I've posted a release candidate of the PortableApps.com Platform (formerly, PortableApps.com Suite Base). This includes an updated PortableApps.com Menu as well as a new PortableApps.com Installer for the platform. As said earlier, this is basically a maintenance release to ensure we get an updated, more stable menu and up to date Suite out while we begin testing the upcoming theming engine and other features going into 1.5 and 2.0. This release is an update to the 1.1 Beta 4 release with a few modifications.
New in 1.1 Release Candidate 2
- Rename Drive - You can now rename your drive just by clicking the name in the lower left of the menu. This will only work if you have an existing autorun.inf in the root, so you don't have to worry about accidentally renaming a drive. Changes take effect in the menu immediately but you may need to unplug and replug your drive for Windows to see it.
- Autorun.inf updated - Existing autorun.inf is updated instead of replaced, keeping custom additional icons and actions, drive name, etc
- App folders are no longer locked by the menu
- Eject added to tray right-click
- Removed Get more apps from installer since it launches default browser
- Updated German and Dutch translations
New in 1.1 Release Candidate 1
- Personal Picture Optional - The personal picture is now hidden by default. You can add one by mousing over the area in the upper right where it goes and clicking. You can remove it by right-clicking.
- Personal Picture Accepts BMP and JPG - You can now use either a BMP or a JPG file.
- Menu Position Automatically Remembered - The menu now automatically remembers it's relative screen position and starts up there on next launch. Essentially, the screen is divided into 9 areas: top-left, top-center, top-right, middle-left, middle-cenrer, etc. No editing of INIs is required.
- Eject Button - I added the eject button back in. It's tied to the Windows eject dialog and is disabled on Windows 9x and Windows NT. It runs it out of process so it won't keep a lock on anything on the drive.
- 32 Languages - I added in every translation submitted and figured out the encodings for them so they should work on the right systems. We're missing the Spanish International translation (it's being worked on), so I've substituted the standard Spanish one.
- Full 120DPI Support - The menu now scales as do all menu components for higher resolution displays making it much easier to read.
- Improved Installer - The installer automatically offers to start the PortableApps.com Platform. It also gives you the option to set your homepage in Firefox Portable to Start.PortableApps.com. There is also a clickable link to get more apps.
- BUGFIX: Documents and subfolders no longer read only - The Documents folders are now marked as system folders not read only so they should be writeable on Linux. The installer will fix this for you.
- BUGFIX: Menu Exits Without Drive - The menu will now allow you to exit even if the drive was ejected first.
- BUGFIX: Menu Read Only INI Fixed - The menu should now run correctly from a CDR or other read-only medium without complaining about its INI file being read-only on exit
Feature List From 1.1 Beta 4
- Draggable - The menu is draggable around the screen by clicking and holding on the PortableApps.com logo
- Localized - The menu has been localized into 17 different languages (see below)
- Tray Right Click - There is now a right-click in the tray to close the menu without having it show up again
- Global Hot Key - WINDOWS+P will show or hide the PortableApps.com Menu
- Wallpaper Swapper - Place a file call portableapps_wallpaper.bmp in your Documents\Pictures directory and the menu will swap it for the Windows wallpaper while the menu is running and swap it back when you're close it
- Video to Videos - By popular demand, the Video directory has become Videos. The installer will automatically adjust this for you
- Single Instance - Launching the PortableApps.com Menu a second time will cause the currently running instance to show
- Uninstallers Filtered - Files called uninstall.exe are ignored
- Keyboard Accelerators - There are now keyboard accelerators on all elements within the menu. So, you could quickly hit WINDOWS-P and then ALT-D to bring up your Documents folder if you don't have the menu up.
- Page Up / Page Down - In addition to the arrow keys and mouse wheel, you can now use the Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll your list of apps.
- NEW IN BETA 4: Personal Picture - You can place a personal picture in the menu (much like on Windows XP/Vista). It appears in the upper right. Just click it to change it. 48x48 pictures work best but it will stretch or shrink others automatically. Very large pictures may cause the menu to start slowly.
- NEW IN BETA 4: Remain Visible - If you add a line reading RemainVisible=True to your PortableAppsMenu.ini, it will remain visible even when you click off of it.
- NEW IN BETA 4: Start Minimized - If you add a line reading StartMinimized=True to your PortableAppsMenu.ini, it will start in the system tray without displaying.
- NEW IN BETA 4: Fade Menu - If you add a line reading FadeMenu=False to your PortableAppsMenu.ini, it won't fade in and out.
- NEW IN BETA 4: Start Position - If you add a line reading StartPosition= to your PortableAppsMenu.ini, you can select the position the menu starts in. The default is LowerRight but you can also choose UpperRight, UpperLeft, LowerLeft and Center.
- BUGFIX: autorun.inf - The autorun.inf in the root directory is now set with normal attribute so it won't confuse people
- BUGFIX: Settings Remembered - The menu now remembers your settings (font size, language)
- BUGFIX: Working Directory - Applications expecting to be run from their own directory will now function correctly
- BUGFIX: Low Color Menu Icons - The menu icons have been improved to display properly on 16-bit and lower color depth displays
- BUGFIX: Low Color Logo - The PortableApps.com logo will now show up properly on 16-bit and lower color depth displays
- BUGFIX: Default Browser - The URLs for support and search will now fall back to the PC's default browser if Firefox Portable is not installed.
Download
The update is packaged in a new installer that will automatically detect your existing installation. I'd recommend backing up just to be safe first.
Download PortableApps.com Platform 1.1 Release Candidate 2 (0.8MB / ~1.1MB installed) [Source]
MD5: 5319516c883670bf301eaa0c789b5bff
View a screenshot of PortableApps.com Platform 1.1 Release Candidate 1
Please post back any feedback on your testing.
PS: Oh, and any questions today, I'll be on IRC: #portableapps on irc.freenode.net