FreeCommander

[URL]
Google: freecommander

[Hardware Platform]
X86

[Software Platform (OS)]
WXP+SP2

[Language Recommended]
English (More See Below)

[Need Installation?]
YES(.exe)/NO(.zip, it's at the bottom of http://www.freecommander.com/fc_u3_en.htm :)

[Can be Greened?]
YES(for the .exe one)(OR: Use Official PortableApps Edition)(OR: Use the .zip one)

[Version Recommended]
2007.10a is Latest
See: http://www.freecommander.com/fc_logchanges_en.htm

[SettingsFiles]
FreeCommander.ini
also see http://www.freecommander.com/fc_faq_en.htm for more info.

[As a Platform?]
YES
See: http://www.freecommander.com/fc_utilities_en.htm
it introduced an external viewer: Universal Viewer (ATViewer), and editor: pspad, and a file compariosn tool: WinMerge, AptDiff. it also gives their url and a simple snapshot and guide to use under freecommdander. try...

[?]
Language: although fc support chinese, it "FreeCommander is non-unicode program"(http://www.freecommander.com/fc_faq_en.htm)
ShortKeys: http://www.freecommander.com/fc_ShortCuts_en.htm

[Portable Support]
【I1】Official
http://www.freecommander.com/fc_u3_en.htm
U3: YES
PortableApps: YES
so install on usb stick directly.
we got files and dirs:
App\
Data\
Other\
FreeCommanderPortable.exe
help.html

below is just personal research for interest

【III1】 extract
peid-0.94 told me(freecommander 2007.10a): Nullsoft PiMP Stub [Nullsoft

PiMP SFX] *
in TC, Ctrl+PageDown: no use.
7-zip: ok
Universal Extractor : also ok(i notice it decided to use 7-zip...)
so i guess 7z and uniEx are same. using tc's "Sync dirs...", in the

dialog, check "subdir", better check "content", and found UE has one more

file:[NSIS].nsi. it seems to be unimportant
(you can also use tc's plugin:catalog to get 2 .lst file for each extracted

folder and view the list file. at the end of each file, are
"total files 69 total size 3,344,235"
"total files 68 total size 3,330,881" respectively
and [NSIS].nsi is 13,354. right exact

except the .nsi file we got:
$[31]\
$PLUGINSDIR\
FreeCommanderPortable.exe
help.html

the 2 files are the same as above
and in $[31]\, we got
$PLUGINSDIR\
App\
Data\
Other\

after some research, i found the dir app/, data/ , other/ are same as above

looked at

【III2】 check log file for uninstallation
no such file. but druing the installation, you can see what the installer

is doing---but very fast,and disappear after it finish and automatically

comne to next step


【Result】

App\FreeCommander\fcStart.ini:
[Start]
freeCommanderIniDir=
(i guess it will change after running)

App\FreeCommander\FreeCommander.md5:
contains 5 files' md5 (1 .exe, 2 .dll, 2.bin)

App\FreeCommander\fc_info.dat
i guess it contains settings?

but see:
Data\settings\FreeCommander.ini.default
after running, a FreeCommander.ini file will be generated

and a .manifest file

also c c: app\AppInfo\

as for other\, i do not know


*** del unncessary fils ***
App\FreeCommander\lng\*, except: English.lng (and chinese_s.lng, or fc will

complain each time it start -- you can specify in config, then restart fc,

it won't complain again)
App\FreeCommander\readme_*.txt: very boring
App\FreeCommander\LeiaMe_fC2007.txt: almost same as the above readme-*.txt


shortcuts: PortableApps menu is ready

note: this software has no auto update

【Test】
on a pure machine, esp. no admin priority
and see help->about


an alternative:
[Try Unportable version]
from fc_setup_.zip get fc_setup.exe:

【extract】
tc->Ctrl+PageDonw:fail. 7-zip:fail; uniExtractor:fail(it said this exe

file is inno but it failed)
peid told me:
Borland Delphi 2.0 [Overlay]

【run in sb】
found is-P7FBK.tmp is running in tmp folder when installing
copy outside sb,rename to exe and peid told me:
Borland Delphi 2.0
use UE, it said it is installshied, and suggest 2 methods, and both failed

(the 2nd method compain missing .bin file, which does not exist in sb --

this is verified when i run this exe file directly)
so just continue to run. (ans snapshot the installation process for

furthuer indentification)
finish installation, before running, have a look at the sb, and we found

only c:\program fils\freecommander is worth investigation. to there:
under it, a dir: lng\
and the files: 1 md5 file, 5 important files(exe dll bin), fc_info.dat, a

freecommander.exe.manifest, freecommander.ini, a readme_*, a .lnk file, and

2 uninstallation files: unis000.exe, and unis000.dat(a glimpse shows no

more valuable thing in this dat file).
compare with those on the usb stick:
the 1st 8 files are same(except usb stick has the path: app\frercommander\,

the key difference:
1) freecommander.ini is under data\settings\ after running in usb stick
2) in usb stick, uder app\freecommader\, a file: fcStart.ini
3) in usb stick, under app\freecommander\, a dir temp\, containing a txt

file: do not delete.txt (filesize:0)
4) usb stick has a hierarchy while your-own-portabe-by-copy is flat

so if you want an own made, just copy the 8 files, the FreeCommander.ini,

and the lng/ dir, to a single dir :)