Downloads Stack 1.2.0

The installer is an ordinary one now. Three things were wrong with the wizard 1.1.0 shipped, all found by clicking through it, and all fixed here.

The pages ran in a strange order. The licence shared a page with an "Advanced" button, and the install folder was hidden behind it. The wizard now runs welcome → licence → install folder → install, which is the order every other installer uses.

"For all users" still offered an AppData path. That option could not have worked. The first thing WixUI_Advanced's Next button does is set the answer back to "only for me" whenever the installer is not already elevated — which it never is when you double-click an MSI — before any of the events that read the answer. The choice is gone: the package is now per-machine, Windows elevates it properly, and the default is C:\Program Files\Downloads Stack.

If you want the application without administrator rights, take the portable build. It is one executable and writes nothing outside the folder it sits in, which answers that need better than a per-user install of four hundred files ever did.

Choosing a folder did not add the application's own. Windows Installer's browse dialog replaces the whole path with what you pick, so choosing D:\Tools would have emptied four hundred files into D:\Tools. The wizard now browses to the parent: pick D:\Tools and the application installs into D:\Tools\Downloads Stack.

Nothing about the application itself changed.

Upgrading from 1.1.0 or earlier

Those versions installed for the current user. This one installs for the machine, and Windows Installer scopes its upgrade detection, so it will not find them and will not replace them. Remove the old version through Installed apps first. A portable copy is unaffected.

What to download

	File	For whom
Installer	DownloadsStack-1.2.0-win-x64.msi	The wizard above. One UAC prompt, C:\Program Files\Downloads Stack by default. Removed through Installed apps.
Portable	DownloadsStack-1.2.0-portable-win-x64.zip	One executable inside. Unpack it anywhere and run it. No administrator rights, and nothing appears anywhere in the system until you turn startup on yourself.

Both carry the same application: a self-contained .NET 10 build, with no runtime to install beforehand. Windows 11 x64 is required.

The application is not signed with a certificate, so SmartScreen will warn you on the first run: More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256

04a4cfef85393af7430ed6a646b8b5237cddc7d560f2c889742e7b2430a8e8ea  DownloadsStack-1.2.0-win-x64.msi
0459bdbcc682d18eed7ee119d2f238e8c68ba23b07f2226259698463b4870f0b  DownloadsStack-1.2.0-portable-win-x64.zip

Downloads Stack 1.1.0

The installer now asks who it is for. Instead of installing silently, it opens the wizard most Windows programs open, with the choice Windows itself distinguishes:

• Only for me — the default, and what every earlier version did: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Downloads Stack, no administrator rights, no UAC prompt.
• For all users — C:\Program Files\Downloads Stack, with a UAC prompt and a folder you can browse to.

Only the per-machine branch offers a folder to choose. That is the rule of WiX's WixUI_Advanced dialog set, not a decision made here: for a per-user install it fixes the path and hides the Browse button.

Starting with Windows stays a per-user switch in both. Installing for all users puts the program on the machine; it does not start it for everybody. Each user turns the checkbox on for themselves.

An installation under Program Files is read-only to an ordinary user, so the shortcut the application writes beside its own executable cannot be written there. That is no longer treated as an error: such an installation carries a Start menu shortcut with the same AppUserModel.ID, which is what the one beside the executable exists to provide in a portable copy, where nobody else provides it.

Both branches were installed and uninstalled on a real machine, and each left nothing behind. Three earlier attempts at the folder logic were wrong and are written up in CHECKS.md, including the one that registered the package per machine while putting its files in the installing user's profile. The wizard's own pages have not been clicked through by anyone yet — everything was driven silently.

What to download

	File	For whom
Installer	DownloadsStack-1.1.0-win-x64.msi	The wizard described above. Removed through Installed apps.
Portable	DownloadsStack-1.1.0-portable-win-x64.zip	One executable inside. Unpack it anywhere and run it. Nothing appears anywhere in the system until you turn startup on yourself.

Both carry the same application: a self-contained .NET 10 build, with no runtime to install beforehand. Windows 11 x64 is required.

The application is not signed with a certificate, so SmartScreen will warn you on the first run: More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256

566148ce2e4c2c709c2a696c1b22bc6e938a1311b3c104be77032ddd46fc0f02  DownloadsStack-1.1.0-win-x64.msi
960371f3a3de54b2b0341b49e734eb86eea896c879d8734e5788bc77e2513e9e  DownloadsStack-1.1.0-portable-win-x64.zip

Downloads Stack 1.0.2

A one-line fix. The installer's "About" link — the one Installed apps shows next to the entry — pointed at a repository that does not exist: the address had been left over from the project's local folder name. It now points here. Nothing else changed; the application itself is identical to 1.0.1.

If 1.0.1 is already installed, this version installs over it: the running instance is asked to close first, so no reboot is needed.

