5.1.0.0 portable apps issue

[comparable.flea.bxis]

Portable apps no longer get monitored if moved from their download folder. This did not happen with previous versions.

[OldNavyGuy]

Did you change the location in the config?

[comparable.flea.bxis]

I had set it so it downloaded all the portable apps in a specific folder, then I could move them freely wherever I wanted. Patch my pc still tracked them and notified me of any update unless I clicked on the uninstall/remove button next to their icon on the main page. Now as soon as I move them out of their default folder, the program automatically stops monitoring them. Besides some apps like fancontrol portable, just to name one, are downloaded in a compressed folder and need to be decompressed in order to be used.

The program only registers the compressed folder, so as soon as it gets removed, the app is no longer monitored. I am not sure if this is inteded, but this would be a big downstep in that case.

[Justin Chalfant (Patch My PC)]

We are going to look into this to see if we can repro it.

[comparable.flea.bxis]

Currently using windows 10 24H2, if that can help

[dking02]

I can confirm that PMPC-HU V5 does a silent uninstall of the portable app on Windows 11 23H2 if the user moves or deletes the downloaded .zip or .exe file from the PortableApps folder. The uninstall occurs when the user performs a manual rescan in the same session or upon the next restart of PMPC-HU. If the user moves the file back into the PortableApps folder before the next scan, the uninstall will not occur. It appears to me that the PortableApps folder was not being scanned in prior versions. This would explain  why the downloaded files could be moved or deleted without affecting the installation status of the portable app.

As noted above, the behavior in V5 is different than in V4. Users need to be aware of this change but it is easily handled by leaving the downloaded files in the PortableApps folder and copying them to the desired user location. In case of .zip files, the file can also be dragged over the desired location and extracted via the context menu without copying the .zip file or affecting its existing location in the PortableApps folder. I think leaving the downloaded files unexpanded and undisturbed in the PortableApps folder is simpler and generally preferable. Users of portable apps typically have their own preferred organized arrangement of subfolders for holding their portable apps. Also, many popular portable apps are not available in the PMPC-HU Library and do not belong being collocated in the PMPC-HU PortableApps folder.

I can also confirm that V5 retains the capability to support multiple PortableApps folders (with different names) on Windows 11. Using multiple PortableApps folders is difficult to manage and unnecessary, particularly if you are now expected to copy the downloaded files to a different user folder anyway.