New: Don't Panic! Portable 1.4.2 (one-click app hider) Released

Pyromaniac's picture
Submitted by Pyromaniac on March 13, 2011 - 11:56pm

logoDon't Panic! Portable 1.4.2 has been released. Don't Panic! is a one-click application hider and recent document clearing button, so you can easily hide (or minimize or close) multiple applications and erase your history and recent documents with the click of a single button. 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

ScreenshotDon't Panic! can be configured to minimize, hide or close multiple application windows on the click of a button. It can also optionally clear your local recent files folder, IE history/cache/cookies, and empty the recycle bin. This can all be done with a single click on the "Don't Panic!" button.

Learn more about Don't Panic!...

PortableApps.com Installer / PortableApps.com Format

Don't Panic! 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

Don't Panic! Portable is available for immediate download from the Don't Panic! Portable homepage. Get it today!

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Comments

thewrightgeeks

March 14, 2011 - 8:42am

This app gives me very odd behavior, firstly it completely stopped working, I uninstalled and reinstalled and all my settings were back. Not good if this is storing data on the PC bearing in mind its purpose. Secondly after reinstalling, never worked again...

I agree with thewrightgeeks. This app does not seem to function at all under Windows XP SP3.

I too installed it and opened it up. I put the 7-Zip portable app launcher prog into the blacklist. But it just hung after that. Then it was 'not responding' & 'do you wish to send error report'.

If you the try and access the app again, you can see the menu bar, but the rest of the app screen is black and then changes to white. Weird. When the white screen appears, you just get the egg-timer and nothing more.

Anyone else got this working on XP SP3?

I don't think this app is cutting the mustard at the moment.

Cambridge, UK

I've figured this out now.

When you select an portable app for closing in the blacklist or in one of the three "Enabling Closing (hiding) of the following software..." options - DO NOT CHOOSE the PortableApp program launcher, but choose the program .exe in the App subfolder.

So, let's say you want to use Don't Panic to close 7-Zip portable.

DO NOT put 7-ZipPortable.exe as the app to close - you'll get all the errors mentioned in the previous post. Instead, go to the App folder under 7-ZipPortable/7-Zip (OK, there's a subfolder with this example, but you'll get the drift) and select the program .exe in the App folder (subfolder), in this case it would be the 7zFM.exe file.

Save everything.

Now when you run Don't Panic, it does what it should. Makes sense really because it would normally be closing the program.exe, not the portableapp.exe launcher.

This does work, I've tried it with no errors. Nice App.

Cambridge, UK

...but I don't see how the hide option works. Close works fine, but cannot figure out the hide option. Similarly, how does the 'Unhide' option work. Followed the instructions, but cannot get this part to work.

Will try full install to see what it's doing.

Cambridge, UK

Just tried the install version. Different behaviour. The hide minimize actually works, but still cannot figure the hide / unhide.

I have reservations about this as a portable app.

Cambridge, UK

Pyromaniac's picture

Pyromaniac

March 14, 2011 - 4:30pm

try reinstalling the portable version, as the hide/show functions should work, and as sja5164 stated, it has worked.

As for closing AppNamePortable.exe versus AppName.exe, I'm thinking that perhaps we should say on it's homepage that users mustn't close the *Portable.exe because it will cause problems... any thoughts?

I think include that as a short note in the home page explaining which app to close would be a useful idea.

I'm wondering if I had a problem with my XP because, lo and behold, when I opened Firefox today 14 'hidden' versions just appeared. I'll try reinstalling and see what happens.

Thanks.

Cambridge, UK

I'm on XP Pro SP3. The close and hide functions both work fine on installed and portable programs. However, as stated above, do not use the ".exe" in the root folder for each portable application. Use the ".exe" in the "App" folder.

Nerdy Redneck

Hello,

I am the author of Don't Panic and I wish to clear some things up.

The virus is a false-positive. The main exe is compressed with PECompact and because of that it gets flagged as a virus. It has absolutely no virus or malware. (at least not in the official version)

Second. sja5164 is perfectly true. You have to select the exe with the name that appears in Task Manager when that software is run. That's the way Don't Panic works. It checks what's running and task manager and if it finds it it does whatever action you selected.

If you have any questions for me I will be checking this thread often.

Thank you very much for your interest in my software.

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. (While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled. Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next.) - Horace (Odes)

John T. Haller's picture

John T. Haller

March 15, 2011 - 1:27am

Hi Adrian. Might I suggest switching from PECompact to UPX? UPX is open source and doesn't trigger as many false positives. Plus UPX is license-compatible with use on GPL software (PECompact is not since it is closed source). Thanks for helping the users out. If you have suggestions on wording for the Don't Panic! Portable homepage, please fire away!

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

Hello,

Basically the hide option works this way.

You have to choose the hide option in the Options window. You have to add the exe's just like when you want to close that programs. Remember to select a hotkey combination that is not already present (like CTRL+C) for the unhide function.

Now press the don't panic hotkey or button to hide everthing. After that you can use the unhide hotkey you have just selected to unhide everything.

Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions I will be more then glad to help you out.

Thanks.

PS: I will consider switching to UPX in the next version (specially when PECompact does not have a Student Build anymore).

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. (While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled. Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next.) - Horace (Odes)

Tried Don't Panic again today and everything is working fine. Hide / Unhide works fine.

Nice app. I really like the hide option.

Not sure what had happened yesterday.

Thanks for the advice.

Cambridge, UK