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Fine-Tune Your Windows

Mobile device with great utility software Utilities are focused programs that add a single, important feature to the device / OS. With the exception of games, there are more utility programs available for the Pocket PC and Smartphone than any other category of software.

No cost utility solutions

You can enter text into a Pocket PC using Word Mobile or Notes, but equivalent applications are not built into the Smartphone. Fortunately, third-party developers offer a number of note taker applications. One of the better ones, Vieka WordPad (vieka.com/wordpad.htm), is available for free.

Smartphones come with Internet Explorer built in, but because the display is so small, you end up doing a lot of scrolling to find what you’re looking for. The free utility SmartSCROLL (smartphone.net) makes it easier to quickly move around a Web page, forward to new pages, and more. Toggle View (greatbal.blogspot.com) lets you change the look of the Smartphone’s programs menu to a list view. And CeleTast (airfagev.com) is a power task/process manager that lets you open, close, and switch between applications; check your power and memory status; shut down and reboot the Smartphone, and more.

A number of useful freeware utilities are also available for the Pocket PC. You occasionally have to perform a “soft reset” of your Pocket PC—the equivalent of turning it completely off and back on again. This is done by inserting the stylus tip into a small hole on the back of the device: doing it repeatedly with too much force can damage the reset function. SoftReset (pocketgear.com) lets you reset the device by tapping on the program’s icon. Program- MenuPlus (tillanosoft.com/ce) adds cascading menus similar to the Start menus of desktop PCs.

Finally, the Pocket PC has a built-in dictionary that suggests words based on the first few letters you type in. For example, if you’re typing a memo in Word and type in “des” a small box will pop up listing “designed,” “described,” etc. To finishing entering the word tap on the desired word in the pop up box. There is no built-in option to add words to this dictionary, but Word Completion Dictionary Editor (dmitriy.geels.googlepages.com/dictionaryeditor) lets you do so.

Mobile device with great utility software Utilities are focused programs that add a single, important feature to the device / OS. With the exception of games, there are more utility programs available for the Pocket PC and Smartphone than any other category of software.

Low cost utility solutions

Resco Explorer from Resco (resco-net.com) is a feature rich replacement alternative to the Pocket PC’s File Explorer. It includes the standard features of File Explorer, but adds strong file encryption, ZIP compression, a file viewer, a Registry editor, and more. Other excellent, full-featured file explorers are available, including ALL-explorer (all-locations.com), PE Explorer Suite (vieka.com), and Total Commander (ghisler.com/ce.htm). All but PE Explorer are available for both the Pocket PC and Smartphone.

The Pocket PC has handwriting recognition built into it, but third-party alternatives are also available. CalliGrapher from PhatWare (phatware.com) supports cursive, print, or mixed styles, and includes a “quick correct” window for fixing mistakes. PenReader (penreader.com) and others offer handwriting recognition solutions for the Pocket PC.

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Pocket Mechanic (antontomov.com) is a maintenance utility for Pocket PCs that lets you free up internal memory by finding and deleting unnecessary files. You can also use this program to format, de-fragment, scan, and repair CF, SD, and other storage cards. Tweaks2K2 (tweaks2k2.com) is a program that automates the process of “hacking” the System Registry on the Pocket PC or Smartphone. This allows you to change the system’s colors, fonts, battery settings, and much more. John Cody’s Alerts! Pro (omnisoft.com) lets you set Smartphone “alarms” that perform actions, such as switching profiles, running a program, and more.

Windows Mobile devices don’t have built-in printing capabilities, but Field Software (fieldsoftware.com) offers a number of products that add it, including PrintPocket-CE and SmartPhonePrint. (Note: Word and Excel printing not supported on Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs.)

Do you find the screen on your Pocket PC too small? Check out WinMobile Lens (adisasta.com), a utility that lets you magnify any part of the Pocket PC screen for easier viewing. Do you have trouble entering text on the Pocket PC using the built-in soft input panels? You can speed things up with AccessPanel (developerone.com), a utility that pops-up in other Pocket PC applications, allowing you to quickly insert text, e-mail signatures, contact data, date/time info, and more. There are also a number of very useful alternate input panels for the Pocket PC. Check out Fitaly (fitaly.com), Phraze-It (prevalentdevices.com), and TenGO (free.tengo.net).

We mentioned a freeware note taker earlier in this section. A number of excellent, inexpensive titles are also available for the Smartphone. Check out PhatNotes (phatware.com) and SmartphoneNotes (syncdata.it/sphnotes.html). One of the more interesting note taker programs for the Smartphone is John Cody’s Vnotes Pro (omnisoft.com), a program that lets you record voice memos and attach them to recurring or non-recurring reminders.

Again, there are hundreds of utilities for the Pocket PC and Smartphone. The ones described above are just a fraction of those available.

(c) 2007 Thaddeus Computing, publisher Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine. Click here to receive a free trial issue.