Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location

[dabble]

Hi all,

New to the forum, hope that someone can offer advice. I have a whole bunch of portable apps on my local hard drive (Win XP-SP3 PC), including PStart 2.11. I also have Comodo Firwall installed, with the Defence+ module active, which is a HIPS module. When I start PStart, Defence+ warns me that PStart wants to change a Registry Key. Is this normal behavious for PStart? I thought that one of the points of portable software was that it did not alter the registry?

I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong - would appreciate someone pointing out what that is

[joby_toss]

What registry key? The only one PStart should modify is the one regarding the autostart option, and only if you choose it.

[dabble]

Its 2 keys:

HKUS.....\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Start Menu

and

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Start Menu

[joby_toss]

Uncheck that option from settings (Autostart...).

[dabble]

Already was unchecked under Settings \ General \ Startup \ Autostart PStart, and still getting Registry Key change requests

[joby_toss]

Have you modified your system folders paths?

[ashghost]

Is is possible that PStart is currently set to autostart in the registry and it's getting flagged for attempting to remove the key?

[dabble]

joby - not modified system folders paths (as far as I know), but have put "MyDocs" onto a separate partition (D drive). Not sure if/why the latter should have any effect.

ashghost - I don't know, and not sure how you would test this

[crownixx]

Its 2 keys:

HKUS.....\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Start Menu

and

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Start Menu

My big guess..it was from the PStart Search feature

In Setup > Settings > Search, try untick
-Current user start menu
-All user start menu

I suppose PStart just read the key to get the path, not modify the key. Probably the problem is from Comodo Firwall itself? I'm just guessing..Hope the steps above can solve your problem

[dabble]

Sorry for the delay in replying, was away for the weekend.

Thanks for the suggestion crownix - unchecked these two options, but sadly still getting the registry key change warnings from Comodo.

Its a mildly frustrating problem that happens with a few portable apps on my system - I could (and do sometimes) simply set the Comodo HIPS to always allow the registry key changes, but I thought the whole point of portable apps was that this kind of thing was unnecessary. However, its not a big deal, and in general the convenience of portability far outweighs this minor annoyance.

[Hydaral]

I have found that it does the the following on XP:

Code: Select all

SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Desktop              SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Desktop
SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Favorites            SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Favorites
SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\History              SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\History
SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Programs             SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Start Menu\Programs
SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Start Menu           SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Start Menu
SetValue    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Templates            SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Templates
SetValue    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Start Menu    SUCCESS    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu

It seems to be resetting the key to a correct value and also tries to create keys that already exist. See here that it checks the value in one location, resolves the variable and changes the value in another location:

Code: Select all

CreateKey     HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders                      SUCCESS    Access: 0x2000000
QueryValue    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Common Start Menu    SUCCESS    "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu"
CloseKey      HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders                      SUCCESS
CreateKey     HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders                           SUCCESS    Access: 0x2000000
SetValue      HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Start Menu         SUCCESS    "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu"
CloseKey      HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders                           SUCCESS

It doesn't seem to be anything malicious, just pointless.

[Hydaral]

Oh, and in the topic title you state: "Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location" but you don't mention the problem in your post. Are you copying the PStart.xml file with the PStart.exe? The XML contains the menu entries.

[dabble]

Hi Hydaral,

Sorry, I thought that the thread was more or less closed, and didn't check back. Thanks for taking the time to respond, and for the explanation, which is reassuring.

My bad over the title - I originally had 2 problems, the Registry key issue as described and a (bigger, for me) problem with copying PStart to a new location, as described in the thread title. It turns out that the latter was just a stupid error on my part, and is not any kind of problem with the software. Unfortunately, I don't know if/how to modify the thread title. Perhaps an Admin or Mod can help?