PortableApps.com - General Discussion

Site Slowdown Issues (December 2025) - Chinese AI bot DDoS

John T. Haller — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:38:44 +0000

There have been some site slowdown issues in the last week. They often appear as the browser negotiating a TLC connection longer than usual, especially on a first connection to the site. This will either take far longer than necessary or timeout. This is unrelated to previous server downtime issues. It may be related to an increase in traffic due to AI bot scraping or similar. I'm working with Rackspace on log analysis as the issue has persisted even while we increase the workers available to processing connection.

Apologies for the inconvenience, and I'll update as we learn and fix more. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE (2025-12-16): We've blocked multiple Chinese AI scraper bots which ignore robots.txt directives and were effectively engaging in a denial of service attack with YisouSpider being the worst offender. It seems to be helping.

UPDATE (2025-12-20): We've confirmed that YisouSpider and other Chinese AI scraper bots are ignoring robots.txt and switching their user agent to avoid htaccess blocks. We're going to have to do hard blocks by IP address to prevent this Chinese AI bot DDoS.

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General Discussion

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/32-bit Compatible Apps Available and Requested

John T. Haller — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:19:29 +0000

I'm working on adding legacy builds of our officially-released apps that have dropped support for Windows XP, Vista, or 7 to the base app homepages. The goal is to make them easier to find for folks on legacy systems. I'm listing out completed packages and packages that are being researched and built below. The packages are designed to install alongside your main app installs and won't be updated to the latest version - breaking compatibility with your legacy OS - by the PA.c Platform. We don't need copies of any of the apps listed, thanks.

If you know of an app that needs to be added, please make a comment with the app and last working version or first non-working version if you know them. Or a close enough version but please indicate this. There's a thread on PFC that may have some info to assist us, too. We have access to old versions we've packaged and don't need help finding downloads unless indicated.

I've added fallback support for Windows XP and Vista to our download mirror setup for all apps we host. The platform will also detect if an unofficial TLS 1.2 patch has been applied and use it. I put together a Root Certificate Updates For Legacy Windows (Vista, XP, 2000) package and instructions on Github to allow legacy users to update to current certificates and support for Let's Encrypt. I also put together an instruction set and reg update to Enable TLS 1.1/1.2 on Windows Vista. Additionally, there is LegacyUpdate.net which reverse engineers the old Windows Update system for legacy Windows allowing you to install all available updates as well as server updates in addition to updating certificates. Neither PortableApps.com nor I are affiliated with this or can speak to its security but it seems to work well in my testing.

I'll remove comments as they are added to this list. And I may eventually build a suite of apps for these older versions of Windows depending on time and interest. Thanks for your help!

Windows Legacy Versions Available On Site And PA.c Platform App Store

Windows Legacy Versions To Be Built (Including Last Working or First Non-Working)

ConvertAll 1.0.1 (7)
CPU-Z ?.? (XP)
MicroSIP ?.? (XP/Vista)
Password Safe ?.? (Vista)
PotPlayer 1.7.21419+MiniXP Launcher (XP), ?.? (Vista)
qTox (XP/Vista)
uTorrent ?.? (XP/Vista)
WinDirStat 2.2.2 (7)
WinSCP ?.? (XP/Vista)

Upcoming/Possible Windows Legacy Versions

Electron-based apps updated to version 23 (Chromium 110) require Windows 10/11

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General Discussion

Outdated Official Portable Applications

John T. Haller — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the PortableApps.com outdated apps tracker. Please post a comment for any outdated official apps that aren't already listed with AppName Version as the title (no dashes, Vs or other text). Before posting a request, please make sure that their stable Windows build is available and they have been announced by their publisher (just being available on a download/ftp server, github, or 3rd party site doesn't count as the app may not yet be official). Comments will be deleted as they are added. Bug reports or requests for updates of unofficial apps released as development tests should be made as comments in the post for those apps. This list is maintained by the PortableApps.com admins & moderators.

Pre-Releases and Other Test Versions
These apps need someone like you to test them out before they can be released.

