The PortableApps Menu will currently allow an arbitrary number of instances to start. This means that if I double-click StartPortableApps.exe (I often do this instinctively to show the menu, since I used to do it with PStart whenever it was more convenient than clicking the tray icon). Instead, the menu should check for an existing instance, and if one is found, just tell the existing instance to show the menu.
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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Actually don't mind multiple instances, cause sometimes the other one freezes cause of Windows, and I can't even get task manager to shut it down. So I just open another instance.
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Trouble is, if that happens (you can't kill an existing instance), you won't be able to eject the drive, either.
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maggie n. The fattest thing known to man. A gigantic woman whose name is rendered invariably in lowercase; eats everything that isn't nailed down and even some things that are.
To kill the offending instance.
I actually like the ability to run more than one instance.
I've segregated my apps into two PortableApps folders so that I don't have more than 20 in a menu - I even put one inside the other, so I can open PortableApps2 from within the PortableApps1 menu! (I prefer to avoid scrolling in the menu)
I'd like to be able to change the Tray menu icons, so that I can distinguish between the two.
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Have Some Patience just said that sometimes his menu froze up so completely that even Task Manager couldn't kill it. That's what I was referring to; if that were ever to happen, you wouldn't be able to use Safe Removal. You'd have to just pull the drive.
Believe it or not, I've seen that happen. Not with PAM, but with other programs. Sometimes a program will lock up so severely that you can't even kill it with Task Manager. Which admittedly should never happen--you're forcibly terminating the process, after all--but it does.
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maggie n. The fattest thing known to man. A gigantic woman whose name is rendered invariably in lowercase; eats everything that isn't nailed down and even some things that are.
I should have read it more closely.
In my experience, I've never seen such a lockup that you cannot kill the process with Task Manager, and I've used it on quite a few systems.
I have seen instances where I can't use the "End Task" button, but I've usually been able to go to the actual process and "End Process". Typically, the things which I can't shut down with "End Process" are running as Services, and once the Service is stopped, it can be stopped in Task Manager, if it is still there. But, PAM does not run as a service, so something must be wrong if PAM keeps locking things up.
If the system is so f'd that I can't stop things with task manager, I usually try to log off or reboot before pulling the drive. And if the whole system is frozen, well, there's nothing to do but hard reset; even then, I'll wait until the system is off or pre-boot before I pull it out.
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I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
Actually, (if you are that desperate) you can the "Processes" tab and just end the "PortableAppsMenu.exe" process. That will kill it.
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It's annoying that I can accidentally start up more than one.
But, it can be useful if you're using more than one flash drive, and the different flash drives have different programs on them.
I'd like to see an option to disallow multiple instances of the same one but allow multiple instances of different "portableapps menu"s for more than one flash drive at the same time.
does anybody even understand what i'm saying here?
I'd really like to be able to prevent multiple instances of Portable Apps Menu from running, either from one USB drive or several. I have a newbie user that is confused when trying to quit and eject the USB drive, and they can't because there is still an instance of PortableApp running as they accidentally started up more than one. I have to show them to open each one in turn in the task bar and quit them.
I've never understood why Windows allows multiple instances of the same application. It's confusing to users. Run the same app with a new window; it's easier and uses less system resources.
Perhaps it'd help to know the command to display the menu, instead of starting a new instance of it? In that case you could make a shortcut like "\PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exe -show" .. Does anyone know if there is such a command?
Why did you revive a one year old topic? This issue has already been addressed and the current release does not have this issue?
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I wouldn't know.., I was just searching for threads and didn't look at the date I guess. But I've got the latest release and it's still giving double instances here?
The 1.1 release doesn't have this issue at all. It will cause the already running copy to come to the front if you run the same copy of the menu from the same location.
You can, of course, run it on two different drives and they will both come up.
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Excellent.