[vicott]

Here are some thread/articles that are good references on how to manage your limited Pocket PC resources (power & memory) well:
Speed up your Pocket PC
Free task managers
Statistically estimated vs Fixed Battery lifetime
Battery reports 100%?
Diff between USB Slow charge or Fast charge?
Is the first 8 hrs charge necessary?
Does battery life extender really work?
Charging Lithim-based Batteries

Feel free to contribute here if u find any good articles/links, etc or have any good tips to post.

[vicott]

Some good guides:
How to install programs
Tips on where to install PPC software
More Tips to increase Mini's Memory - also applicable for other Pocket PCs
Method to slightly increase Mini memory space - also applicable for other Pocket PCs
How to maintain your PPC to run at good speed
Instructions to speed up mini - Applies to all Pocket PCs
Fine-tuning your memory consumption – relocating uninstall/update-time stuff
Relocating (part of) Spb Pocket Plus 3.0
How to move Calligrapher out of your RAM
RAM too small, Ringtone too huge?
A roundup of Cleaning Utilities (MemMaid, SKTools, etc)
How Often Does Your PPC Phone Hang? - Applies to all Pocket PCs
Moving shared DLLs out of RAM
Optimize your Internet access speed - Relocate the PIE/NetFront cache
How much CPU time do Today plug-ins/synchronized emails/Wi-Fi/BT keyboard drivers "eat"?
Optimizing your Storage Card Speed

Registry Tweaks:
Change the default folder for ringtones
Speed up your device by changing the memory to cache font glyphs
Changing PIE temp files directory

Registry Editors & Tweaking Tools for Pocket PCs:
RegKing
Tweaks2k2.Net
PHM Registry Editor - Registry Editor Freeware.
PocketTweak - Freeware
Tweaks2k2.Net Lite - Freeware

Registry Editors & Tweaking Tools for Smartphones:
Tweaks2k2.Net SP - Registry Tweaks
PHM Registry Editor - Registry Editor Freeware.

Some useful Cleaning Utilities:
SKTools - Very comprehensive suite of cleaning functions
MemMaid - Very user-friendly interface and also includes many useful functions.
Space Reclaimer
FastCleanup - Freeware; Clears AvantGo files as well
SpeedClean - Not compatible with WM2003
ClearTemp - Freeware

Misc Tools:
Pocket Mechanic
Pocket Battery Analyzer
Pocket Hack Master - Overclocking
SoftReset - Soft Reset utility for your Pocket PC; Freeware
HardReset - Hard Reset Tool for your Pocket PC; Freeware
ScreenToggle - Toggles the screen on/off without turning off the Pocket PC; Freeware

[madakuse]

hey vicott bro nice list over here

by the way i know one bro share with us how to delete all the help files method.

very clear description

i cant seems to find the thread u know where?

by the way i have a problem deleting a stuff.

from Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\Index.that

do you know what is this file for anyway?

[vicott]

index.that is locked by the system upon bootup. the most u can do is to clear the contents of these files using utilities that clear temp files/history, etc (e.g. FastCleanup). after u have cleared the temp folders, each index.that file is reduced to only a 16KB file.

anyway, this thread is mainly a collection of links to several useful threads. if i manage to find more threads that are relevant, i will post the links here.

[vicott]

Here are some of the extreme measures to help u free up more RAM. Some files that can be removed if u do not need them, or relocated to Storage ROM/Storage Card.

• Help Files - found under "\Windows\" folder
  
• Favorites - "\Windows\Favorites\". u might not be using some/all of them
  
• Help Links - "\Windows\Favorites\Help\".
  
• Uninstaller - *.unload files under "\Windows\" folder. backup them to SD card in case u need to uninstall the app next time
  
• some files in My Documents which u do not need
  
• Readme files for each program folder.
  
• Bundled skins/themes - e.g. those that come with Pocket Plus, WisBar Advance, PocketBreeze, etc
  
• For Pocket Plus, if u use the indicators from the default theme only, delete those image files in "\Windows\" folder. there are 10 GIF files with "pls_" as the prefix to the filenames.
  
• Shared DLL files - require registry tweaking. good to use Tweaks2k2.Net for simplicity. huge savings if u have Resco Explorer or Pocket Informant
  
• some files for Pocket Plus can be relocated. read here.
  
• if u are not going to use the custom icons for your shortcuts in Pocket Plus, u can remove/relocate custom16.png and custom32.png under "Program Files\PocketPlus\Icons\"
  
• Template files under "\My Documents\Templates\" can be relocated if u do not need them
  
• any shortcuts under "\Windows\Start Menu\" which u do not need
  
• use Registry Editor to look out for unused registry keys related to uninstalled programs. u need need to explorer around under HKLM or HKCU
  
• if you are not using Button Actions in Pocket Plus, u can remove/relocate "AltTab.exe"
  
• for Pocket Informant, u can consider removing/relocating unused icons from "\My Documents\WebIS\IconStore\"
  
• for Spb Diary, u can consider removing/relocating unused icons from "\Program Files\Spb Diary\IconSet\"
  
• for PhonePad, u can consider removing/relocating unused foreign language DLL files in "\Windows\" folder, e.g. "T9FrenchLdb.dll", "T9SpanishLdb.dll", etc.
  