Google Chrome Portable New Launcher Test 2

Work In Progress
These apps are being worked on. Current status is listed where available. Blocking bugs are noted where applicable. Please note that apps are not 'released' until announced on our homepage, RSS feed, and via platform update. Apps mirroring on our download servers may be modified or replaced before being announced.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.16 (John building...)
CudaText 1.231.7.0
Ditto 3.25.113.0 [drops 32-bit]
Don't Sleep 9.96
Everything 1.4.1.1031
foobar2000 2.25.6
Foxit Reader 2025.3.0
FreeCommander XE 2026 940
Free Download Manager 6.33
Geany 2.1.0
gMKVExtractGUI 2.12.0
GoldenDict 1.5.1
Gramps 6.0.6
gVim 9.1.1976
Joplin 3.5.12
KiCAD 9.0.7
LibreCAD 2.2.1.3
LibreOffice 25.8.4 [drops 7/8.0 and deprecates 32-bit] (John building...)
Listary 6.3.5.94
LosslessCut 3.67.2
MKVToolNix 97.0
Money Manager Ex 1.9.2
MPC-BE 1.8.9
MPC-HC 2.6.0
MuseScore 4.6.5
NAPS2 8.2.1
OneLoupe 6.11
Opal 1.5.1
OneLoupe 6.16
Openttd 15.0
Password Tech 3.5.10
PDF Arranger 1.12.1
PDF-XChange Editor 10.8.2.407
PDFTK Builder Enhanced 4.1.9
PeaZip 10.8.0
PhotoDemon 2025.12
Pixelorama 1.1.8
ProcessKO 6.55
Q-Dir 12.46
Qalculate! 5.9.0 [drops 32-bit]
QOwnNotes 26.1.10
qTox 1.18.3 [drops before Windows 10 x64]
QuickMemoryTestOK 5.31
Rapid CRC Unicode 0.3.41
r3dfox 147.0.1
RedNotebook 2.42
ReNamer 7.8
Revo Uninstaller 2.6.5
RisohEditor 5.9.4
Rocks'n'Diamonds 4.4.0.6
Rufus 4.11
Run-Command 6.33
ScreenToGif 2.42.1
Scribus 1.6.5
ShareX 18.0.1
Sigil 2.7.0
Smart Defrag 11.1.0.466
Stellarium 25.4
Supertuxcart 1.5
SWI-Prolog 10.0.0
The Legend of Edgar 1.38
Unicodia 3.0.7
Warzone 2100 4.6.2
winLAME 2025 Release 1
WinMerge 2.16.52.2

External Dependencies
These apps have something outside our control getting in the way of being updated.

CCleaner 7.x - Now an always-on Windows 10/11 service running in the background, not a stand alone app
FreeFileSync 6.3+ - Process bug in 6.3 - 7.x, 8+ requires payment or it's locked
IObit Uninstaller 8.0+ - Publisher does not want portablized
WinCDEmu 4.1 - Publisher has not built non-installer version yet

Some apps have changed license to commercial or time-limited shareware and won't be updated to: CamStudio 3.x, FastStone Capture 5.4+, IcoFX 2.0+, Monster RPG 2 2.12+, PhotoFilmStrip 3.1.2+, SmartDeblur 2.0+

Some apps have a more recent version available for Linux or macOS but not for Windows so our package is up to date: 4st Attack 2.1, AbiWord 3.x, Chromium B.S.U. 0.9.16.1, Cornice 0.6.2, Dia 0.97.3, Evince 3.x, Falkon 3.2.0, Fyre 1.0.1, Gnumeric 1.12.49, I Have No Tomatoes 1.55, K-3D 8.0.5, Marble, 23.x, Pathological 1.1.3, Virtual Magnifying Glass 3.7.1, XBoard/WinBoard 4.9. If you are able, some publishers may need assistance building Windows versions.

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General Discussion

Site and Forum Guidelines and Terms of Use (Updated: 2017-05-21)

John T. Haller — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:42:04 +0000

Welcome to the PortableApps.com forums! Here, registered members can chat about all things related to portable apps. There are a few simple rules to posting that should be followed:

No Self-Promotional Posting Except PAF Apps - Promoting your own software is not currently permitted except within specific guidelines. If you make a self-promotional post of anything except a PortableApps.com Format app, your post will be edited and your account may be disabled. The exception is if someone asks a question directly related to your product. In addition, if you are releasing a free, portable, open source (OSI-approved license) individual application in PortableApps.com Format that is not a fork or clone of an app hosted here, you may make a post when you do a release. You may also post an app under a freeware license if it is your own publication and in PortableApps.com Format. If open source, the code for this product must be available from the page you link to in your post and your product must properly attribute contributors (so, if you're basing a launcher on a PortableApps.com launcher, for instance, you must credit this on your product page similar to the way the Acknowledgements on this site are posted). These posts must meet the following criteria:

short - postings of a paragraph or so. no long postings
simple, friendly language - press releases and marketing-speak have no place in the forums
infrequent - weekly postings would not be permitted. but one or two postings a month would be fine (this limit is per company/website/entity... all programs and employees/developers that are a part of that entity are counted together)
properly categorized - beta announcements would go in the beta forum. requests for assistance would go in the development forum.
program-focused - the announcement should pertain to a specific software release. it should not be advertising your company/website/entity.

