Arcsoft Photostudio

[juverax]

Arcsoft PhotoStudio is officially payware (and free trialware).

However, it is possible to consider that Arcsoft PhotoStudio is "Freeware" and "Portable".

1) "FREEWARE" ? : You can have PhotoStudio for free because it is also bundled with the EPSON scanner drivers on the installation CDs that come with scanners.
Though I do not know if this bundled version has all the features you get when you buy the application separately.

2) "PORTABLE" ? : Apparently I can run Arcsoft PhotoStudio from a USB drive on any computer. Here is what I did:
On my computer #1 I installed Photostudio normally using the installer
The application is installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcSoft\PhotoStudio 6 if you accept the default settings.
I copied the "Photostudio 6" folder to a USB drive
I inserted the USB drive to my computer #2 and I ran PhotoStudio.exe
PhotoStudio apparently worked normally
I searched the registry of the second computer for "Arcsoft" and "PhotoStudio" and I found a couple of keys.
So, strictly speaking PhotoStudio is NOT portable because it writes to the registry (and possibly to other places .... ),
however you can use it on any computer from a USB drive without installation

Note that Arcsoft PhotoStudio is very similar to PhotoFiltre already in the database ( https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=12 ).

[webfork]

1) "FREEWARE" ? : You can have PhotoStudio for free because it is also bundled with the EPSON scanner drivers

I think that's probably more classed as a value-add, kind of like if you got a copy of Vegas with a fancy camcorder. It's not really freeware, it's just that some of your money went towards the software as well as hardware.

... strictly speaking PhotoStudio is NOT portable because it writes to the registry (and possibly to other places .... ),
however you can use it on any computer from a USB drive without installation

I definitely still welcome discussion on what sounds like a "no-install" program here on the site. There's still a lot of uses for that kind of software, even if it's not eligible for inclusion in the main database (without some kind of extra tool like YaP).

[juverax]

Webfork wrote:

It's not really freeware, it's just that some of your money went towards the software as well as hardware.

You are right, I should have said "with no additional cost".