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This FAQ is edited by: FastEddie See Profile
It was last modified on 2006-07-15 13:16:13

1. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

What is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is a small, lightweight minicomputer that can keep track of your appointments, phone numbers and addresses, grocery list plus all the things you need to do. PDA's can also keep you entertained with games, music, video, and even let you make phone calls. There are basically two different types of PDA's: the organizer with some PC features (Palm) and the handheld PC with organizer features (Pocket PC).

How you plan to use a PDA can best determine which operating system is best suited for you. Palm OS-based PDA's because of the simplicity of the operating system cannot multitask, It opens only one application at a time. Unless you use a third-party synchronization utility, the Palm OS will synchronize appointments and contacts only with its PC personal information manager, the Palm Desktop. Most places now sell Palm OS bundled with an Outlook filter to sync with that desktop PIM.

Pocket PC is basically a shrunken version of the desktop Windows OS unlike Palm, it can run numerous applications at once.The Pocket PC OS is complex compared with the Palm OS, but it offers Pocket PC versions of Microsoft Office applications like Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that lets you use these programs as you would on your desktop.

2. Pocket PC How To ...

Listen to streaming radio broadcasts

Thanks to user SoonerAl See Profile who posted this great information you can listen to streaming broadcasts on your Pocket PC.

You can also find the player and instructions from the TodayPlayer's web site.

How do I make my own theme?

Now that you have a PDA running Pocket PC, why not customize it using the new Themes capability? It's easy to build your own using the free Theme Generator just click "Accept" to download.

The Theme Generator gives you the ability to choose the background picture, the start menu graphic, and assign colors to menus, messages, and navigation bars. Once you have created some great themes they can be easily applied.

Features

• Improved Image Editing
More features to modify the background image including sizing, image positioning, and coloring

• Theme Switcher
A today page plug-in that will automatically switch the today theme at a user defined interval

• Desktop Shell Extensions
Allows users to view Pocket PC themes (.tsk files) directly on the desktop

This download is intended for use on English Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

How do I adjust Interrnet Explorer settings

You can download this Power Toy that allows you to adjust Internet Explorer settings on your Pocket PC. You can enable/disable Javascript support, as well as changing the amount of storage available for temporary Internet files. You can download it Here just click "Accept"

Backing up your Pocket PC

You should back up your Pocket PC if you are making changes to your device or incase you accidentally lose your information. This way you will be able to restore your Pocket PC to the way it was.

This guide will show you how to use Activesync to easily back up your device and automatically back it up every time you dock your Pocket PC.

Step 1: Open Activesync on your desktop computer and go to the tools menu and choose backup/Restore.

Step 2: If this is your first backup, go ahead and choose the radio button that says "Full Backup"

Step 3: Take note of the "Incremental Backup" and the "Automatically back up each time the device connects" options. You can come back to this screen to set up Activesync to do incremental backups every time you sync your Pocket PC.

Incremental backup means that only things that have changed since your last backup will be backed up. It will save you a lot of time

Step 4: Hit the "Back Up Now" button.

Step 5: Let the backup complete without undocking your Pocket PC. It may take a few minutes the first time. If you go back and set it for "Incremental backups" - see step 3 above, then it will be even shorter.

RESTORING

Step 1: To restore after a hard reset or disaster, open Activesync on your desktop again and go to Tools> Backup/Restore (see step 1 in the backup portion) and choose the Restore Tab

Step 2: Push the "Restore Now" button and you are on your way to restoring your Pocket PC.

Delete left behind shortcuts

Have you ever uninstalled a program and it left a shortcut remnant on your program screen? This little guide will show you how to get rid of those left behind shortcuts from the Program screens.

Step 1: The first step to removing your that left behind shortcut is to launch File explorer:

Step 2: Use the dropdown menu at the top to choose "My Device":

Step 3: Navigate your way to the "Windows" folder:

Step 4: Under Windows, go to the "Start Menu" folder

Step 5: The first screen of the Start Menu folder shows your "Start Menu" Shortcuts. But your problem file is in the Programs Folder. So choose Programs folder

Step 6: Tap and hold the file and when the pop-up menu appears choose delete.

And you are done.

Larger font in calendar application


If the font size in the Calendar application seems small to you, it can be made larger. Go to the Calendar application, and tap on Tools > Options. Check the box which says "Use large font.