• relocate PIE/NetFront's temp file folders - however, this might slow down the cache access if not done properly. refer to this guide for more info.
  
• relocate system fonts out of RAM. read this thread for more info.

some other measures to "speed up" the Pocket PC:

• increase font cache glyph
  
• check "\Windows\StartUp\" folder.
  
• clear notification duplicates
  
• clear temp files, history, temp internet files, and cookies regularly
  
• soft reset regularly to recover from memory leaks

If u need the links/guides for the above suggestions, u can check out the Beginner's Guide or try the Forum Search.

[vicott]

If you have Resco Explorer or Pocket Informant installed, you will realise that they have quite a couple of shared DLL files in the main memory no matter where you choose your installation folder to be.

To move the DLL files over to another storage volume, e.g. Storage ROM, you can do some tweaking. The easiest way is to use Tweaks2k2.Net to scan/move some shared DLLs out of main memory.

Actually, if you want to settle for a cheaper program, u can try PItoMem .NET, also by the same developer. However, it only searches for shared DLLs for Pocket Informant. This helps you to move about 1.2MB of shared DLL files for PI out of the main memory. :grin:

Some relevant threads:
TiP: How to move shared DLLs to Storage
System Path v1.10

[vicott]

Some Recommended/Popular task managers that are available

Do you know that the "X" button only minimises your applications when you are not using any task managers? After some time, u may realise your device runs low on memory and starts to slow down. For a start, you can check out this Tech Guide for a brief description of some free Task Managers that are available. :smile:

Freewares for Pocket PCs:
vBar
PocketNav
Magic Button
Wisbar Advance 1.3.2.2
GSPocketMagic++
Icbar
WIS Bar Light
SmallMenu
InClose Mobile
pBar

Sharewares for Pocket PCs:
Spb Pocket Plus
OmegaOne BatteryPack Pro
Wisbar Advance 2.x
HandySwitcher
SKMenu

Task Managers for Smartphones:
xBar

[vicott]

I noticed that some newbies may be wondering what the power button really does and whether we are able to power down Windows Mobile devices totally. The following explaination applies to both Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

vicott, on Sep 4 2005, 09:43 AM, said:

Windows Mobile 2003 SE (and below) doesn't allow you to power down the device totally unless there is a special battery switch designed for the device. When u press the power switch, it only moves the device to standby state. That is why we are able to turn on the device and use immediately. If you really power down the device totally, it will be equivalent of performing a hard reset.

However, persistent storage is introduced in Windows Mobile 5.0. Basically, persistent storage means we will no longer need to rely so much on the RAM, i.e. installation or programs to main memory will be referring to the ROM instead. This also means that we will be able to power down the devices in Windows Mobile 5.0, and yet not resulting in a hard reset. :smile:

Also note that in WM2003SE (and below), a flat battery or removing the battery for too long a time may result in a hard reset as well.

[vicott]

Here are some of the possible reasons why your Pocket PC may appear to be sluggish:

• Windows menu animation
  
• Display cache low
  
• Programs minimized instead of closed
  
• Too many background applications running
  
• Too many today plug-ins
  
• Sluggish today plug-ins, Task Manager, background applications, etc
  
• Low on Program Memory
  
• Too many temp files taking up the memory
  
• Too many programs installed to main memory (RAM)
  
• Slow processor (u can only blame on the hardware)
  
• Use of VGA themes on a non-VGA device
  
• Use of flash themes
  
• Running Java/Flash programs or emulators
  
• Running sluggish or big programs
  
• Opening large text documents
  
• Duplicate entries in Notification Queue
  
• System applications (e.g. Background applications, Task Managers, Today Plug-ins, SIPs, etc) not installed to main memory

Is there anything I missed out?

[vicott]

Notice your Pocket PC slowing down with each soft reset? This is a known bug in WM2003 where there are duplicate notifications created in the queue upon each soft reset. you can download ScaryBear's CheckNotifications to look out for duplicate notification entries and remove them. if u do not feel confident to remove them, u can use Notification Clear Fix to clear the duplicates. do not mess around with notifications entries u are unsure of, cos removing them may result in your device not functioning properly on some occassions. Check out this link for the freewares. If you have Spb Pocket Plus installed, you can also make use of the "2003 Startup Fix" to clear the duplicates automatically with each soft reset. :smile: