Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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
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
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
What registry key? The only one PStart should modify is the one regarding the autostart option, and only if you choose it.
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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
HKUS.....\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Start Menu
and
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Start Menu
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
Uncheck that option from settings (Autostart...).
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
Already was unchecked under Settings \ General \ Startup \ Autostart PStart, and still getting Registry Key change requests
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
Have you modified your system folders paths?
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
Is is possible that PStart is currently set to autostart in the registry and it's getting flagged for attempting to remove the key?
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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
ashghost - I don't know, and not sure how you would test this
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
My big guess..it was from the PStart Search featuredabble wrote: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
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
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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.
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.
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
I have found that it does the the following on XP:
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:
It doesn't seem to be anything malicious, just pointless.
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
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
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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.
Re: Pstart loses menu items when copied to new location
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?
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?