Supermium

[VistaLover]

12 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

With regard to associations with protocols/files/applications, portable software isn't really about not having these associations, but rather having exact and precise finite control of these associations.
This PRECISE CONTROL is really only limited by the user's own intentions/imagination.

You are right, of course, but that "exact and precise finite control of these associations" is in practice left for "advanced" users, not "average" Windows user "Joe" (at least that's how I see it myself  ) ...

Like you, I was introduced to the PA.com format many years ago, and, actually, after an "accident" that happened during my WinXP era, when sister ran a "wipe whole C drive" virus  on then "family" desktop; after a Windows reinstall (no C drive back-ups were being taken at that time ), I had to reconfigure all re-installed programs from scratch... PA.com format appealed to me, because I could "install" many programs on a second, D, disk partition, where both the applications' binaries and their settings would reside; in the unfortunate event of a second C partition "demise", all my "portable" programs on D partition would survive...

I think most take "portable" to signify "have the app's settings alongside the app's main (binary) files, not save settings in %appdata% and/or the registry"; but "portable" also means "be able to store the app and its settings/configuration to a suitable external storage medium (USB stick, ExtHDD/SSD, etc.) and be able to transfer the storage device and use said "portable" app across many different hosts, without permanently impacting (and/or leaving traces in) each host's fie system/registry/etc. ; this is why most portable app authors advise not to establish associations of any kind with the host system the portable app is currently running on; yes, I've come across very "smart" portable launchers that clean up the host system after the app has been exited, but that depends on the exact launcher; during the years, I have seen portable-application users associating portable launchers with the host system, and this has less risk overall, but, TBH, I don't do that myself either...

Now I'm thinking of it, my advice "not to associate" was particular to the simple "Sm-Portable.cmd" batch file I posted previously  ; this isn't a proper "portable launcher" per se, so if you clicked on a URL link inside a PDF file and expected that to be opened in the "portable" Supermium "Profile", then I couldn't offer an "easy" way to do that (you'd probably have to mess with the registry, and so on) ; and the "--disable-encryption --disable-machine-id" switches were specifically added so that the portable "Profile" remains unlocked and accessible/readable across hosts  ...