How do I extract files directly from an installer without going through the whole installation process?

You should use Universal Extractor. It extract files directly from many different types of installer packages.

Note that in order for Universal Extractor to operate on installers created using newer versions of InnoSetup, you should download the latest version of innounp, then extract innounp.exe and place it in the bin subfolder of Universal Extractor. For installers created using the latest version of InnoSetup, you will need the latest beta version of innounp.

If you are still having problems with the extraction after updating innounp.exe, you have two options. You can try running innounp.exe directly from the command prompt (eg. innounp -x installer.exe), or you can resort to installing, extract the files, then uninstalling the program.

I know of some portable freeware that are not listed on your site. How can I add them to your database?

Post it at the web forum! But before you do so, please search for the application name. If I have previously looked at the application and classified it as non-portable, it should appear in a box labeled "Non-portable apps" on the right side of the screen. Hover the mouse cursor over the application link and you will see further details in a text popup.

If you have problems viewing long titles (used for the text popup) in Firefox, this extension might help.

In what order do you process freeware submissions?

I typically look at 4 to 5 apps a day, less if family or day work demands more of my time. I process the submissions in no particular order, but I typically favor submissions which are already "written for me" i.e. synopsis, where settings are written to, system requirements, Unicode support etc. versus those in the manner of "I thought you might like to take a look at this app, though I am not sure if it is portable", or "This looks interesting, but I am not sure whether it touches the registry". Lowest preference are given to submissions in the form "This website looks interesting. I think all the software in it are portable".

What do you have against program installers?

To quote Roger Johansson (with his permission) from his posting on alt.comp.freeware:

How do you test the programs to ensure they are portable?

I typically extract the program and compare the before/after snapshot with RegShot to find out what was modified and where settings are written to. I also use Dependency Walker to check whether the EXE uses any particular runtime (eg. VB, .Net, Java) or special DLLs. Finally, when I have time, I will run the program again on a clean install of Windows XP (running in VirtualPC) to make sure it really works.

Sometimes, due to various reasons, I may miss out one or more of the steps. For that, I rely on users to email me and inform me of my oversight.

How do I enable autorun on my USB drive so that certain applications or documents are launched when I plug my USB drive into the PC?

This appears to be a hardware issue. For more information, refer to Microsoft's USB Storage - FAQ for Driver and Hardware Developers and read the section on "What must I do to trigger Autorun on my USB storage device?" for more information. The conclusion is this: if your USB drive does not support it, you are pretty much out of luck.

Another solution is to resort to software. For example, there is a freeware called APO USB Autorun Suite that enables autorun for USB drives (thanks to Steve Towner and Dennis Lim for the recommendation). Another I found recently is BusRunner. Yet another one called AutoRun installs a small event handler to do the same thing.

But the software approach requires the software to be installed on every machine that you want this functionality enabled, and you need to leave the application running all the time. Hardly a perfect solution, but definitely cheaper than throwing away your USB drive and buying a new one!

Why don't you accept command-line apps?

Firstly, I am not too much of a command-line guy. I hate remembering the switches. Since this is a personal hobby, I prefer to review apps that interests me.

Secondly, command-line apps are pretty much always portable, so there is not much point listing them. There are plenty of sites out there that do so already.

Why is it so bad for an application to write its settings to the user profile folder? Writing settings to the application folder is dangerous because you need to have admin rights on the machine and different users are stuck with each other's settings! Storing settings in the user profile folder also has the advantage that you could upgrade a program without losing its settings.

In a multi-user environment, it is indeed inappropriate to write settings in the application folder. However, portable apps are run from external USB flash drives or equivalent, so it is a personal device and writing settings to the application folder is therefore preferred. In addition, the admin rights requirement is no longer a concern since you have full access to the USB drive.

An application can cater to both multi-user environment and portability by checking with the user on startup (when it detects that the settings are not initialized yet) whether he wishes to write settings to the user profile folder or application folder. This should be relatively easy to implement, and makes no assumption on the user's preference. Underlying this mechanism is to check for a file eg. settings.ini in the application folder on startup. If the file exists, it write its settings to the application folder, otherwise to the user profile folder.

With regards to the issue of upgrading an application without losing its settings, you could just as easily upgrade a portable app without losing settings by avoiding the appropriate file(s). Some well-designed apps like Portable Firefox even has a explicit profile folder that you simply leave alone when copying over the new application files. This also has the added advantage of being able to easily maintain several versions of the same application, each with its own settings.