PortableApps.com Platform 14.4: Fine Dining With Confidence

PortableApps.com is proud to announce the PortableApps.com Platform 14.4 release. This release adds custom platform security to scan for and mitigate DLL hijacks in some vulnerable apps and launchers revealed in the "Fine Dining" leak as well as updates to two locales. As always it has a complete app store, automatic updater, easy app organization, fast app searching, proxy support, a great set of themes, portable fonts, and lots of other features to make it your favorite set of apps whether you're running from a portable drive, a cloud drive, or run locally! If you'd like to see more features and functionality keep coming, please read a personal appeal from PortableApps.com founder John T. Haller to help! You can also buy the platform and a suite of apps on the hardware-encrypted PortableApps.com Carbide or fast and affordable PortableApps.com Companion available in our hardware store. Read on for all the details...(permalink)

Existing Platform users can automatically update by clicking Help - Check for Updates.

New in 14.4

This release adds custom platform security to scan for and mitigate DLL hijacks in: 2048, BabelPad, ClamWin, Foxit, Google Chrome, Kaspersky TDSSKiller, LibreOffice, McAfee Stinger, Opera, Opera Mail, Skype, Thunderbird, and various launchers. These apps have been shown to load certain DLLs unsafely in the recent "Fine Dining" section of the Vault 7 leak and the platform now scans for both DLLs which should not be included as well as DLLs which can be replaced. The platform verifies the authenticity of the latter using secure SHA256 hashing. While these techniques are not currently known to spread malware via personal removable drives or cloud drives, now that these techniques have been publicized it could occur in the future, so we have added security mitigation now. We've posted a full story on the leak and our mitigation techniques. The Swedish and Traditional Chinese locales have also been updated.

New in 14.3

This release adds high dpi support to the platform installer, improves high dpi support within the updater and app store, adds the ability to use the desktop context menu when hiding desktop icons, fixes a redirect error when an advanced setting is changed on Windows, updates the Swedish and Simplified Chinese locales, updated to the latest version of 7-Zip for backup and restore, and has some other minor bug fixes. Full details are in the PortableApps.com Platform changelog.

New in 14.2

This release adds support for dual download live installers to the app store and updater for live installation of dual-mode 32+64-bit apps, adds support for update-only releases, and updates to the latest version of 7-Zip for backup and restore. Support for hiding 'portable' in app names has also been improved and enabled by default.

New in 14.1

This minor update to 14.0 updates the bundled 7-Zip components of backup and restore to address a recent security issue in 7-Zip. It also updates Simplified Chinese and Slovenian language support.

New in 14.0

This version adds a new 64-bit mode to the backup and restore function for improved performance on modern PCs. A new automatic method for closing system tray apps - which have always been a bit pesky - like Ditto and PNotes has been added. Support for more system tray apps as well as the ability for apps to advertise methods of closing to the platform is in the works, too. For users who like using the scrollbar, full page scrolling support has been added by clicking in an empty area. Fixes for ejection on some Windows XP machines and conflicts between the What's New and autorun.inf change notifications are included, too. Updates for multiple languages have been made to make the platform easier to use by all as well. The complete set of changes is available in the PortableApps.com Platform Changelog.

Platform Features

As always, the PortableApps.com Platform is packed with great features like:

• Automatic App Closing - Closing down and getting going is easier than ever with the platform automatically (and safely) closing your running portable apps and letting you know which ones need to be closed before you eject and finish syncing your cloud drive. Luthfi Harahap was kind enough to re-license some of his code to help with this feature
• Awesome Themes - The modern default theme matches well with Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 and all your favorite classic themes are included as well.
• Cascading Tray App Menu - Get quick access to all your apps with a right click in the system tray
• Always-Ready Search - The app search box is always visible and ready by default, so you can open the platform - possibly with the CTRL-ALT-SPACE hotkey - and just start typing to launch your favorite app. You can even search in app descriptions if you'd like by ticking a box in Options
• Proxy Support - The connections tab in Options lets you automatically or manually configure the platform to work with your internet proxy
• Full Featured Installer - The Platform installer can detect and install to your portable devices, synced cloud directories, local machine, and more
• Fast Updater / App Store - Quickly check for updates to your existing apps and find new ones by name, category, release date, and more
• Eject or Power Off - For local users, the eject button automatically switches to a shutdown/restart/log off button, bringing up the Windows prompt to select your choice. You can also right-click on the button to select to show either eject or shutdown/restart/log off.
• Portable Fonts - Take all your fonts with you and use them in all your portable apps
• Organize Your Apps Your Way - Use the default of favorites and most used apps with all apps by category on the second page or switch it up by selecting alphabetical apps, categories and favorites by default, and other options
• All the fixes and features are details in the PortableApps.com Platform Changelog

Next Version, Translators Needed

We're starting work on the next major release and we'll be releasing a beta in the near future. We'll be going over the list of requested features and bugs to prioritize the additions and fixes in the next couple releases including things like JAVA/.NET apps, automation and batch file handling, custom themes, custom app icons, and how to handle Windows 8 and 10 breaking portable file associations. We'll be needing more translators watching the beta channel and translating the few new features in this release. We'll also be releasing an updated version in the near future with updated translations to get better translations into the hands of users faster.

Ongoing Donation Drive

PortableApps.com needs your help to keep bringing you great software! To learn more, read a personal appeal from PortableApps.com founder John T. Haller. Now you can sponsor the PortableApps.com Platform and help us keep delivering awesome software for free. With options ranging from having your name included to a full-blown site-wide sponsorship, there's a good fit for everyone. Sponsor us today and be a part of the action!

We also accept donations of any size to help with development and hosting:

- Please help support PortableApps.com's development and hosting

Buy The Platform On A Flash Drive: Companion and Carbide

If you'd like a speedy new flash drive to use with the new platform, we have the the PortableApps.com Companion available starting at under $30. This durable USB 3.0 drive comes laser-etched with your name, URL or other text and is a great way to carry your software with you. And it comes in a new 64GB size. If security is your concern, we also have the PortableApps.com Carbide available. It's the Safest, most secure USB flash drive on earth. Best of all, sales of both help support the PortableApps.com project and our mission to change the world of software!

Discussing The Release, Enhancements and Bug Reports

As there is much to discuss with this new release, we've separated out a few forum threads for discussing:

• Platform bug reports
• Default app organization settings and "smart" list sorting
• Language updates and changes

Download Today

You can download the new version of the PortableApps.com Platform from the download page. Get it today!

Please note that any bug reports and feature requests go in the PortableApps.com Platform Bug Report and Feature Request Tracker.