When I mentioned in a previous issue that I use the PortableApps program launcher [1] for my USB drive I received a whole batch of emails from subscribers suggesting PStart [2] as an alternative launcher. I tied it and it is an excellent product. It’s far more configurable than the PortableApps launcher and more like a full replacement for the Windows Start menu than simply a flash drive program launcher. It has many useful features, including full support for relative paths. This notable feature allows some semi-portable apps to work correctly when used on various PCs on which the assigned USB flash drive letter is different than the drive letter the application expects. PStart also supports symbolic place-holders, such as %windows%, that allow you to start an application installed on the host, such as Notepad, even though you don’t know exactly where Windows is installed on that PC. PStart also supports program launch parameters, backup and restore, customizable icons, PStart’s own appearance and much more. It’s all very impressive and I have no hesitation in saying PStart is a much more powerful and fully featured product than the Portable Apps launcher. Frankly, though, this is not of much use to average users. To use most of PStart’s many features you need a degree of technical knowledge. Without that you won’t benefit from PStart’s capabilities. Indeed, you may well be inconvenienced. For example, the Portable Apps launcher allows an application that has been downloaded from the Portable Apps site to be installed more or less automatically. Not so with PStart; each program has to be configured individually. These qualifications aside, Pstart is a top recommendation for experienced users and those who are technically minded. Other users will be better served by Portable Apps. PStart: Freeware, Windows 2000->XP, U3 and non-U3 versions available, 768KB
[1]
http://portableapps.com/ [2]
http://www.pegtop.net/start/
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