you could buy our Contour U3 drive. I am not shelling out more money for this.
Wanted to say thanks for your hard work and patience! As you know, there are many of us who rely on your efforts, although most never post. And if the number of us who are chomping-at-the-bit for FFP 2.0 is any indication, your work is very highly regarded.
I just sincerely hope SanDisk realizes that U3 is aided immensely by your efforts, and that they wise up and play more fairly. If U3 doesn’t get its act together soon, it’ll be jettisoned from my drive. Flash memory is a commodity…the apps are where the real value-add exists. It sure seems apparent that PortableApps.com is the long-term winner in that regard.
Thanks again, and do hope that FFP 2.0 sees the light of day.
Yes,
John does not get enough credit for all the work he does. I'm sorry that things are not going as smoothly with U3 as John had hoped.
I am hoping that John will release FFP4U3 before giving up on them for the benefit of the users, not the company. It was U3 and Portable Firefox 1.5 that brought me here in the first place. I love them both, what can I say. Hopefully FFP24U3 will bring more people over to PortableApps.
Thanks John for all the good you do.
Don't let things get you down.
Tim
Geek w/o portfolio
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
I just caught this on U3's website:
http://u3user.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/u3user.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_...
One of my SanDisk's drives in version 2.18 (I tested this on my Vists PC and it does not work). I have an older 1Gb SanDisk drive that is 2.15, so supposedly this will work (I haven't tested it yet).
The one that will not work is a 1.5 month old 2Gb drive, and at this point, I will probably end up removing U3 and using it as a standard 2Gb drive and put Portableapps on it. I just need to find a Vista compatible encryption app. for it.
This is a shame, I just bought it and my 2Gb is no good on Vista, well unless this changes, and SanDisk does post a firmware upgrade for ALL firmware versions, I will walk away from U3 (other than my 1Gb) at this point.
Folder Lock works on Vista and xp... Make certain to use the strongest method when locking down. I have successfully recovered readable data from the Hide and scramble methods. The encrypt is unreadable when recovered.
http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock/?id=http://www.newsoftwares.net/f...
Will Static
Will Static
First I also would like to take a moment and thank John for all of his hard work. I was anxiously waiting for Firefox 2.0 for U3, you can probably tell by reading all of my post in this forum. I recently bought Windows Vista and U3 doesn't work on that. And my particular drive never will. I posted my whole long story on this forum: https://portableapps.com/node/5104
I just want to add my 2 cents worth, U3's technology is as good as dead now. I'm sure there are thousands of people that have drives that can never be upgraded. I just bought mine a few weeks ago and now it is useless to me for the most part. John my advice - again this is only my 2 cents worth, would be to completly stop any further development on U3 apps and use that time to work on other things that have a future like the Portable Apps Menu. Currently I can't get the portable apps menu to work myself under Vista. But I praise all of your work and to do it free as you have is unbelievable! Thank you.
-Jim
to install Vista anyway? Perhaps a little more front end compatability research would have been prudent. Personally, I have no compulsion to jump into Vista, at least until the first service pack comes out.
I just find it a little hard to believe that vendors will simply let tens of thousands of flash drives become unusable because of Vista. I suppose it could happen; I'd just be surprised. My guess (hope) would be that updates are coming.
Ditto for me! It seems like nobody remembers what Microsoft pulled with Win95, Win98, WinME, and WinXP. The first version of Windows 95 was garbage, yet everybody glowed over it at first and then complained it was full of bugs. Microsoft didn't get it right until the fourth release (Win95d). Microsoft got better with Win98 (They only had to release a "Second Edition", but the original was still chock full o' bugs.) They never straightened out WinME and they had to have 2 "Service Packs" (read "multiple bug patches released under a single file") for WinXP. Microsoft has NEVER gotten it right on the first release and it's NEVER been worth upgrading until they've fixed the "major items". Why go through the same old routine. My vote and choice is that people should refuse to buy WinVista or any other Microsoft product until Microsoft finally releases a decent first edition of an OS, or admits to the errors of its ways.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
Well, my 1 Gb 2.15 drive works under Vista fine, so I guess until I run out of space, this will do.
I tried my ClamWin on my drive before paying $15 for Avast, but ClamWin gave me a false positive, I hear this is common.
I also wonder about U3, but I will use my 1Gb, but not buying anymore U3 products.
I do like Portable Apps, but ClamWin seems iffy to me.
That is good that it is working for you. The sad part is, when you buy these drives you have no idea what version of the firmware you are getting. They don't print it on the package or anything. Besides I had just figured that nice new technology would work on Vista. I never would have imagined it not working. Avast! for U3 is another program I bought. It worked really well! I never tried ClamWin. But I did try McAfee for U3 and I didn't like that. It slowed everything down and took forever.
