Resolving (and avoiding) common problems in AppsAnywhere

AppsAnywhere requires a local client installation to access BCIT’s repository of applications. You will not be able to access any applications without installing the Cloudpaging Player.

Solution

The AppsAnywhere site will prompt you to install the player if you do not have it installed.

See also:

• Logging in to AppsAnywhere for the first time
• Logging in to AppsAnywhere for the first time on a Mac

Some applications require licensing from BCIT to run. These applications will need to connect to the license infrastructure on BCIT’s private network to check out a license. Lack of VPN connection will cause the application launch to fail.

Solution

You will need to connect to BCIT’s VPN before launching an applications in AppsAnywhere. If you’ve never connected before, you’ll first need to download/install the VPN in order to access applications.

Apps delivered through AppsAnywhere’s Cloudpaging technology will be streamed and stored as files onto your computer’s hard drive. When this app is no longer required, AppsAnywhere will remove these files. In cases where there is already an installed copy of the same app, the previously installed copy could have its files removed (as they are identical to AppsAnywhere’s copy), compromising the copy previously installed on your computer.

Solution

As a safeguard, AppsAnywhere will attempt to detect an existing copy of each app and run your computer’s existing copy if it is found. But to be absolutely sure this problem won’t occur, if a previously installed copy of the same app is already on your computer, always use that copy instead of the app delivered through AppsAnywhere.

Apps delivered through Cloudpaging technology are run on your own computer using its own CPU, RAM, and other resources. This delivers a user experience equivalent to apps installed on your computer. This means that the unique hardware requirements of each app must be taken into consideration and each user’s experience will vary slightly depending on the computer they own.

Solution

Refer to the vendor website of your app to review hardware requirements. Consider using a different computer to improve performance as necessary. BCIT has compiled minimum hardware specifications for most programs and has negotiated student discounts with certain vendors to help you get a computer that will run the software you need for your program.

AppsAnywhere uses local resources and networking to run. If performance is slow, this may be because your computer is running other resource-intensive applications or there is other activity in your network. In particular, downloading, installing, or caching software is dependent on your internet connection speed and your internet connection may be affected by downloads, video streaming, or other loads on your ISP.

Solution

To find applications that are running and consuming large amounts of resources on your computer, open your Task Manager, go to the Processes tab, and sort by CPU.

To see the current activity on your network connection, open your Task Manager, click on the Performance Tab, then click on  Ethernet or WiFi.

You must have space available on your computer to run the software locally.

Lack of disk space on C:\ will result in failure to launch. Your drive will need to be very full to cause this type of problem, but it can happen. You will start to experience Windows OS problems independent of AppsAnywhere if you have less than 1-2GB free space. Windows needs a pagefile to run.

Solution

Ensure that you have at least 4GB of space available on your C:\ drive if applications are failing to launch.

100% of the application’s payload are not installed at launch. Efforts have been made to prefetch common use-cases for published software for a good first run experience, but caching delays may occur when additional features of the software are used.

Solution

Slowdowns in loading should not persist after the second use of an application as the features used will be downloaded, cached and available. Please be patient when running any application or using a new feature of the application for the first time – new features need to be downloaded and installed.

Once you have used features of the software, those features have been ‘fetched’ and will be available locally with better performance. ‘First run’ of features in an application may take additional time, but subsequent launches should be very responsive.

AppsAnywhere cache operates on FIFO model (first in, first out) if cache is not set to grow as needed, and this will only be a problem if cache size is NOT set to automatically increase.

Solution

If you have the Cloudpaging Player installed, you will see the agent in the system tray.

Right click on the Cloudpaging icon and then click Options to view and modify the cache settings, and to verify that the cache size is set to automatically increase.

Default cache settings for size and location are visible in the screen capture above. You should not need to modify these settings except to redirect the cache location if you have a small C:\ drive in your computer.

AppsAnywhere is primarily a Windows-centric platform, although there are also Mac applications available. Windows applications can be delivered to Windows machines, and some Mac applications can be delivered to Mac machines. If you wish to access Windows application on a Mac computer, you can do so via Apporto.