UCheck v4.10.2 - Problem Scanning Portable Apps

[lmacri]

According to the release notes for UCheck v4.10.2 at https://www.adlice.com/docs/ucheck/release-notes/changelog/ this app now has "Added support for portable links".  Does this mean it can now check for available updates for portable apps?  If so I can't get this feature to work correctly.

I have ~ 25 portable apps that I run from a removable USB thumb drive. These portable apps (including free versions of CCleaner, HWiNFO, Revo Uninstaller and TreeSize) are located in a folder called E:\Portable in their own subfolder (e.g., E:\Portable\CCleaner, E:\Portable\HWiNFO 7_62, etc.).  As a test I unzipped an outdated version of CCleaner Free Portable v6.15 in a folder called E:\Portable\CCleaner_615_OLD.

I've added E:\Portable as well as several subfolders that contain my unzipped portable apps at History & Settings | Custom Locations (including E:\Portable\CCleaner_615_OLD - see attached image) but when I run a scan UCheck Free Portable v4.10.2 only detects the 47 "installed" programs on my C:\ drive and does not detect that I have an outdated version of CCleaner Free Portable v6.15 on my removable USB thumb drive.

My latest scan report is also attached.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3448 * Firefox v118.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23080.2006-1.1.23080.2005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.3.282-1.0.2151 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * UCheck Free Portable v4.10.2

[dking02]

Download AdwCleaner (Adware Cleaner) from Malwarebytes and store the file (adwcleaner.exe) in your custom location. AdwCleaner is the only portable program currently in the UCheck supported programs list. It should be detected by UCheck v4.10.2 and appear in the "Install" tab with red shading rather than purple to distinguish that it is a portable rather than installed program.

Note: You do not need to list separate subfolders for each portable app in "Custom Folders". One folder for each drive should suffice. UCheck will check a folder up to three levels deep.

[lmacri]

...AdwCleaner is the only portable program currently in the UCheck supported programs list...

Hi dking02:

Thank you for that hint.

I saved an old version of AdwCleaner v7.4.2 on my removable USB thumb drive (E:\Portable\AdwCleaner 7_4_2\adwcleaner_7.4.2.exe) and added E:\Portable to my custom locations in UCheck v4.10.2 (History & Settings | Settings | Custom Locations) and confirmed that UCheck was able to detect that a new AdwCleaner v8.4.0 was available - see attached images.

I hope the list of portable software that is recognized by UCheck will be expanded soon.  I am looking for a replacement for KCSoftwares' SUMo (Software Update Monitor) that is reaching end-of-life on 31-Oct-2023 and SUMo currently detects virtually all of my ~30 portable apps (see attached list).
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3448 * Firefox v118.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23080.2006-1.1.23080.2005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.3.282-1.0.2151 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * SUMo Free Potable v5.17.10.542 * UCheck Free Portable v4.10.2

[Curson]

Hi dking02, lmacri,

I hope the list of portable software that is recognized by UCheck will be expanded soon.  I am looking for a replacement for KCSoftwares' SUMo (Software Update Monitor) that is reaching end-of-life on 31-Oct-2023 and SUMo currently detects virtually all of my ~30 portable apps (see attached list).

It's planned but detecting and especially updating portable applications is a rather complicated task.
It will takes time.

Regards.

[lmacri]

... It's planned but detecting and especially updating portable applications is a rather complicated task. It will takes time..

Hi @Curson :

I have a removable USB stick I use to run ~ 30 portable apps, including the latest versions of CCleaner Free Portable v6.16.10662, HWiNFO Portable v7.62.5200, Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.4.5 and TreeSize Free Portable v4.7.0.522.  I also saved an outdated AdwCleaner v7.4.2 on this removable USB stick for testing since it is the only portable app currently detected by UCheck.

I understand that "updating" many portable apps could be an issue.  However, the Updates tab of UCheck only allows me to download the update for the latest AdwCleaner v8.4.0 file (adwcleaner.exe) but the "Install" option is disabled / greyed out as shown in the attached image.

Installed version of CCleaner Free, HWiNFO, Revo Uninstaller Free and TreeSize Free are already supported by UCheck and the latest available version numbers are already stored in UCheck's database.  The 32-bit and 64-bit executables for the portable builds of these apps (e.g., CCleaner.exe, CCleaner64.exe) often have the same names as the "installed" build.

