Launching an App or Desktop
 

After logging in to Apporto, you will see the App Store.  This is where you can access all of the desktops and apps available to you.  It is your virtual computer lab.  
 

This short guide will show you step by step how to:  

Launch an App or Desktop
 

Login
 

Using your preferred web browser, navigate to the web address provided by your administrator (eg. “mycollege.apporto.com").

Then log in to the system to access the Apporto App Store.

 

Select your App or Desktop
 

Locate the desired app or desktop and click Launch
 

                  

The selected app or desktop opens in a new browser tab.

 

                     

 When you first login to Apporto, it may take up to 30 seconds to launch an app. This is because your profile is being created. After this, applications will launch much faster, typically between 7-15 seconds.

 Some applications (Virtual Machines) may take a few minutes to launch, because the server needs to start before the app can be launched.  In these cases, a popup will notify you when the server is starting.

 

Using Apps and Desktops
 

The Menu
 

Available options and functions are displayed as icons in the top menu bar.

 

      

 

Change Display Mode
 

Click the  icon in the top panel to toggle the display to full-screen mode.

Click the  icon in the top panel or press the <Esc> key to return the display to normal mode.

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Upload/Download Files

 

Click the File upload  icon in the top panel to upload a file from your computer to the Apporto desktop.

Click the File download  icon in the top panel to download a file from Apporto to your computer.

 Folder upload is not currently supported.  But, one workaround is to zip the folder and upload the zip file.
 

Save or Restore a Snapshot
 

Click the Save/Restore snapshots  icon in the top panel to save or restore a "snapshot" of your files.

 

Share Screen
 

Use the Share Screen  icon to share your screen with another user to collaborate in the current session. 

 

Launch Messenger
 

Click the Messenger  icon in the top panel to open and use Messenger.

 

View Analytics

 

Click the Analytics  icon to view your activity statistics.

 

Use Multiple Monitors (beta)
 

When you click the Multi Monitor  icon a new browser tab will open.  Simply drag it to another monitor and resize as needed.

 You must launch the desktop in Multimonitor Mode in order to see the Multi Monitor icon in the menu.
 

Turn Sound On/Off

Click the Sound  icon to turn sound on or off.

 

Restart 


Click the Restart  icon to restart a Virtual Machine, Mac Desktop, or Linux Desktop. (This option only displays in the menu for some types of applications.)

 

Network Indicator 


View the network indicator  to guage the strength of your network connection.  A fast and reliable network connection is key for fast performance when working in Apporto.

 

To ensure an optimal experience with Apporto, make sure you have a high bandwidth, low latency internet connection. If you have a poor network connection, response times may be slow and images may appear pixelated. Use of personal hotspots is not recommended as they will not work reliably.

 

  • For most applications, performance is good over wifi if latency is less than 100ms. Bandwidth is typically not a limiting factor.
  • For graphics-intensive applications, like SolidWorks and GIMP, we recommend using a wired network connection instead of wifi, ideally with bandwidth of 1 Mbps or greater and latency less than 50ms.
  • For video, we recommend a bandwidth of 3 Mbps for regular video or 5 Mbps for HD and latency less than 50ms.

 

 Using a hard wired network connection can reduce latency by a factor of ten. This is why video gamers prefer wired internet to wifi. Wired connections can improve your experience using Apporto too.

 

Speed Tests

 

Your applications are running in data centers located as close to your university as possible to keep latency (the round trip time between your clicks and application responses) as low as possible.

Bandwidth is likely not a limiting factor unless you are using a graphics-intensive app or streaming video.

If you experience slow performance in Apporto, you may test latency and bandwidth using sites like: http://www.azurespeed.com/ and https://www.cloudping.info/ to determine whether your network connection is sufficient or not.

 

Inactivity and Poor Network

Inactivity

 

If you step away from Apporto for some time, your session will become inactive.  Typically after 15 minutes of inactivity, you will see a disconnected message.  Your session will actually still be running on the server for another 15 minutes - in case you come back and reconnect - but after 30 minutes of inactivity the session will be ended. 

To start a new session, go back to the App Store.


Poor Network


If your internet connection becomes unstable while working with an app, the message "Poor internet connection detected." will display at the bottom of the screen. SAVE YOUR WORK to avoid data loss.

If your internet connection is lost, a "SESSION DISCONNECTED" message displays. Click the Reconnect button to attempt to reconnect to the Apporto server.  

If you are unable to reconnect, we recommend finding a better wifi connection.  Sometimes this is as easy as working closer to the router or using a cabled connection.