Size of Image for Today Screen/Start Menu using themer

If you are creating a theme for your Pocket PC using a Theme Creator application, the size of the image that you are going to use for the Today screen should be 240 x 268 pixels, and for the Start Menu it should be 158 x 290 pixels.

How do I use Bluetooth? ( Pocket PC and Palm )

Often one of the most difficult things to set up. However, there is a great place for this information, try it and you will be surfing in no time!

Windows Mobile 2003 ActiveSync over a wireless 802.11b and Ethernet Network

You can find a "How To" with screenshots for using Windows Mobile 2003 ActiveSync over a wireless 802.11b and Ethernet Network Here

2.1 Trouble Shooting

Uninstall Problems? Try This



Usually, the process of uninstalling programs on your Pocket PC will go smoothly but not always. For those times when it doesn't there are two approved methods for uninstalling:

• Go to Start > Settings > System > Remove Programs on your Pocket PC and select the program(s) you want to uninstall, and then tap Remove.

• Or, connect your Pocket PC to your desktop PC via ActiveSync, go to Tools > Add/Remove Programs in ActiveSync on the desktop, uncheck the program(s) you want uninstalled, and then click OK. (To remove a program from both your Pocket PC and your desktop PC, highlight the program and click Remove.)

On those times when an uninstallation process hangs up, with or without an error message, try this

First, make sure the program is really closed on your Pocket PC by going to Start > Settings > System > Memory > Running Programs, selecting the program from the window if it appears there, and tapping Stop. If the Pocket PC is connected to the desktop, disconnect it. Then perform a soft reset on the Pocket PC (see manufacturer's instructions it differs slightly from one model to another). Now try the uninstallation process again. Most times this little trick will help the process will finish smoothly.

Free Up Program Memory

If you have an external storage card or drive, you can organize your My Documents folder(s) to the fullest and free up your internal memory for running applications.

In the root of your storage card or drive, create a "My Documents" folder. Create handy subfolders within it such as "Mpeg Files," "PDF Files,""Zip Files," "Image Files," etc. Please note that any application (from MS Reader to Windows Media Player) that looks for files will find any files in main memory and the storage card or drive as long as they are in a My Documents folder or its subfolders. You can move all the files from the My Documents in the main memory to the My Documents folder(s) on your storage media, freeing up megabytes of system RAM.

What's taking up all that space in memory?

Ever wonder just which files are taking up all that space in memory? There's a freewarehandy freeware program, called WIMR (Where is my RAM?), that will tell you. It displays all of your files and folders, in RAM and in ROM, in a File Explorer-like window. The first window shows all the root folders and their sizes, and you can drill down through the folders to the level of individual files. At any point, you can display file size in bytes, Kb, or Mb, and you can delete files and uninstall applications from within the program

My Pocket PC is performing sluggishly

Reboot to Clear Your Memory

If you have noticed that your Pocket PC is performing sluggishly, take a moment to do a soft reset. A soft reset will purge the program memory area and allow optimal performance.

To do a soft reset safely, first make sure you don't have any files open with unsaved changes. Then close all applications (Start > Settings > System > Memory > Running Programs > Stop All). Then perform a soft reset according to the instructions for your device.

Having a Problem Seeing Your Screen Outside?


Try changing the fonts to the largest size when you want to use you PPC device outside and it's usually legible then. This works also if you have a poor backlighting system.

You Installed a Program and It Doesn't Work

Make sure you're downloading programs for the correct processor. Different Pocket PCs and Handheld PCs use different processors. Sometimes a particular program isn't available for all processors. The programs web site should provide details.

If you dont know which processor you have, go into the Control Panel or Settings and look under System > About. This will fwork on most systems, but some embedded systems don't have a Control Panel, so with a registry editor go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Ident] and you may find the device name there. The processor type (MIPS, SH3, etc) is sometimes stored in the registry.

2.2 Freeware

2.3 Links

Where can I find news on iPAQ's

iPAQabilities covers the news that pertains to the HP iPAQ PDA as well as related technologies such as wireless access. The site offers daily news covering hardware, accessories and software as well as a comprehensive link directory and product reviews.

PDA Friendly Sites

3. Palm How To ...

How do I warm reset my Palm?