In the case of portable apps like CCleaner Free, HWiNFO, Revo Uninstaller Free and TreeSize Free where the "installed" build is already supported by UCheck I assume that it should be relatively easy to use UCheck to determine if the executables are out-of-date (assuming the user added the path to the portable app at History & Settings | Custom Locations).  If UCheck found an update was available for one of my portable apps that is offered as a .zip file (e.g., like CCleaner Portable's current ccsetup616.zip) I would only expect and want the Updates tab to download the latest .zip file that I could save to my USB stick and unzip myself - I don't want UCheck to actually "install" my portable apps by unzipping the .zip file and replacing every outdated .exe, .dll, etc. file it can find, and doing this accurately would be almost impossible for "legitimate" portable apps offered by the original manufacturer that can be run almost from any location.

If a user needs their portable apps to be automatically updated then they are likely already using the PortableApps Platform at https://portableapps.com/ to download and update "modified" portable apps for popular programs that are not endorsed by the original manufacturers (e.g., like the ccPortable app that PortableApps offers instead of CCleaner).
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3448 * Firefox v118.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23080.2006-1.1.23090.2007 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.3.282-1.0.2158 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Patch My PC Portable v4.5.0.4 * SUMo Free Potable v5.17.10.542 * UCheck Free Portable BETA v4.11.0.0

[Curson]

Hi lmacri,

This is indeed a reaonsable solution.
At the moment, are you updating them manually ?

Could you please run the following command from CMD (not PowerShell) ?

Code: [Select]

tree E:\Portable /F > "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Portable_Path.txt"
Then attach the created file with your next reply ?
It will allow us to see how portable applications are layered and help with the possible implementation.

Regards.

[lmacri]

Hi Curson:

I've attached two .txt files.

The first portable_apps_list.txt file was generated by the command dir E:\Portable /ON >"%userprofile%\Desktop\portable_apps_list.txt" and lists all the subdirectories I have in E:\Portable on my removable USB stick, ordered alphabetically.

As general rule, when SUMo detects an available update for one of my portable apps (e.g., for HWiNFO Portable v7.62 rel. 05-Sep-2023) I'll create a new subdirectory with a name that reflects the new version number (e.g., E:\Portable\HWiNFO 7_62), manuallly download the latest .zip file (e.g., hwi_762.zip) from the manufacturer's site and unzip it in that subfolder, and then do a cleanup to delete any extraneous executables and files I don't need (e.g., I normally delete the 32-bit HWiNFO32.exe and keep the 64-bit HWiNFO64.exe).  Once I've tested that the new version is running correctly I'll go back and delete the old version (e.g., the old E:\Portable\HWiNFO 7_60 subfolder and all it's contents).

The one exception is that I always use a subfolder named E:\Portable\CCleaner (i.e., without the version number) for CCleaner Free Portable.  That's because I have created a custom rule in my Windows Firewall to block outbound connections from E:\Portable\CCleaner\CCleaner64.exe and don't want to have to modify the path to the executable in my firewall rule every time I update CCleaner Free Portable.

The second Portable_Path.txt file I've attached was generated by the command tree E:\Portable /F > "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Portable_Path.txt" as you requested.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3448 * Firefox v118.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23080.2006-1.1.23090.2007 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.3.282-1.0.2158 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Patch My PC Portable v4.5.0.4 * SUMo Free Potable v5.17.10.542 * UCheck Free Portable BETA v4.11.0.0

[Curson]

Hi lmacri,

Thanks for your feedback.
The way to detect the portable application is straightforward in your case, but is an hard nut to crack to make it relieable.

In order to do that, this means huge heuristics to determine if an .exe file is a portable software. There's no easy rule to do that, and we cannot afford to "trust" user feedback from people adding their folders.
Imagine a single user adding C:/Windows for example, we would get data for all the .exe inside of it, and that could easily mess up with the database.

We need to first device a robust algorithm that is able to tell us if an exe file is part of a portable application and if the detected file is the main excutable of the portable application. For exemple, there are multiple exe files in your BleachBit 4_4_2 folder and we need to retrieve the VERSIONINFO of the bleachbit.exe file (in your case) and not another file.

Regards.