I recently stumbled across registry settings that were left behind by my various portable apps (located on my external Seagate e:\)!!!
This caused me no little concern since I use them daily at a location on a machine that I really would prefer to leave no trace behind. Why is this occurring?
To repeat my findings, open your registry editor (Start-Run-regedit). Figure out which letter your external drive is registering as and run a search within the editor (Ctrl+F) and type "driveletter:\" obviously replacing the text of driveletter with whatever it happens to be.
I guarantee you'll be surprised what pathways and stuff is left behind.
Now granted, these programs aren't leaving a lot behind in comparison to their "real" installed versions. But still, I'd prefer it if they left NO trace behind. Lemme know what you think.
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Every program run on your system will leave and entry in the mui cache registry key on that computer, this is something that cannot be avoided using a portable app or a installed app. It is a windows function and nothing more, also windows will leave a trace int he prefetch folder located n the windows folder on C. Again nothing can be done on this.
Fortunately it is just a path and nothing else, no settings, no information on the program, etc. just the exe name.h
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Deuce {The Core}{Dev Blog}
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
Deuce
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
So what does the MUI cache do? Sorry bout the sparse details. This is the first time I've come across this. Thanks for the help.
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All it does is list the path and executables that have run on that pc. Nothing more. Basically if someone wanted to know what ran on the system they could parse the key and it will tell them. But it is rare in my experience. Most people don't even know or care about it.
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Deuce {The Core}{Dev Blog}
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
Deuce
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
Umm... some details would be nice. Also, as mentioned by Deuce. *ALL* programs run on a system will leave behind a trace in the MUI Cache and Prefetch on Windows XP, for instance. This applies to everything: portable apps, u3 apps, ceedo apps, etc. The only thing you can do is clear it... which would be a clear indicator that you'd done something on the system... and this is only possible if you have admin rights.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I know there's an option to clear the MUI Cache and old prefetch files. Does it really clear *ALL* traces in the MUI Cache? What good is the prefetch files? Pros and cons of deleting the files manually?
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Jeff Balliett
Quite a few registry cleaners take care of those old paths and offer them for deletion. MV RegClean (free Spanish regcleaner, http://www.velasco.com.br/) seems to be rather thorough with those. But also NBG (not free Russian RegCleaner). Also others, can't remember them all. Maybe check the results of your regcleaner, in case you are using one.