Things although better since automatic update from the menu are now very poor in my view usability wise and are prompting me to find alternatives, e.g. non-portable.
Surely these apps know when Windows is closing?
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No they don't, not every app knows when windows is shutting down, close all apps, then shutdown windows, in that order
Yes, I set the working directory!
How are you shutting down Windows?
Hi,
Like any "ignorant" Windows user I am simply wanting to shut down the system without having to check what is running each time in the system tray.
While I totally dig the PA.com approach to app development, I am really at pains to see an overall benefit besides portability.
In other words, while I enjoy having multiple different applications from a variety of vendors able to be updated simultaneously; I am having to weigh this against the time taken each time to say yes to a clean up.
An idea: can the clean up occur as part of the double-click method invoked by the OS?
is to close all apps, eject the usb media properly and first then shut down the computer.
Doing it other way, you will be left on your own probably to solve problems which probably do not exist for other users.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Well, as an ignorant Windows user, you normally don't shutdown your pc when it's copying files, or do you?
This is more or less the same, the app still have files to copy before Windows shuts down.
Example:
When a program, let's say Word has a document with unsaved changes, it won't let the computer shutdown. Why you ask?, Windows can't close Word, because there are unsaved changed that will get lost.
This is maybe an idea: let the PAL launcher refuse to close, like Word in the example, in that way it won't let the user shutdown Windows when there are still apps running. I don't know if this is already doing it right now, I never shutdown when there are still apps open and I'm not gonna try it now.
About the cleanup:
The cleanup will happen when the app starts up for the first time after something went wrong, it's good feedback, you should be happy because of it.
In fact there could be an option (silent mode) in the Menu that when an app, that needs cleanup, is openened there won't be an error message. The app cleans itself up, and the app gets reopened again. In that way you won't have to see the error message anymore. This is of course to the devs, I'm just suggesting a possible solution to a problem of an ignorant Windows user
Yes, I set the working directory!
Yes but as an ignorant (sometimes arrogant) computer user that may assumed to be a customer I can afford to stomp my feet in anticipation of a solution.
As I recall, it was Opera that started this whole mess and while I'd never want to criticize the philosophy behind the idea of portable applications for the sake of a few commercial programs, this kind of bother is most tiresome, in particular for a program such as QuteCom.
Given the language and runtime environment the PortableApps.com Launcher is currently in (NSIS), I am not at all sure that we would be able to catch the shutdown message correctly. I do not believe NSIS is supposed to permit shutting down while an installer is running, but perhaps something in how we are doing it causes it to be permitted (perhaps something in how we wait for the process; I'm not sure). It's going to be a tricky issue to pinpoint and a fix may or may not be possible.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Hi Chris,
Would you happen to know who is in charge of NSIS, since I'd like to ask them to implement a pause function on the downloader for a better overall experience in addition to what you have already said.
Thank you
All NSIS feature requests are to go through the NSIS feature request tracker. They also have a contact page, but it explicitly states to not contact the devs for feature requests/bugs and to use the appropriate tracker.
Good luck
It amazes me that on the internet you can be anything you want, and yet so many people still choose to be idiots.
Hi,
I can't edit my previous post however Chris' comment re: permitting shutdown, would the NSIS launcher have any say?
Re: previous comments about MS apps, why would a productivity (or any application bar IE) stop windows from shutting down, in particular from Vista onwards.
As I say portable applications are a great idea and if I owned an organization that have 500+ machines, I'd be wanting to have this stuff on them but not if users are inhibited from performing regular tasks.
Re: "Why would an app prevent Windows from shutting down"
Answer: Quote from "Microsoft Turn off a computer FAQ" Why doesn't my computer shut down?
Although I completely agree that the cleanup message is annoying. After having read this thread through a couple times, I am at a loss to determine what tasks users are prevented from doing. User are not prevented from doing anything. and the cleanup message is akin to the afore mentioned "App is preventing Windows from shutting down" message. Although in the case of portable apps the message is after the forced shut down, instead of before like Windows.
It amazes me that on the internet you can be anything you want, and yet so many people still choose to be idiots.
Hi, prevented in the sense of work flow continuum, in that what a person might ordinarily wish to do is for example open a program, i.e QuteCom then and literally move to the next task only to find that the application they executed initially is in fact not open and that they must repeat a previous procedure.
I believe this issue is as weighty in this particular regard as the previous problem that was (eventually) sorted though regarding there being a simple method of updating/getting new apps, without having to come to the website.
Regardless of NSIS, there could be a plugin developed to catch shutdown events and stop them through C++.
Edit: Nevermind. I don't know if it's possible for the launcher to do this, the WM_QUERYENDSESSION message is only sent to applications that draw a GUI.