The app arrives as 2 folders and 1 file:
- Documents
- PortableApps
- Start.exe
To be honest, I've kept just the PortableApps subfolder as its own standalone folder, because I don't understand the purpose of the other folder and file. Start.exe seems like a shortcut to PortableApps\PortableApps.com\PortableAppsPlatform.exe although it's a real file that takes a couple of MB.
May I ask what is the purpose of them?
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The Start.exe is a full EXE and does things like testing the TEMP folder's viability and a few other things before passing off to PortableApps.exe.
The Documents folder contains the Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures used by the PA.c Platform and its apps. The idea being you'd be carrying it all around on an external drive or syncing it all on a cloud drive folder. Doesn't apply as much to a local install.
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What happens on startup is not Start.exe but the other file. Does it mean it's not supposed to be used except for the first time?
As for Documents, does it make the portable apps use it?
Start is generally used on portable drives as the tests it does (TEMP etc) usually only need to be done on a PC that's not yours. It's fine to start PortableAppsPlatform.exe directly.
Many portable apps will use the bundled Documents, etc by default.
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What's used automatically is the other file. So even those with a PC that's not theirs are likely to never use it.
On a portable drive, they're gonna use Start.exe in the root directory. The 'Start Automatically With Windows' etc is for your own PC. You wouldn't install it permanently on someone else's PC. Unless it was a work or school PC, in which case you know TEMP and stuff is working correctly anyway so Start.exe isn't needed.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!