I was thinking about having some kind of portable office with me, on an USB-key, which would give me the ability to start different applications from one central point, without having to install them first. I also wanted to have the ability to scan computers for viruses and spyware. All utilities used are freeware.
The use is very simple. The first time you have to make sure you have an internet connection, because the application you want to start, will have to be downloaded first. You can start the application, just by clicking on the icon. While moving the mouse cursor over the icon, you will also see a short description of each program.
The program has an PortOff.ini file. This file contains the web links to the download sites of the applications. If an internet address or filename should change, you can adjust this ini-file, and save the changes.
The total size occupied on your USB key after downloading all programs will be approximately 130MB.
There are 3 available versions:
· PortableOffice.zip ( = zipped file)
For use on an USB-key, it is best to use the zipped file, and use a zip/unzip program like winrar or winzip to extract the program to a location you specify, and start PortOffice.exe from that location.
If you choose for the zip version, once the applications on the tabs "Office", "System" and "Miscellaneous" have been downloaded, they will not be downloaded again, when you want to run one of them again. The tab "Antivirus" will always try to download the program first, before starting it, to be assured, the program is always up-to-date.
You could add an AUTORUN.INF. Todo so, create a file with the name of AUTORUN.INF, place it in the root folder of the USB-key. Extract PortableOffice.zip into a folder "PortableOffice". An example off an AUTORUN.INF could be as follows:
[autorun]
action=Launch Portable Office Exec
icon=PortableOfficePortOffice.exe
open=PortableOfficePortOffice.exe
label=Robvdb
includeRuntimeComponents=True
· PortableOffice.exe ( = self extracting file)
If you use the self extracting file, each time you close PortOffice.exe, all downloaded applications will be deleted again, meaning the downloading will start again, when you start the program.
· PortOffExec Setup ( = installer)
Those who want to have the install version download the installer. The PortOffInstall.exe will install Portable Office Exec on your local machine, but will not install any of the applications you pick from the program. Once the applications on the tabs "Office", "System" and "Miscellaneous" have been downloaded, they will not be downloaded again, when you want to run one of them again. The tab "Antivirus" will always try to download the program first, before starting it, to be assured, the program is always up-to-date.
Known issues:
When you attempt to run a Visual Basic (VB) application on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP and you are not logged in as an Administrator or you do not have Administrator rights, you may receive the following error message:
Component tabctl32.ocx or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid.
Users who are logged in as an Administrator or who have Administrator rights do not receive an error message.
To resolve this problem, grant the user the necessary permissions to the control.
PortOffice.exe will then register the ocx-files needed, and which come with the program, during the start-up of the program. Once PortOffice.exe is closed, the ocx-files which where registered during the start-up of the program, will be unregistered again, leaving nothing behind on the guest-machine.
What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
· Because of some Portable apps changing from a normal xxx.zip file to an xxx.paf.exe I had to do some modifications to the program itself, as well as adding 7za.exe to the program to unzip this new format