Warm resetting a Palm will bypass any hacks and updates and is similar to "safe mode" in Windows. This will also allow you to get out of a "reset loop". To warm reset hold down the up button (in the bottom center of the Palm) while using the reset pin to reset the device. Warm resetting often allows you to delete specific applications that may be causing you problems.

How do I delete


This question applies to any application that comes installed in the ROM of a device.

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. Basically if something is there, its not going anywhere.

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This is the type of memory that applications and data are installed to, and deleted from.

To further blur the issue, there are now applications that are stored in ROM, but when the device powers up only after a hard reset they are copied to RAM. So you "can" kind of delete them.

A good way to see if an application can be deleted is if they show up in the "Delete Applications" list (from Applications Launcher, select Menu then Delete). If they're not there, then you can't remove them.

But remember because they are located in ROM, and not RAM, they also do not take up any of your RAM where all your data and applications are stored.

How do I run Java on my Palm hanhdeld?

Applications that require that Java for Palm be installed on the Palm handheld see here for MIDP for Palm OS

Can I change the username on my device?

To change the username on a Palm unit, you can do one of two things.

You can perform a Hard Reset on the device. The next time you HotSync it, it will ask for a username, allowing you to set the username to whatever you'd like. Doing this will result in all of your data and applications being removed, and you'll need to re-install them. If you do want to keep all the applications and data, and just change usernames, you can run an application called ChangeName

If you change the username on a device it will mean that any shareware applications that are keyed to your username will no longer work. If you're actually switching to a new username for yourself, you'll may have to contact all the software developers and ask for a registration key for the use the HotSync name. The new username will be installed on your desktop software, but the old one will also still be there. You'll need to manually remove the old one from the desktop.

How do I update the OS on my handheld?

Keep the OS (Operating System) up to date for your handheld is the best way to make sure you are abreast of the latest patches to address issues as well as security. palmOne has patches available here for most models.

Note that you cannot change the OS to a primary version other than the one your handheld was shipped with. For example if your handheld has OS version 3.2 you can upgrade to version 3.5 but cannot upgrade to versions 4.x.

How do I Create Additional Categories in Address Book?


By using the Title field in the AddressBook, one can create sub-categories within the existing categories of Palm. What you've you created is a parent-child relationship between the primary category and a 'sub-category'. Say you have a category named "Suppliers" where you enter all contacts that are Builders etc. You can then sort the Builders so you can easily see the list of Builders that perform Roofing services. Simply place the Company Name - Acme Services in the Company field; Name in the Name fields and 'Roofing' in the Title field. Then when you need to select or call a roofer, simply use find and 'Roofing' and obtain a list of all contractors who you have entered that do roofing. Additional notes can be included in the Note section of the AddressBook entry for Acme. It works well and avoids needing to recall the Builders name directly

I want to surf the web with my Palm. What do I need?

In order to surf the web with a handheld you need to have a device capable of using either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or have a phone device.
Wi-Fi will allow you to surf the web when an access point is available. Many coffee shops, universities, and corporations have 802.11b networks that you can use. Some of these are free, but most require a subscription and charge a fee.
Bluetooth is a network technology that allows your PDA to communicate wirelessly to your Bluetooth enabled cell phone, computer, or other PDAs. With a BT enabled phone and a data plan from your cell phone provider, you can surf the web anywhere you have a cell phone signal.

Phone devices eliminate the need to carry both a cell phone and a PDA. While convenient, they generally do not have as much storage as a regular PDA.

Current Palm OS devices that have Bluetooth built in:
Palm Tungsten T
Palm Tungsten T2
Palm Tungsten T3
Sony Clie PEG-UX50

Current Palm OS devices that have WiFi built in:
Palm Tungsten C
Sony Clie PEG-UX50
Sony Clie PEG-TH55
Sony Clie PEG-TJ37

Phone Palm OS devices:
Palm Tungsten W
Palmone Treo 600
Palmone Treo 270
Palmone Treo 300
Kyocera 7135

3.1 Trouble Shooting

How can I tell which program is making my Palm crash?

With the amount of software that is available for Palms, you may encounter conflicts or buggy programs. Two programs that can help diagnose which specific application is causing the problem are Crash! and ResetEMU. Both of these programs are available as Freeware from »www.79bmedia.com/

Information on e-mail applications supported with Palm Mail

Palm Mail works with MAPI (Microsoft) and VIM (Lotus) e-mail applications running Windows 98 and later.