Note: You can, of course, pretend that you simply "found" your own software (or your own website, business, etc) and make a posting about it, if you're that type of person. The fee for this is US$10,000.

Homepage Link - You may enter a personal homepage or blog address within your profile. This will appear as a "Homepage" link next to your username when you make posts within the forums. Please do not link to other types of sites.

Signatures - Please refrain from posting links, email addresses, character patterns, dividing lines, block tags, bold tags or any other elements to signatures as this distracts from the real content within forum posts.

Check Support Before Posting - If you're having an issue with one of the portable apps published by PortableApps.com, your best bet is to check the support page first. You can find it by clicking the Support link at the top of the page and then selecting the Support Page for the app in question.

Search the Site Before Posting - There's a chance that what you're posting about has been mentioned before. Posting about it again only serves to clutter up the forums and make it harder for people to find what they're looking for. So, before you post, use the search function on the top right of this page.

Search the Web Before Posting - If you're having an issue with a portable app, there's a chance that it may be an issue with the app itself and not specific to the portable version. So, you may find the answer to your question by simply searching the web for your issue.

Be Polite and Patient - If you're looking for help with something, feel free to post a question about it. Keep in mind, though, that this is free, open source software. Everyone on here is developing and helping support these apps in their spare time.

Post Details - If you're having a problem, post the pertinent details of your issue. What version of the app you're using. What operating system you're running on. Any extensions or plugins that may be contributing to the problem. What directory you're using it from (or if you're using the standard ones). When requesting apps, include a description of the app (what does it do) and a link to it.

Use a Relevant Subject - You'll be far more likely to get a response and get the appropriate people to read your post if you use an appropriate subject. Subjects like "problem", "error" or "need help" don't help others help you. If you have a problem, what is it? How can you summarize it? "Error in acme.dll on startup" would be a much more useful subject, for instance.

No Bumping - Don't add a comment to a post specifically to get it to move to the top of the recent posts page. This is called bumping and is frowned upon in most public forums as, by bumping a post with a nonsense comment, you push a post with a real comment further down. If people are interested in a post, they will see and comment on it. No bumping required.

No Multiposting - Don't post the same thing to multiple forums or post it more than once if your first post doesn't get a reply right away. This clutters up the forums and makes it harder for everyone to read everything.

One Account Per Person - Only one account per person, please. Sometimes on forum sites, people create secondary accounts to flame other people or to post a second message to their own topic, making it seem like there is more interest or agreement with their point of view. If your account is blocked for abuse, you may not create another one. Accounts may not be shared.

Legal Agreement - By visiting this website and these pages, signing up for an account, using our platform or services, or simililar you are entering into a legally binding agreement (even if you are using our services on behalf of a company) with Rare Ideas, LLC, the legal entity within which PortableApps.com exists. This agreement includes these forum-wide guidelines and terms of use, our privacy policy, our copyrights and trademarks policy, and other terms that will be displayed to you at the time you first use certain features (such as signing up for a newsletter or registering for our forums), as may be amended from time to time. If you do not agree to these agreements, do not register for an account, sign up for our newsletter, or access or otherwise use our services.

No Scraping or Automation - You may not use manual or automated software, devices, scripts robots, other means or processes to access, "scrape", "crawl", "spider", or "cache" any of our content, services, updater database, or related data. An exception is made for search engines and similar services which index the entire web for public use provided they operate in accordance with our robots.txt and similar automation directives.

No Direct Linking or Direct Downloads - Directly linking to application downloads or images (hot-linking) is not permitted. Our download services on PortableApps.com and our associated download servers is for use by our users visiting the PortableApps.com website and downloading our apps in their web browser and for users of the PortableApps.com Platform downloading our apps within the platform's app store and updater. Third party software and services may not make use of our download servers without the express written consent of PortableApps.com.

Legal Software Only - Only links to legal software are permitted. Links to pirated software or unauthorized modifications of closed source software are not permitted. Accounts used to post such links may be banned.

Play Nice - This community is only as strong as its members. As such, everyone is expected to conduct themselves accordingly. Name-calling, insults, etc have no place here. This shouldn't even have to be mentioned, but there have been some bad apples in the past.

Thanks for reading and following the simple guidelines outlined above. We hope you enjoy the site.