I just saw an article about Lexar and PowerToGo. I am wondering if this is Vista compatible and password protected (it is a U3 rival).
I will check with Lexar and see, as some of Lexar's drives are already stamped "Works with Vista", including the ones with PowerToGo already pre-installed.
I just don't want to walk into another technology that isn't fully Vista compatible, and if lost, someone can click to open the app. without any prompt for password.
PowerToGo is actually Ceedo. It is Vista Compatible but it only has fake password protection on the system (you can still browse the file system and access all the data). A similar security-by-obscurity approach is coming in an upcoming release of the PortableApps Menu.
On the security side, you should be locking down your individual apps' data on U3, Ceedo or PortableApps as none of them, by themselves, encrypt your data. So, master password on Firefox/Thunderbird, passwords in Pass2Go/SignupShield/Keepass, etc. Of course, you can get a drive with encryption built in (Kingston DataTraveller Secure, etc) and then load the PortableApps Platform right on it and everything is secure for ya.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for the reply. The Lexar I was looking at has PowertoGo pre-installed (it is their Lightning drive), along with built in security software.
I ran into the issue with one of my SanDisk drives that came with free encryption software, but when it ran on a Vista PC, I would get errors.
According to SanDisk, they know of this, and are working on a fix for the Vista OS.
I am guessing Lexar's will work as their website says this model will "work with Vista".
If I recall correctly, it's different software. Your PowerToGo stuff is still in the clear as usual. It has a password to protect access to the menu/apps, but the drive itself isn't encrypted, nor are the files protected. Lexar's security software lets you secure specific files. Just like you could with 7-zip for instance. Or several other products that work with PortableApps.
Bottom line. If you want security, you should encrypt the entire drive. U3, Ceedo and PortableApps.com don't do that by themselves. Something with built-in encryption (like that Kingston drive... or one of the drives with a FingerPrint reader/encryption chip) is the way to go if you're actually worried about security. Anything else is a compromise and not really secure.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Lexar already has encryption software built in, and if it is like an old 128MB JumpDrive I had years ago, it partitions the drive between public and private.
The private drive is mounted once you enter a password, and it uses 256 bit AES encrtyption, and from here you can run Portableapps, etc. from the private partition.
I found this on Ceedo's site:
Does Ceedo support encryption and/or password protection?
While the Ceedo platform safeguards users' privacy by creating a working environment that isolates your information from the host machine, Ceedo does not currently have security capabilities such as password protection or encryption.
We are working to incorporate robust and dependable security solutions into the Ceedo platform. Ceedo is getting better literally day, and with our seamless automatic updating technology you can be sure to enjoy the latest improvements as soon as they become available.
Also, although you are correct that I could run PowerToGo from the encrypted partition, Lexar doesn't advise it:
Note: Running PowerToGo from a secure partition will cause performance degradation and is not recommended
It will run, just slow up, but I could also run Portable Apps from the secure partition too. I might get this drive (I have a gift card, which makes it nicer :)).
I just didn't want to run into another U3/Vista debacle, although I still like other SanDisk memory products.
At least PowerToGo and Portableapps doesn't install a CD-ROM partition, something I was never crazy about, and if you go to an internet cafe, etc. I don't know if this would even work as most of those PCs are locked down, and you would need admin. rights to do such a thing.
You have been very helpful.
Thank you.
The absolute best option is to get a drive with *hardware* encryption as then you don't encounter a performance hit but can still have everything be rock-solid secure. Of the major vendors, I think Kingston is the only one that has this in their DataTraveller Secure. It doesn't list Vista as supported yet, but you could ask them about it. Some other smaller vendors have similarly advanced drives.
The long and short of it is that without hardware encryption, it's just another drive with a software package that lets you encrypt stuff. For anyone that really wants to be secure, hardware is the way to go. No ifs ands or buts.
This is pretty far to stray from the original thread, so if you wish to discuss further, let's start a new topic.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I won't tie up this thread anymore regarding this topic, but a quick note that I tried Ceedo, extremely buggy and password protection was easily subverted in Vista.
I decided to take my money and bought a Datatraveler Secure as Kingston just shipped the Vista update, and it has gone down in price. It even locks after 10 unsuccessful attempts.
I appreciate your help in this manner, and will use Portable Apps. in this drive.
ClamWin maybe not, as it ID's a U3 program as a trojan horse an a 1GB Cruzer U3 I had (unless it was just a fluke).
Anyway, thanks again for your help.