Updating the applications
Questions
Answers
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How current are the software versions?
I try to keep the software versions of Firefox and Thunderbird as up-to-date as possible (as soon as portable versions are released, usually a short time after the install version release date). Pidgin, Keyscrambler, ClamWin and KeyPass will be updated (if there are updates available) when Firefox and Thunderbird releases are updated. Check back on this page to see if a newer version of cafeKlysm is available (update check is included in the software).
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How about updating a single application within the bundle?
Obviously, Firefox and Thunderbird (and to a lesser extent Pidgin) are updated fairly frequently (sometimes monthly), and with a slow or limited 'Net connection you'll waste some bandwidth downloading a completely new version of cafeKlysm each time. There is a (slightly) more bandwidth-sparing way: go to portableapps.com (the link is on Firefox Portable's favourites bar) and check for updates to Firefox, Thunderbird and Pidgin directly.
Firefox Portable download
Thunderbird Portable download
Pidgin Portable download
Installing the new application in cafeKlysm is simple - double-click on your downloaded file and choose these install paths -
X:\AutoPlay\Docs\FirefoxPt for Firefox,
X:\AutoPlay\Docs\ThunderbirdPt for Thunderbird and
X:\AutoPlay\Docs\PidginPt for Pidgin, where "X" is the letter of your USB flash drive.
For example, my USB removeable drive shows as L:\ in Windows. I want to update my version of Firefox to the latest, so I double-click the Firefox_Portable_3.0.x_en-us.paf.exe I downloaded from PortableApps.com and choose this install path:
L:\AutoPlay\Docs\FirefoxPt
It's important to install to these exact paths for the launch buttons on cafeKlysm to work correctly. Do not let the installer create another folder (in the example above, L:\AutoPlay\Docs\FirefoxPt\FirefoxPortable - this is wrong) within the directory specified.
See this topic about the problem with updating Firefox by using its inbuilt updater.
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Will my personal settings stay the same after an update?
Updates: two methods
Computer software updates in the real world usually go as you'd want them to. Very occasionally they can leave you with a non-operative computer or trashed personal data. For this reason, you want to be sure to make backups of your critical files before you do any kind of updating on cafeKlysm. Read the section near the end of this FAQ topic to understand more about the importance of backups.
There are two ways of updating cafeKlysm - either the whole package downloaded from this site, or individual applications within the cafeKlysm package downloaded from portableapps.com. When you download the whole package, you need to unzip it to your local hard-drive (public computer is fine here as the bare-bones package contains no personal information) before performing the update. Cut and paste the file cafeKlysm.exe and the folder AutoPlay to your USB drive from where you unzipped it. You must navigate to the exact location where you have cafeKlysm installed, so if it is within a sub-folder on your USB drive, paste there.
Once you start, you will see a Windows dialogue box asking if you want to overwrite the file... Say "Yes to all" here so that old files are replaced by new. Your personal data should be unaffected by this, all your bookmarks, messages, address books etc. will be retained.
Individual applications are updated slightly differently. Let's say that we wish to update Firefox Portable in cafeKlysm, and that we downloaded the FirefoxPortable_3x.paf file from portableapps.com. Clicking on that file opens the "installer wizard" screen. Click "Next" at the bottom of this screen and enter the details of your destination folder. If you installed cafeKlysm at the root of your USB drive (ie: not in any sub-folder), your destination folder will be this:
X:\AutoPlay\Docs\FirefoxPt
Replace "X" with the drive letter of your USB flash drive. It's probably best to type in the destination folder path, but you can also use the "Browse" button on the installer to find the exact same place on the computer. As emphasised in the previous FAQ, it's important to install to these exact paths for the launch buttons on cafeKlysm to work correctly. Do not let the installer create another folder (in the example above, X:\AutoPlay\Docs\FirefoxPt\FirefoxPortable - this is wrong) within the directory specified. You will have to say "Yes to all" to the "overwrite this file?" dialogue from Windows as you will when updating the entire cafeKlysm package, but it will be a faster process with a single application update. Again, your personal messages and settings will be retained. Nonetheless, be sure to make a backup before you begin any of this.
Backups for security before updating
Backups are necessary before you update your applications (for example, when there is a new version of cafeKlysm, or you wish to add just a new version of a program in it) and to have some protection in case of accidental data loss. It's very easy to wipe the entire USB flash drive in a cyber cafe, either by careless action or due to a virus on the computer, and this could be catastropic (lost email messages, addresses, files...) without any backup. Moreover, flash drives have a more limited life than hard drives, and failure after a couple of years of heavy use is fairly likely. To what sort of media should you make the backup? Doing it to another USB flash drive is probably easiest, using another drive which you reserve only for backups. You will be able to pick up a 2GB USB drive for less than $10, and unless you also want to backup your photo collection this will be plenty of space. Without a second USB port on the host computer, you'll need to copy your backup first to a temporary folder on the computer's hard-drive, unplug the cafeKlysm drive, then plug in the backup drive and move the backup files over to it.
Further details of the two methods for making backups (manually copying specific folders to the backup drive or using the inbuilt backup application in cafeKlysm Typhoon) are in the help file included with each cafeKlysm version, or you can download it as a separate PDF from this site.
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