Regards,
John

Version History

2017-05-21 - Added direct download linking, direct image linking and third party prohibitions
2016-08-24 - Added scraping and legal agreement details
2015-04-02 - Added ability to make posts about freeware in PortableApps.com Format
2010-04-16 - Added website, business, etc to the spam policy to cover additional spammers
2009-08-01 - Added requirement that apps be in PortableApps.com Format for self-promotion in preparation for PAF 1.0 release
2007-10-02 - Updated signature guidelines to remove links and add them as a homepage item in your profile that is shown in posts (new feature)
2007-10-02 - Original Version

Forums:

General Discussion

PA Taskbar Icon

GiGo — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:14:31 +0000

I've never been found of the Portable App taskbar icon so made a couple to match Windows 11 and Windows 10

PAicons.png

They can be downloaded from here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/hVY7qZJ

(feel free to delete if not allowed)

Forums:

General Discussion

Password protected usb

Slamdunk58 — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 21:24:46 +0000

I'm trying to find someway to run portable apps off a password protected USB. Of course I could go buy a usb with keyboard on it that password protects the usb but these are quite expensive.
I have portable apps loaded on a password protected USB right now that works perfect (and I've had this usb for nearly 10 years) but it's a usb 2.0 and I want to do this on a new USB 3.0 so I can take advantage of the faster speeds.
I've tried everything! Most of the encryption software requires you to have it loaded on the computer your going to use the usb flash drive on (veracript or BitLocker). I don't want this! I want to be able to use this on any computer (a friend's computer or one in a public library) which is what I can do with the usb (2.0) that I have now. I want to use this usb if I lose my phone while traveling so I still have access to my files. But a can't seem to find any software that'll create a partition on a usb where I can drop portable apps and all my files on to and still have it work any pc.
Does any know of an software that'll let me use a usb 3.0 in the same way that I've been using my old USB 2.0? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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General Discussion

Link to previous versions of Google Chrome Portable?

kingmustard — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:46:46 +0000

I recently updated to Chrome Portable 143.0.7499.110, a build released in December 2025.

However, I have since discovered Google have removed two flags that I required:

Partition the Visited Link Database
Partition the Visited Link Database, including 'self-links'

Is there a way to download a version of Chrome Portable from a month or two ago?

I could not seem to find a way on your website.

Forums:

General Discussion

dont let CCleaner portable die

UpdateInformer — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:08:41 +0000

i fully plead for keeping it alive,as its under my handfull top apps and i dont let run any apps all time, beside sec ones, and dont let other apps all time interfering, as need it once a week.
i dont want no apps bite each other and keep sys quick and stable.
i definitive dont use no such apps and hope you keep this magnificent app alive.
big thx!

Forums:

General Discussion

difference on efficience and quality on portable app against win defrag

UpdateInformer — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 20:24:09 +0000

especially on defragmenting system partition.
i hope for qualified answers with explanation.
i think smart defrag portable is great and possibly best solution for c:,as can be run from other partition and doesnt disturbs itselfs work.
i need to get c: fit, as didnt defrag for ages, i think.
thx

Forums:

General Discussion

How can I backup my custom categories between installs?

gs455 — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:14:19 +0000

I have modified my menu for quick retrieval by creating some custom categories and categorizing apps Ive downloaded underneath them, like so: https://imgur.com/a/k2Anhbu

When I did the backup and retrieved my portableapps on a new PC build the custom categories were not there. Can someone tell me how I can maintain my custom menu and also the categorization I give to each app?

Forums:

General Discussion

Platform update error

nolanoro — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:32:27 +0000

After completion https://i.postimg.cc/tgz5tkzF/PORTABLEAPPS.jpg

Forums:

General Discussion

LibreOfficePortable

Zvonko — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 06:55:54 +0000

Guten Tag!

The current LO version is 25.8.3, the currently available portable version is 25.2.3. Will there be an update soon?
Or is the future of LO Portable uncertain? There are currently no portable versions available on the LO website*, not even old ones.

Sincerely,
Butch

* https://de.libreoffice.org/download/portable-versions/

Forums:

General Discussion

Ability to change temp installer location

Peca21 — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 07:38:21 +0000

Is there a way to change the location of temp installers and updaters?
At work I can use only one folder to run exe files from, but temp installers are placed outside of this folder and cannot be ran. Only way to run them is to copy them from temp to this specific folder and run them.

Forums:

General Discussion

NanoCad portable

archiea — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 04:22:48 +0000

I made my first Portable App!

Forums:

General Discussion

Is scraping permitted for archival purposes?

igmkjp — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:42:09 +0000

Is scraping permitted for archival purposes? Also, how may the $1000 dollar fee be paid?

Forums:

General Discussion