I previously posted here on the support forum about an odd occurrence of Patchmypc creating a copy of itself in the C:/users/ folder, that is named after the first string of my username. The fact the file is there causes Windows to run the renamed executable (Patchmypc) several times upon booting, or waking from sleep.
I now have a log that documents why this happens.
This occurs with the portable version, and it occurred every time PatchmyPC attempted to update itself. It began happening several days ago when I believe the update to 5.3.1.0 came online. The patchmypc executable is in c:/users/myusername 2/desktop
[2025-10-03 16:20:50] INFO Started application v.5.3.0.0 as portable
[2025-10-03 16:20:50] DEBUG View MainViewModel has been loaded
[2025-10-03 16:20:51] INFO Started [Apps Catalog loading] operation...
[2025-10-03 16:20:52] DEBUG View InstalledApplicationTabViewModel has been loaded
[2025-10-03 16:20:52] INFO [Apps Catalog loading] operation has been completed. Execution time: 1.6490487 seconds.
[2025-10-03 16:20:56] INFO Application exit.
[2025-10-03 16:20:56] INFO A new version is available. Installed: 5.3.0.0, Remote: 5.3.1.0
[2025-10-03 16:20:56] INFO Switching to Updater app...
[2025-10-03 16:20:57] INFO Started Updater app with arguments:
--url 'https://homeupdater.patchmypc.com/public/PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable.exe'
--exe 'C:\Users\Myusername
--version '5.3.1.0'
--start 'False'
--theme 'Dark'
--ui 'False'
[2025-10-03 16:20:59] INFO Started downloading Home Updater v.5.3.1.0...
[2025-10-03 16:21:00] INFO Home Updater v5.3.1.0 has been successfully downloaded. Starting update...
[2025-10-03 16:21:03] INFO Replacing 'C:\Users\Myusername' file with 'E:\Temp\Myusername-5.3.1.0.exe' file.
[2025-10-03 16:21:03] INFO Completed Updater tasks
When I closed and restarted the program, the identical sequence appeared:
[2025-10-03 16:21:24] INFO Started application v.5.3.0.0 as portable
[2025-10-03 16:21:24] DEBUG View MainViewModel has been loaded
[2025-10-03 16:21:24] INFO Started [Apps Catalog loading] operation...
[2025-10-03 16:21:25] DEBUG View InstalledApplicationTabViewModel has been loaded
[2025-10-03 16:21:25] INFO [Apps Catalog loading] operation has been completed. Execution time: 0.7185891 seconds.
[2025-10-03 16:21:28] INFO Application exit.
[2025-10-03 16:21:28] INFO A new version is available. Installed: 5.3.0.0, Remote: 5.3.1.0
[2025-10-03 16:21:28] INFO Switching to Updater app...
[2025-10-03 16:21:28] INFO Started Updater app with arguments:
--url 'https://homeupdater.patchmypc.com/public/PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable.exe'
--exe 'C:\Users\Myusername
--version '5.3.1.0'
--start 'False'
--theme 'Dark'
--ui 'False'
[2025-10-03 16:21:30] INFO Started downloading Home Updater v.5.3.1.0...
[2025-10-03 16:21:31] INFO Home Updater v5.3.1.0 has been successfully downloaded. Starting update...
[2025-10-03 16:21:34] INFO Replacing 'C:\Users\Myusername' file with 'E:\Temp\Myusername-5.3.1.0.exe' file.
[2025-10-03 16:21:34] INFO Completed Updater tasks
I believe this is a bug as the updater should not be creating a renamed copy of itself to be placed in the c:/Users/ folder.
My username follows the format "Myusername 2". I wonder if this format throws off the parsing for the update process.
I have another computer with a single string username that did not have this issue upon updating.
[2025-10-01 18:09:43] INFO A new version is available. Installed: 5.3.0.0, Remote: 5.3.1.0
[2025-10-01 18:09:43] INFO Switching to Updater app...
[2025-10-01 18:09:45] INFO Started Updater app with arguments:
--url 'https://homeupdater.patchmypc.com/public/PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable.exe'
--exe 'C:\Users\ausername\Desktop\PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable.exe'
--version '5.3.1.0'
--start 'False'
--theme 'Dark'
--ui 'False'
[2025-10-01 18:09:47] INFO Started downloading Home Updater v.5.3.1.0...
[2025-10-01 18:09:47] INFO Home Updater v5.3.1.0 has been successfully downloaded. Starting update...
[2025-10-01 18:09:50] INFO Replacing 'C:\Users\ausername\Desktop\PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable.exe' file with 'C:\Users\ausername\AppData\Local\Temp\PatchMyPC-HomeUpdater-Portable-5.3.1.0.exe' file.
[2025-10-01 18:09:50] INFO Completed Updater tasks
Thanks for reporting, we are going to take a look into this to see what we can repro.