grahamt's dashboard

grahamt asked a question in Mozilla Messaging on December 05, 2009 18:11:

Thunderbird doesn't seem to rememb a corrected password

I do not store email account passwords with the email account definitions. I enter them manually when Thunderbird is started as each account is opened. There appears to be a problem if an initially entered incorrect email account password is then corrected. The wrong password is reported back and a window opened to allow the password to be re-entered. However, although this initial entry appears to be accepted, all subsequent attempts to access the same account require the password to be re-entered, as though Thunderbird had forgotten to replace the initial incorrect password with the subsequently entered correct one.

grahamt replied on November 30, 2009 13:00 to the question "Composw window hangs after sending message" in Mozilla Messaging:

I'm using Portable Thunderbird on the PortableApps platform but I don't believe that this is the cause as I've been using it for a long time but this problem has only been occurring to me since the upgrade to 2.0.0.23. I can confirm that the Write/Close work-around also works for me. Previously was closing Thunderbird down and then relaunching. Glad to find there's an easier solution.

grahamt replied on November 03, 2009 22:05 to the problem "Yoono Desktop Portable issue" in Yoono:

Installing new version fooled me for a while. Extracting the new downloaded version to the folder already containing the previous version doesn't work. All Hell breaks loose! You have to completely delete everything in the YoonoPortable folder on the thumb drive and then extract the new files to the folder. Either the old files aren't replaced or else there are incompatible files left behind!

However, once a completely fresh install is in place, it does this time seem to work! I wasn't sure whether or not it was possible to copy over the contents of the Profile folder in the C: drive Documents and Settings from the Desktop version so I started the configuration all over again.

grahamt replied on October 30, 2009 22:41 to the problem "Yoono Desktop Portable issue" in Yoono:

Adam, I'm pleased to hear that you are still looking into this issue. I accept that I may well be able to run the application on the USB stick when plugged into another machine but that alone does not make it portable.

The definition of true portability is that nothing should either be installed on the host machine nor left on it after the application is terminated. On that count the portable version of Yoono fails since the folders created in Documents and Settings are still there even though Yoono has been shut down, even if they are not actually used in practice.

I'm guessing, but haven't yet checked that if I plugged the USB drive into a different machine and launched Yoono.exe, it would also create these folders there as well, and leave them behind after it is unplugged.

It isn't true that this is "...simply how Windows works...". Other applications made portable, such as Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Filezilla, uTorrent, Pidgin... don't do this and they are all applications originally designed to run native under Windows and use Windows system folders to hold their run-time data.

Perhaps you need to take a look at the PortableApps website in order to get guidance on what needs to be done to make Yoono portable by the universally recognised definition of the term.

grahamt replied on October 30, 2009 20:10 to the question "Why won't my password work anymore?" in Yoono:

I tried setting up my Yoono account with a password that included special characters, for maximum password strength, only to be astonished to find that Yoono is yet another of these services that clearly isn't that concerned about password security!


There is no excuse for banning the use of special characters in passwords. When are you going to do something about it?

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Why can't I use special characters in my yoono password?.

grahamt replied on October 30, 2009 09:46 to the problem "Yoono Desktop Portable issue" in Yoono:

You could be right about not directly launching the Yoono.exe executable. I've just checked Documents and Settings and I find that Yoono folders have been created in both the User > Application Data and User > Local Settings > Application Data directories. I guess that the Yoono Portable Desktop.exe must be the code that redirects these to the USB thumb drive where the application is located.

Sounds like Yoono Portable Desktop.exe is what needs fixing so that this doesn't happen. If I have to delete and reinstall after we get a working version then so be it. Hopefully we'll just be able to move these directories onto the thumb drive instead.

grahamt posted a topic that has since been removed from Yoono. see the change log

grahamt replied on October 30, 2009 09:01 to the problem "Yoono Desktop Portable issue" in Yoono:

Yes, I get exactly the same problem and the workaround suggested by icedcakefactory also works for me. In my case I have installed under the PortableApps platform.

I unzipped the entire downloadable into a yoono folder under the PortableApps folder. The Yoono application correctly appears in the PortableApps menu.

PortableApps tries to launch the Yoono Portable Desktop.exe executable and I get the error message. Navigating down the lower level yoono directory and launching the Yoono.exe executable instead produces the Yoono window.

I suppose the question is, does the Yoono Portable Desktop.exe application do anything specifically in order to ensure true portability? If so then it needs fixing, otherwise it seems we simply don't need anything other than the contents of the yoono folder.

grahamt replied on October 19, 2009 21:25 to the question "Portable Yoono?" in Yoono:

There doesn't seem to have been any further progress! Are you still looking into this?

grahamt started following the question "Will spotify be available on a usb drive?" in Spotify.

grahamt started following the question "Why not make Spotify portable so you can run it on a USB-stick?" in Spotify.

grahamt replied on October 15, 2009 14:45 to the idea "Portable spotify?" in Spotify:

Looks like posting here doesn't have much influence with the Spotify developers. I've just downloaded and installed the latest version of the Spotify agent and there is still no sign of anything having been done to enable user relocation of the User files, the one thing that has to be done to make Spotify portable.

A comment on the question "Portable Yoono?" in Yoono:

You might ask two other questions as well. Does the Yoono client use the Windows Registry and is it planned that Yoono will also monitor email accounts as well as IM and Social Networks, as Digsby currently does? – grahamt, on October 05, 2009 21:23

grahamt asked a question in Yoono on October 04, 2009 10:02:

Portable Yoono?

Is the Yoono Desktop client software portable or does it use the User folders to store data?

grahamt replied on October 02, 2009 17:42 to the problem "Direct message reply!?" in Twitter:

I didn't realise that this has been changed. I'm a new user and thought this is how it had always been!

As far as I am concerned, if someone has bothered to send a direct message they have, by implication, offered the opportunity to reply. It therefore makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that a reply is not allowed just because they sender isn't a follower!

Change it back!!!!!!!!!

grahamt started following the problem "Direct message reply!?" in Twitter.

grahamt replied on August 31, 2009 16:08 to the idea "Portable spotify?" in Spotify:

I still think that the only option is to get the Spotify developers to enhance the Spotify agent to enable the User files to be relocated to somewhere chosen by the user, just like you can with the Cache files, I have emailed Spotify with that suggestion. If we all do the same we may get a result. Email - support@spotify.com

A comment on the idea "Portable spotify?" in Spotify:

Kate, I'm not using U3 any more, I'm using PortableApps instead. Also, as denton29 said, the .exe isn't portable. It leaves files behind on the host machine after it terminates. It's effectively what I'm already running under PortableApps. – grahamt, on August 31, 2009 16:03

grahamt replied on August 22, 2009 17:45 to the idea "Portable spotify?" in Spotify:

In theory there is no reason why Spotify couldn't be made truly portable "as designed". The gotchas that stop it so being at the moment are the cache files held in the C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Spotify\Storage\ folder and the user files held in the C::\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Spotify\ folder.

The Preferences of Spotify enable you to locate the cache files wherever you like but there is no option to specify the location of the user files. Windows enables you to identify the location with the current application path by using the .\ locator rather than the driveletter:\ locator. If Spotify was enhanced to accept these parameters then it could be made truly portable asis.

What we need is to lobby for the Spotify developers to provide these enhancements so that we aren't forced to use "Set up Environment before" and "Clean up Environment after" cludges.