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Is there a way to disable the update check for a certain program?

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felix.bunke
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Is there a way to disable the update check for a certain program?

Hello. I've been holding off on updating Firefox to version 14, because my favorite theme, Charamel, is not yet compatible with it (but I'm hoping it will be soon). Today, when I launched the platform & it checked for updates, I absent-mindedly clicked to have it install the updates, and I forgot to uncheck Firefox first. So, I just got done going back to Firefox 13. I had to search around for the installer first (I don't know why there isn't a simple link for these older versions on the main page on this site for Firefox Portable), but then I discovered that after I enabled Charamel & restarted it, the update to version 14 that I'd accidentally downloaded before must've still been there somewhere, since it was installed again upon restarting. Since I wasn't finding an answer re: where that update would be very quickly, I decided to just try renaming the Firefox folder on my drive, installing Firefox 13 in a fresh folder, and then copying over my profile folder, hoping the version 14 update wasn't in the profile folder. Fortunately, that worked, and I'm now back to version 13 with Charamel, but I'd rather not have to do that again, so is there a way to stop the platform from checking for updates for Firefox, but still have it check for updates for other programs? I really like that feature, so that I don't have to keep doing it all manually, like I used to have to, but it would be good to be able to exclude specific programs from the check so that you don't accidentally update programs that you don't want to, for whatever reason. Thank you.

John T. Haller
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Not Yet

There isn't yet, but we will be adding the ability to have apps not checked by default shortly.

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Karsonito
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Such abilty will be highly

Such abilty will be highly appreciated for some apps.
For example last version of WinSCP 5.1 is very buggy so I downgrade to 4.39.

John T. Haller
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Rename

Until we implement it, just rename your WinSCPPortable directory to WinSCPPortable-NoUpdates ... or anything you want really. It won't be updated after that.

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

Karsonito
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Thanks for tip!

Thanks for tip!

johanponken
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Good workaround tip for Vista vs Chrome v51/Opera v37

Bumping in light of Opera v37/Chrome v51 noncompatibility with Vista.
Please add upcoming (since 2012?!?!) functionality soonest:

PortableApps.com Platform Bug Report and Feature Tracker
https://portableapps.com/node/28593

Upcoming Features Confirmed Coming In An Upcoming Release
Ability to exclude apps from the updater (possibly show unchecked after checked updated apps)

johanponken
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Firefox on Vista: ESR

In line with the topic:
Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr
…so here, you don't have to "fool" PA.
(Haven't checked if something alike is available for anything else, as I have moved on to W7.)
Reason for posting: "In approximately March, 2017, Windows XP and Vista users will automatically be moved to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR)." Moz blog 2016-12-23

thepiney
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Hello all!, My first post

Hello all!, My first post after using PortableApps for years.

Along this line of thought, could a feature be added that would keep XP/Vista supported versions within PortableApps? Instead of "disabling the update check", have the older version kept and possibly marked for use on the older unsupported OS. Maybe an added "Catagory".

I looked around for this specifically in the forum and this is the closest post in regard to this that I came across. I have PortableApps installed on all my systems (including older XP PCs) either on a secondary drive or partition and when updating the newer apps become un-useable.

Sorry if this has been discussed and I just missed it.

The Piney

John T. Haller
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Not Easily

Publishers generally drop XP support without announcing it. So, we have no idea when a given app stops running on XP or Vista. When users later let us know, we update the page with a note. Publishers themselves often don't know or care, they're just switching to a newer compiler that happens to drop XP/Vista support and they only mention supporting Windows 7/8/10 on their download page anyway. The only way we could know ahead of time would be to test every single release of every app in an XP virtual machine, which I do not have time for.

Even then, how would we handle it for someone who uses both XP and 7? Stay with the outdated and likely insecure app so it works on both? Maintain multiple copies of the app? We could try and move data between the up to date one and the outdated one for use on the unsupported OSes but what happens when the settings become incompatible between versions?

Unfortunately, it would be a lot of work for an imperfect solution to a problem which will affect fewer and fewer users as time goes on. Our site visits are made up of 3.5% XP users and falling each month. Vista is even lower at 0.6%.

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

thepiney
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Thanks for the quick reply.

Thanks for the quick reply. In the future on the locally installed XP systems, I'll wait on updates to see if there is an issue with compatibility and disable the udate.

The Piney

John T. Haller
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Auto Update

I'd suggest auto-updating and if you run into a problem letting us know. Then you can downgrade and then rename. We'll link to older versions where appropriate. Otherwise you'll wait a long time. We have so few XP users that it sometimes takes a release or two of some apps for anyone to notice.

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

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