I have had my 1st usb flash drive about 20hours now and am playing with tweaks and settings for U3. I ran across PortApps in my learning about all of this.
I don't know if anyone is interested in this tweak or setting but here goes. I installed Portapps basic (so far). U3 has a program called Xtraveller(program launcher app).
So I added the PortApps start menu to the Xtraveller. I set U3, Xtraveller, and PortApps to all auto launch when usb flash stick is inserted. I also set Xtraveller and PortApps to minimize on launch.
The result is (after inserting my usb flash stick) I have both Xtravller and PortApps sitting neatly in my systray, ready for use with out one single click of my mouse. I can then launch either Portapps or U3 apps at will from my systray.
Being a new user, that was fun to try and see it work. I see a need/want for both at this point, because they each have different portable programs to offer.
I did try the PackageFactory program as mentioned in this forum, it converted a program as promised to U3 format with no problem. I look forward to a program that will convert programs to the PortApps format. I like its start menu much better than the U3 launchpad so far.