I just installed the portableapps platform and then firefox portable to an external drive. Per instructions here, i then ran firefox portable once, closed it, copied/replace the contents of my existing firefox profile folder on my computer to the firefox portable profile folder, deleted the FirefoxPortableSettings.ini in the firefox portable "settings" folder, and re-opened portable firefox.
the profile transfer is successful, but for some reason firefox portable now insist on creating these folders and files on my computer when i open firefox portable - C:\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Extensions, and C:\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\InstallTime20130511120803.
Why does it do this, is there any way to prevent it, and what else is firefox portable writing to my computer?
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Those folders are always written while Firefox is running. They are removed by the Firefox Portable launcher when Firefox is closed.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought one of the main points of using Firefox portable was that it doesn't write to the OS drive, even if it does delete it afterwards. Does the Portable Apps program also wipe the drive? Are there any other files that get written? Can any of what gets written be considered "sensitive" information?
Portable apps have never been required not to write to the local drive. Lots of apps use TEMP and other locations for temporary storage. And some apps have to use the registry while running as they provide no other option (example: FileZilla). In all cases, what's written is removed as you exit the app. In Firefox's case, you'll note that it's just blank directories created while in use, so nothing personal.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for your reply John.
Does firefox create temp files on the local computer instead of the external drive?
When you download something and open it with an associated app, it is temporarily stored in TEMP while the app has it open. Firefox will delete it on exit unless the app has it locked open. It's discussed in the additional features support section where associating files is explained.
The platform will have a built-in TEMP cleaner shortly, too.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!