One week of using portable x2

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Mr.Pleasant
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One week of using portable x2

Post by Mr.Pleasant »

Hi all,

I've been using Portable x2 for more than one week now, and I am really happy with it. I'm carrying this thing everywhere, and although I'm a x2-pro user for almost 3 years now, with the portable version it feels like its a brand new thing once again. Thanks, Nikos, portability, to me, is by far the best of all the great improvements we had lately!

There are however, some things that might need a bit of polishing.

First: the register import isn't always flawles. Last week I've been working on a xp computer that wasn't exactly the world's fastest machine. I've got my portable x2 on a usb external harddrive, which by nature isn't as fast as a usb flashdrive. Anyway, in a few instances it didn't seem to have incorporated all keys (before x2 started running). For example, the correct folders were loaded in the panes, but my user commands were missing, or it started with the dialog about the pdf-filters (the one you get when running x2 for the 1st time). I think there is something wrong with x2 here, because most of the times the problem was gone whenever I restarted x2.

Second: I understand that this is by design, but it isn't convenient, I think: X2 portable doesn't save its settings after a session. It removes all keys from the register, and that's really good, but I would like not to lose them completely. Wouldn't it be possible to export the settings to the x2settings.reg just before removing the keys from the register?
Ok, I started with the settings from the desktop version (like it said in the instructions for x2 port.) That's fine for a start, because that way all my favorite settings are there right at the start. But after using the portable version, it gets its own settings. Bookmarked folders, customized folder groups and user commands, for example, that apply only to the environment of a frequently used host computer.
Right now I use the 'export settings' function a lot to update the x2settings.reg on my ext. drive. (I need to think of some clever way of backing up the old settings at the same time/in the same click; anyone who has ideas is invited... ;-) ) But sometime I just forget to export before I exit x2, and then the latest changes are gone. Besides that, it feels like a workaround.

Third: I tried using it on a Vista machine, and somehow the registry settings didn't get imported. Sorry, I can't tell you much more details. I think you'd be interested in my access rights to this machine or its UAC-settings, but I'm not familiar to that stuff in Vista yet: I can't tell you. If I get the change I'll try it again. If anyone has the same experience: please confirm this.
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

there have been quite a few takers of this portable upgrade and i was amazed by the lack of any sort of feedback -- made me think it was either perfect or total rubbish and beyond contempt :)

so it's good to get the first effective feedback, thanks!

1. I was afraid that would happen. There's no magic behind /I: switch, x2 calls regedit with your settings file just before it starts. Now I have it sleep for 1 second waiting for regedit to finish importing, but as you've seen it may not be enough for some older PCs. I'll have to start polling the registry and wait longer

2. not saving the settings was by design, since as you said you can always manually export them using Actions menu, and assuming that your favorite settings are more or less fixed and unchanging.

if you work on a PC you don't own often you can always tell x2 portable not to remove its registry settings, using /W for the first time you run there. The portable version detects prior information and it won't delete it from there after

3. for vista i tested and it works -- unless you have some system policy where you can't import to HKCU which is overly restrictive. Try d-clicking on the REG file manually
Mr.Pleasant
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Post by Mr.Pleasant »

it was either perfect or total rubbish and beyond contempt
Being only human I cannot judge perfectness ;-), but since the real difference between standard and portable is the import of registry keys, this is where possible issues should arise. But if that works, well, then its a perfectly portable thing, IMHO.
@1 If there is a way you can make x2 waiting until all keys are imported, independent of the speed of the computer, then that would surely help. Until then I think it's best not to start portable x2 when the computer is busy with all kinds of other processes.
assuming that your favorite settings are more or less fixed and unchanging.
I guess that is open for discussion. I would be inclined to think so either. But that was before I fully realised how much actually is set in the registry. I always use "save settings on exit", so x2 always starts the way I left it. But with x2 portable, it is all different. It all of course depends on your use of x2, but some keys are valid for all (or more than one) host computers, like bookmarked ftp-adresses, or script templates that should stay in the history. I also change folder groups every few weeks or days, just for quick access to folders that are important during a single project. The same goes for the mini-scrap. Custom groups in my practice also needs regular tweaking.
Maybe I'll just have to get used to working with this form of, er, amnesia. I will surely try to see if /W works for me, and I also have the Actions - Export Settings command. I just have to be more careful before exiting x2.


About Vista, if I get to use this system again, I will try to import it manually. But I can't try it right here, right now.
james_k
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Post by james_k »

After about 2 weeks now, I'm (almost) happy with the Portable X2 because I've now the features I missed in X2 Lite - filters, scraps, extended search, robust transfer etc etc.
But - I have 2 customers, who's policies prevent the usage of regedit, so there's no import/export of settings (same goes for the x2settings editor).
I can live with that - but it confirms my opinion of usage of the registry  for program settings....I like to dream of a time when x2 allows to enter all settings in a simple .ini file.....
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Post by wasker »

What about reg.exe on these sites? Or can you bring your own regedit under some other name?
I'm using Xplorer2 - the only file manager that does not suck. Actually, it rocks!
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vserghi
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Post by vserghi »

I had a similar problem where I work regarding the use of regedit.

A work around was to use anyone of the free regediting tools available on the interweb. I could export or import reg files and edit as per the windows version.

Disclaimer: I am not proposing that your customers bypass their PC security settings, but there are options if they are desperate.
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Mr.Pleasant
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Post by Mr.Pleasant »

Just for the sake of closing opened issues: the register import seems to go well now, even on slow pc's. The latest build didn't have any problems anymore.
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