Options

App Briefcase's Options window can be displayed by clicking the Options button on the toolbar of the main window or by selecting Actions > Options in the main menu.

Operating mode - Choose whether App Briefcase should run in owner mode, guest mode, or "hands off" mode on the current computer. The change will take affect the next time start App Briefcase on the current computer.

Automatically check online for program updates - Enables the online check for App Briefcase program updates each time App Briefcase starts. You can manually check for program updates by going to Help > Check for Updates in the main menu.

Close button minimizes to tray - Determines whether clicking the Close (X) button in the upper right corner of the main window minimizes the main window to the taskbar tray or exits the App Briefcase program. The standard behavior for apps that reside in the taskbar tray is to minimize to the tray when the Close button is clicked. App Briefcase can be exited by selecting Exit in the tray menu or by going to Actions > Exit in the main menu.

Tray menu hot key - This setting is used to define a keyboard hot key to display App Briefcase's tray menu as an alternative to clicking the App Briefcase icon in the tray. A hot key can be defined by clicking the hot key box and then pressing the key(s) you want to use as the App Briefcase menu hot key. You can specify Shift, Ctrl, and/or Alt in combination with your selected hot key. Press the Backspace key if you want to remove the hot key.

App Briefcase assigned drive letter - This is the drive App Briefcase assigns to the USB drive it resides on when App Briefcase starts. It is not a good idea to change this setting after apps have already been assigned to the USB drive using the existing App Briefcase drive letter assignment. Doing so may cause some apps already installed to stop running properly if they are dependent on the drive letter they were installed to.

When a drive letter is selected the chosen letter should reasonably high in the alphabet. A letter chosen from low in the alphabet runs a greater risk of conflicting with an existing drive device on a given computer.

Eject drive on exit - Enables App Briefcase to attempt to perform a safe eject of the USB drive it resides on when it exits. The safe eject will fail if any app on the drive is running (this should be possible since App Briefcase first closes all apps running from the USB drive when it exits). The safe eject will also fail if any app is accessing any file on the USB drive. The safe eject will even fail if a Windows Explorer window is positioned on the USB drive or any its folders or files.

The eject drive feature is finicky because Windows will not always allow the safe eject to be performed even the criteria seem to be met. If App Briefcase's attempt to safely eject the drive fails then perform the safe eject manually by using the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar tray. The Safely Remove Hardware icon does not always succeed on the first attempt, so try it at least three times before giving up.

Warning:

Removing a USB drive from a running computer without first performing a safe eject should only be done as a last resort. Doing so can cause can cause corruption and loss of data on the USB drive.

The Options window allows you to disable a number of warnings that can otherwise appear frequently and become tiresome.

Allow apps to auto-start in "hands off" mode - Normally App Briefcase will not auto-start any apps when running in "hands off" mode. This is because "hands off" mode prevents App Briefcase from making the necessary preparations that allow it to restore any modified program settings on the host computer to their original values upon exit. This means that if you run an app while running in "hands off" mode that app may make program settings on the host computer which can not be undone. That would defeat the purpose of running App Briefcase in "hands off" mode.

If you enable App Briefcase to auto-start apps while running in "hands off" mode then you should be sure the only apps designated to be auto-started are truly portable apps (i.e., truly portable apps do not make changes to the program settings on the host computer).

The settings in the Debug section of the Options window should only be enabled if you are asked to enable them by App Briefcase Support. Enabling these settings decreases the efficiency of the App Briefcase program.