What to download

	File	For whom
Installer	DownloadsStack-1.0.2-win-x64.msi	Installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Downloads Stack for the current user — no administrator rights, no UAC prompt. Adds a Start menu shortcut and launches the application when it finishes. Removed through Installed apps.
Portable	DownloadsStack-1.0.2-portable-win-x64.zip	One executable inside. Unpack it anywhere and run it. Nothing appears anywhere in the system until you turn startup on yourself.

Both carry the same application: a self-contained .NET 10 build, with no runtime to install beforehand. Windows 11 x64 is required.

The application is not signed with a certificate, so SmartScreen will warn you on the first run: More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256

6faa2edcfadc5cce6de08262af37db2f25e8a546e648ad9b2aa3039ef66d09d5  DownloadsStack-1.0.2-win-x64.msi
b2e30267b5d406a020b87499f73468bfcebd9846406093626b33ea5a6c4b3139  DownloadsStack-1.0.2-portable-win-x64.zip

Downloads Stack 1.0.1

The portable build is now a single executable. The archive used to unpack a folder of 401 files; it now unpacks Downloads Stack.exe and nothing else. The download is the same size it was.

Measured on one machine, six interleaved runs of each build: the single-file bundle costs nothing to load — 1020 ms against the folder's 1024 ms. EnableCompressionInSingleFile was tried and dropped: it would halve the download to 67 MB, but it doubles the load to 2028 ms on every launch rather than only the first, which is the wrong trade for an application that starts at sign-in. The numbers are in CHECKS.md.

The shortcut the application writes next to itself now takes its icon from the executable rather than from a .ico file beside it — there is no file beside it any more. Nothing else about the application changed.

Note that the application still writes Downloads Stack.lnk next to itself on its first run: it is what carries the AppUserModel.ID that groups the windows. So a portable folder holds two files after the first launch, not one.

What to download

	File	For whom
Installer	DownloadsStack-1.0.1-win-x64.msi	Installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Downloads Stack for the current user — no administrator rights, no UAC prompt. Adds a Start menu shortcut and launches the application when it finishes. Removed through Installed apps.
Portable	DownloadsStack-1.0.1-portable-win-x64.zip	One executable inside. Unpack it anywhere and run it. Nothing appears anywhere in the system until you turn startup on yourself.

Both carry the same application: a self-contained .NET 10 build, with no runtime to install beforehand. Windows 11 x64 is required.

The application is not signed with a certificate, so SmartScreen will warn you on the first run: More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256

0a17468701f0543083e9bf4dfc246db537ff577dbc3eaaea714fc37656e190e9  DownloadsStack-1.0.1-win-x64.msi
b198ff13a1d042489424681c946434ce4f2fede4e0d2bef31fb22c114339fe35  DownloadsStack-1.0.1-portable-win-x64.zip

Downloads Stack 1.0.0

The first release. An icon in the system tray, next to the clock, opens a fully transparent panel holding the newest files from the folders you choose: all you see are the system icons and the names.

What to download

	File	For whom
Installer	DownloadsStack-1.0.0-win-x64.msi	Installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Downloads Stack for the current user — no administrator rights, no UAC prompt. Adds a Start menu shortcut and launches the application when it finishes. Removed through Installed apps.
Portable	DownloadsStack-1.0.0-portable-win-x64.zip	Unpack it anywhere and run Downloads Stack.exe. Nothing appears anywhere in the system until you turn startup on yourself.

Both carry the same application: a self-contained .NET 10 build, with no runtime to install beforehand. Windows 11 x64 is required.

The application is not signed with a certificate, so SmartScreen will warn you on the first run: More info → Run anyway.

What it does

• A left click on the icon opens and closes the list; Escape, Alt+F4 and a click outside hide it and leave the application in the tray.
• One click opens a file, dragging hands over a real Shell data object, a right click opens the classic File Explorer context menu with every installed extension.
• Several source folders; the system Downloads folder is connected by default. Subfolders are not walked.
• From 1 to 20 rows in the panel; sorting by date added, name, type, and the dates modified, created and accessed, with a reverse order.
• Thumbnails for PNG, JPG and MP4 instead of the generic icons.
• A backdrop behind the names with configurable opacity; a dark or light system menu following the Windows theme.
• Starting with Windows — a checkbox in the settings, identical in both packages. The entry is written into HKCU\...\Run as the user, no administrator rights are needed, and the switch in Task Manager stays authoritative.
• 14 interface languages, picked by the system language.
• Hardware acceleration is off by default: about 16 MB in the tray and 30 MB with the list open, instead of 62 and 106 MB.

Settings and index live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\DownloadsStack.

SHA-256

77128468995ee7a54316c6fba4e10d3d091940b1fc3cb5b0fb73db056587a179  DownloadsStack-1.0.0-win-x64.msi
8388a758e658bd158ee0e7c92bde352472cada38638a0b87aec796dc07db093e  DownloadsStack-1.0.0-portable-win-x64.zip