I originally posted as a comment on the SkypePortable news page:
https://portableapps.com/news/2014-07-28--skype-portable-6.18.0.106-rele...
I noted that there was quite some stuff left over after using SkypePortable - something which we don't expect from a truly portable app.
John Haller's reply is simply not correct:
https://portableapps.com/news/2014-07-28--skype-portable-6.18.0.106-rele...
I definitely didn't start SkypePortable in local mode - and I tried it on different computers, always with similar results...
So, could somebody look into this, please?
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I just fired it up in a clean VM and it is working properly here. These are all removed:
APPDATA\Skype
APPDATA\SkypePM
LOCALAPPDATA\Skype
As are all of these:
HKCU\Software\IM Providers
HKCU\Software\IM Providers\Skype
HKCU\Software\Skype
HKCU\Software\Skype\Phone
HKCU\Software\Skype\ProtectedStorage
Just as they should be. ESENT is automatically managed by Windows and shouldn't be played with. And the cookies and IE temp files are unavoidable now that Skype uses an embedded IE Window to show ads.
Are you absolutely positive you are only starting with SkypePortable.exe and, when done, you are exiting Skype fully... not just closing the Window... and letting Skype close and then the launcher clean up after it? Note that if you exit Windows while it's running, Windows will kill the portable launcher before Skype exits and it won't be able to clean up. That's why the PA.c Platform closes your apps automatically (but properly, unlike Windows) on exit.
UPDATE NOTE: I did the above in a Windows XP VM as I assumed that was what you were running given the old file structure.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
For the record lol I was in middle of typing when John hit respond before me was not trying to jump him
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
a local install as well as rortatable version. Running it from Portables apps version and Portable apps menu shows no files left behind of significance yes there may be pre-fetch but that is normal of any program. Hopes this helps
Given the file structure would it be safe to assume you are on XP SP3?
Was this run from platform or standalone?
USB drive or from install on a local HD?
Where is location of the SkypePortable.exe file?
Any frther info as of this moment I can not replicate it on XP SP3 Win 7 32 bit or Win 8.1 64 bit
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
I'm using XP3 - as you guessed.
I installed SkypePortable on a USB stick (for really portable use) and on a local partition (D:\PortableApps\SkypePortable_6.18.0.106) - something I sometimes do with portable apps when I want to play around with them.
In that case I monitor their behaviour the first time I try them out with RegShot.
The first time I ran SkypePortable I got all these leftovers - but I remember now that something went wrong with the login, and the program behaved somewhat oddly.
I started all over again yesterday, after cleaning up the system, and now I find that as you say the files in the APP folders are effectively cleaned up.
All that remains are the following new keys in the registry, and the values they contain:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ESENT\Process\Skype
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ESENT\Process\Skype\DEBUG
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\.skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Interface
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Mime
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Mime\Database
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Mime\Database\Content Type
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Mime\Database\Content Type\application/x-skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\skype\DefaultIcon
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\skype\shell
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\skype\shell\open
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\skype\shell\open\command
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Skype.Content
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Skype.Content\DefaultIcon
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Skype.Content\Shell
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Skype.Content\Shell\Open
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\Skype.Content\Shell\Open\Command
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Classes\TypeLib
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\IM Providers
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\IM Providers\Skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Skype\Phone
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005\Software\Skype\ProtectedStorage
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\.skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Interface
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Mime
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Mime\Database
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Mime\Database\Content Type
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Mime\Database\Content Type\application/x-skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\skype
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\skype\DefaultIcon
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\skype\shell
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\skype\shell\open
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\skype\shell\open\command
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Skype.Content
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Skype.Content\DefaultIcon
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Skype.Content\Shell
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Skype.Content\Shell\Open
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\Skype.Content\Shell\Open\Command
HKU\S-1-5-21-3005851118-3764878957-3379878526-1005_Classes\TypeLib
I give you the full listing here, although I realise that a number of these probably are not specifically Skype connected. This may be normal behavious, but I'm no expert. And you already mentioned the ESENT keys...
dirk
Upgraded from skype 4.something to 6.2 (today) as the older skype versions don't seem to work/login anymore. (maybe a chinese firewall thing, i live there?)
Anyway on my newer laptop 6.2 works fine, on my older 11 years old lenovo i get: Failed to get proc address for GetLogicalProcessorInformation (Kernel32.dll)
on startup, says it's a fatal error. end of skype on my desktop?
What version of Windows are you on? Skype still supports XP, but it can be a little hit and miss since Microsoft officially dropped support. It will only work on a fully patched Windows XP SP3 box. It won't work on SP2. Windows 2000 was dropped years ago.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!