Below is a list of e-mail applications known to be compatible with Palm Mail. Please note, this is not a definitive list of MAPI and VIM e-mail applications. Any MAPI and VIM compliant packages should work with Palm Mail; however, there may be slight differences in manufacturer implementations of these standards. Because of the number of e-mail application software available, we are not able to thoroughly test all clients claiming to support MAPI or VIM. If you are not sure if your e-mail application is MAPI or VIM compliant, check with your system administrator or the manufacturer of the product.

Applications supported by Palm Mail are:

• Lotus cc:Mail 6.0 or higher
• Microsoft Exchange 5.0 or higher
• Microsoft Outlook 97 or higher
• Microsoft Outlook Express (ships with Internet Explorer 4.0)*
• QUALCOMM Eudora Pro 3.0.1 or higher

Note: The version of Outlook Express packaged with the IE 4 beta release does not support Palm Mail.

Applications not supported by Palm Mail are:

• America Online (AOL)
• CompuServe*
• DEC All-in-One
• QUALCOMM Eudora Lite (versions previous to 3.0.1)
• QUALCOMM Eudora Pro 2.x (versions previous to 3.0.1)
• PROFS
• UNIX clients (Pine)

Note: Access to CompuServe e-mail is supported if using Microsoft Exchange or Outlook as the e-mail client attached to the CompuServe account.

I've installed something, but it doesn't show in my Applications list!



If you've installed something and then can't see or access it on your Palm, then you might have installed a DATA file for a un-installed Palm application. A good indication of this is if you go into the Memory App (or Info from Apps picker in OS 3 and higher) and see the "application" but don't see it in your list of apps to run.

In order to see this data, you'll have to install the application that this data is for. Good examples of data file applications (Files that are likely to be available that need the application to view) are: Doc files, JFile databases, etc. Check the file you downloaded (if it's a .zip file) or check the site you downloaded the file(s) from. Somewhere you should be able to find the name of the application you need to install to see that data.

I've just lost all the data on my computer and/or handheld. Now what?

First of all, your restoration will only be as good as your last HotSync (or backup to card) operation. If your last HotSync was months ago all information stored since then you will not be able to recover.

Synchronize your handheld (or backup to card) on a regular basis if you have information you don't want to lose on it!

If you are switching to a new computer from a non working one, all you should have to do is install the latest Palm Desktop software, and start a HotSync operation. You will be prompted to create that account on your computer, and then all your information will be copied from your handheld to your computer.

If you've lost your handheld, or for some reason its been hard reset back to factory, all you have to do is put it in its cradle and perform a HotSync operation. You will be asked which HotSync name to use (if you have more than one on that computer). All of the data (since your last HotSync operation) will be restored.

If you have a handheld with a expansion card, It is recommend you regularly do a back up of your handheld to it on a regular basis particularly if you can't get to a computer to do a HotSync operation.

HotSync won't start anymore. What do I do?


Windows

Try these things if HotSync isn't starting on your PC...

• Check the COM port. Make sure nothing else is connected. In the HotSync Options menu, check that you have selected the correct COM port.
• Some people have reported that, if they use the COM port for something else, they must close the HotSync Manager and restart it. This is normal.
• If you use a laptop, it is possible that your COM port is going into a power-down state. You may need to tweak the power down options on your laptop with the power management tools.
• Check your cable/cradle connections. Make sure the handheld is firmly attached.
• Try another USB port (if one's available).
• Try another Cable/Cradle if you have one.
• Download/Install the latest version of Palm Desktop, especially if the one you have is old.
• If all else fails, try rebooting your PC and then try the HotSync process again.

Macintosh

Try these things if HotSync isn't starting on your Mac...

• Launch HotSync Manager and make sure that the "Enabled" option is selected.
• Check the Connection Settings and make sure that the one your're using (PalmConnect, USB, Bluetooth, etc) is checked "on"
• Check your cable/cradle connections. Make sure the handheld is firmly attached.
• Try another USB port (if one's available).
• Try another Cable/Cradle if you have one.
• If all else fails, try rebooting your Mac and then try the HotSync process again.

3.2 Freeware

3.3 Links

Where can I find software for my Palm or Pocket PC?

