I think this is important: Which are "100% portable" and which are not?
Of all the apps in PortableApps.com, can someone please list down for us, the ones which are "truly 100% portable" and the ones which are "not fully portable."
1.) 100% portable - doesn't leave any trace on the host PC that is used.
2.) Not fully portable - leaves some trace or saves data on the host PC.
For example:
---------------
Some portable software saves data in Windows Users Folder, ie: C:\\Users\\ApplicationData \\ AppData \\ RoamingData \\ LocalData and the like.
We choose on using portable apps because we want privacy. We want to have our diaries, notes, tasks lists, always with us, so that no matter where we go, we can have access to our personal files all the time.
We just want to know which ones among all the apps - leaves something on the host PC and which ones don't leave any personal data on the host PC, which means all data are saved inside the USB stick.
If it's only settings or some configurations which are being saved on the host PC, it wouldn't matter, but not "data".
Can anyone please tell us if there is an app here that saves data to the host PC?
We might not know for instance, that after we had used some PCs, that PCs next user might be reading our own Diaries, Notes, Emails, etc., which we are unaware was already saved there by the application.
Thanks guys.
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1.
as there is no one single software run under windows that does not leave any traces within windows, then I think such question is rather strange.
In this case I would say : 0 (zero)
2.
relating to 1. : 100%
but then
if you use the apps in normal way , no personal data is left on the host PC after you close the app.
If you find one app which still does not meet this, report it as bug, I am sure it will be corrected asap.
>Some portable software saves data in Windows Users Folder, ie: C:\\Users\\ApplicationData \\ AppData \\ RoamingData \\ LocalData and the like.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
By default should a portable application leave no traces on the host computer. If you detect a portable app, which saves its settings in a subfolder of %Appdata%, then this is definitively a bug in this portable version and you should report this bug here in the forum.
All our software is fully portable. No personal details are left behind. You may be confusing us with other sites that list both portable and non-portable software that happens to run without being installed. We don't list the latter type. We modify software or us a launcher to move settings around to ensure that nothing is left behind.
Note that all software run on a given PC will leave traces. Thinks like prefetch files for every EXE run that you can't remove without admin rights or minor registry entries about a given app using DirectX. These are unavoidable and often impossible to remove without owning the PC/having admin rights. Anyone claiming to offer software that leaves no traces or is completely stealth either doesn't understand the way Windows works or is lying.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
John T. Haller wrote ...
Indeed are admin rights necessary for removing of prefetch files, because these files are contained in the folder C:\Windows\Prefetch (probably in every Windows OS). The prefetcher function is therefore used to load frequently accessed applications faster into memory. But it should also be mentioned, that these prefetch files only reside temporary in the folder C:\Windows\Prefetch. After a reboot of the computer Windows creates a new folder C:\Windows\Prefetch, i.e. all the previously in this folder contained prefetch files are removed. Therefore it's not necessary, that we remove these prefetch files explicitly.
With respect to other traces we should examine in every case, if there are admin rights necessary or not for removing of such traces.