Helpful hints when creating/using portable apps.

Here are a few helpful hints when creating/using portable apps.

1) If you haven't heard of Bart's PE Boot Disk, then go and check it out (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/). In a nutshell, it's a portable version of WinXP that can be run from a boot disk or flash drive. Running completely free of the machines hard disk. Extremely helpful for fixing all sorts of problems. But the reason i mention it is because all of the plugins that are created for it run without being installed (ie. Portable). And there is a utility for creating new plugins from existing installed apps. (http://www.xppe.com/files/plugin%20creator.zip). Thus, you can create a plugin (or portable app if you prefer) from most installed applications. There is a good tutorial on Bart's PE at IronGeek.com (http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/barts-pe-builder-intro)

2) Occasionally you may create a portable app. from some software that required you to register it with a serial, key, etc. Most times this key is stored in the windows registry in some fashion. Odds are that if you try to make it portable, it may require you to inter in the serial or key each time the prog. starts. Usually once you reenter the serial the prog works normally. Obviously this can be aggravating but is a consequence of making it portable. An easy way of making the serial handy is using the PSStart "Notes Tab". Create a new note and name it the same as the app. and then enter in the serial number within the notes field. Each time you want to run that app.,just copy and paste in the serial from the note. One thing to caution you on is that when you enter in the serial, its usually the apps. behavior to create a new registry entry on that machine with the serial info. Thus leaving a trace of the apps. existence behind. Use your own judgment.

3) When creating new portable apps., sometimes you have to install the app. so that it extracts all the files to the hard drive. This can quickly clutter your PC's hard disk and registry with files that you really don't want to keep permanently. What I use to get around this is Microsoft's Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx) or VMWare (http://www.vmware.com/download/). Both are free to use. Simply create a new Windows installation (If you have access to a Windows installation CD of course.) and install the apps. within the virtual OS. Copy out what you need to create your port. app. thus keeping your primary Win installation clean.

4) When you install an app. try using InstallRite (http://www.epsilonsquared.com/) to track what files are being installed. It's a simple program that tracks what files are being extracted from the setup exe and what registry entries are being imported or changed. Helps a lot in tracking down all the dll's that are needed for a given app.

Well thats all i have for now. Hope this helps some of you

~Negative9~