Where can I find information on Sony Clie's?

Go to »www.cliesource.com (their old site) or to their new site 1SRC to find news, tutorials, reviews of accesories and software, and user forums. There are separate forums for each series of the Sony Clie and for applications, games, launchers, accessories, etc.

What are some other forums that can help me out?

There are a variety of Palm forums with friendly and knowledgable folks to help you get your really tough problem solved.

Brighthand
Palm Forums
Palm One City
Clie Source

Where can I buy replacement parts for my PDA?

If you're a realy "do-it-yourselfer" you can buy PDA parts at
PDAParts.com
Pocket PC Techs

4. Mp3 Players How To ...

Ipod Mini Won't Charge



If your iPod Mini won't charge here's how to fix that problem. It may needed a reset.

On your ipod mini, toggle the hold button (turn it on and then turn it off), then hold the Menu and the select button (top part of the click wheel and the center button) for about 10 seconds.

The Apple logo should appear and your ipod will start charging.

iPod Battery Pack

How does another 10 hours worth of music sound?

You can find instructions on how to build a simple and easy carry along battery pack that will let you run your iPod while you are away from an outlet and can't recharge it. This is a handy little battery pack if you travel or are on the go a lot.

Instructions Here and Altoids Battery Pack and Here

Various others and Here

Can my Mp3 player be used to store other files?

The answer is most likely yes.

Most of the newer ones let you "drag and drop" files once your Mp3 player has been connected to the computer. You just open "My Computer" on your desktop and your Mp3 player should be listed as a "hard drive" with a letter assigned to it. Just click on it to open then drag whatever file you want to it and drop it. This is handy for transferring files from one computer to another.

Thanks to user Rhaps See Profile for this:

Most of Hard drive based players will be seen as normal hard drives by the operating system. However it will not be the case for the Creative Labs serie of MP3 players based on a hard drive, i.e. all the ones from the Jukebox series, from Jukebox 1 to Zen Xtra. You will need an additional software to turn your player into a real hard drive.

Thanks to ravital See Profile for this update:

Most HDD-based MP3 players will be recognized by Windows as just another HDD without requiring additional software (though they may require a minimal Service Pack level for the OS). Creative Labs devices such as the Zen/Zen Xtra require the OEM's DRIVERS to be installed, regardless of whether or not you wish to use the 3rd party software from Red Chair Software. Once the drivers are installed, Windows will recognize the device as a HDD (driver installation automatically includes integration with Windows Explorer) and you need not install any other Creative Labs software (to manage and move your MP3s) if you don't want you. You WILL then be able to drag/drop data files (non-MP3) into/out of your device.

Of course, for MP3 players, the Red Chair Software is highly praised.

This software is available from Red Chair Softwares. The free version is limited to simple hard drive features but is still good if you just wish to transfer files to and from the player without cascading folders. Organising your hard drives with folders will need the full software for $25 (for a specific player) or $35 (for all players).

Which memory based player is best?

You can view the reviews that our forum members have submitted to see what they like. These reviews are based on the members actually experience of owning the particular player.

Which hard drive based player is best?

You can view the reviews that our forum members have submitted to see what they like. These reviews are based on the members actually experience of owning the particular player.

Increasse TunecastII and iTrip Range


Here are a couple of How To's to increase the range on the TunecastII and iTrip

Tunecast Tweak

Tunecast Tweak

iTrip Tweak

And a discussion on /forum/remark,13235995

4.1 Mp3 Favorite Apps

What other software besides OEM can I use?

For Ipods there is a freeware program called YamiPod

Also there is a program called Anapod.

They also make Dudebox that integrates your Dell DJ into Windows.

Plus Notmad for Creative Nomad MP3 Player's (for all their different players)

Riorad for the Rio's

As of recently, Red Chair Software also offers Irivium for the Iriver HDD-based MP3 players.

4.2 Links

Is there a good iPod FAQ someplace?


Where to buy replacement iPod batteries

iPod's rechargeable battery will fail over a long period of time. But owners of the iPods can replace the battery themselves. You can get replacement batteries at iPod Battery

Where can I find iPod battery FAQ's?

You can find questions and answers concerning the iPod's battery at this web site

Where's a good site for GPS information and reviews?


    This site has many interesting reviews and articles.