Managing App Settings

Management of App Settings

App Briefcase works by managing the program settings of the apps you select. App Briefcase maintains a copy of the app's settings in a special folder on the portable USB drive. The app settings are copied to the host computer (i.e., the computer the USB drive is plugged into) when App Briefcase starts. When you then start an app from the USB drive its program settings are established on the host computer just as the app expects them. When App Briefcase exits it copies the selected apps' program settings from the host computer back to the USB drive. Any changes made to the program settings while the apps were running are now stored on the USB drive and are ready to be reestablished the next time App Briefcase starts.

The details of how app program settings are managed varies depending on App Briefcase's mode of operation. When App Briefcase is started on a host computer it has not seen before it will prompt you to select a mode of operation for that computer. The choice of modes is owner mode, guest mode, and "hands off" mode. Once a mode has been chosen App Briefcase will remember to run in the chosen mode whenever it runs on that host computer. The operating mode can be changed for a computer via the Options window.

Owner Mode

Owner mode should normally be used when App Briefcase is running a on computer you own. When running in owner mode App Briefcase synchronizes the host computer's program settings for your selected apps to match the up-to-date settings it maintains on the USB drive. When App Briefcase exits it updates the program settings it stores on the USB drive by copying any modified program settings from the host computer. In effect, App Briefcase keeps all of your "owner mode" computers synchronized with the most up-to-date program settings of your selected apps.

Owner mode is more efficient, but it is generally only appropriate when running App Briefcase on computers you own because it makes no attempt to restore your selected apps' program settings to their original values when App Briefcase exits.

Guest Mode

Guest mode should normally be used when App Briefcase is running on a computer you do not own. When running in guest mode App Briefcase first makes a backup copy of the program settings of the selected apps on the host computer. It then synchronizes the host computer's program settings for your selected apps to match the up-to-date settings it maintains on the USB drive, just as it does when running in owner mode. When App Briefcase exits it updates the program settings it stores on the USB drive by copying any modified program settings from the host computer, again, the same as it does when running in owner mode. Finally, App Briefcase restores the computer's original program settings from the backup it made earlier.

Guest mode is the appropriate choice when it is important that the host computer's program settings are to be left just as they were found before App Briefcase started.

"Hands Off" Mode

Use "hands off" mode in cases where you do not want App Briefcase to make any changes to the host computer at all. It is important that you only run truly portable apps from the USB drive while App Briefcase is running in "hands off" mode. If you run a non-portable app then the app may make changes to host computer's registry and app data files (since that's what non-portable apps tend to do). App Briefcase will not be able to undo those changes upon exit because it is running in "hands off" mode.

"Hands off" mode is the appropriate choice when App Briefcase is running on a sensitive host computer and you do not need to use any of the selected apps whose program settings are managed by App Briefcase.