Database Develop

Slowdown + Application compatibility + Defragmenting XDA2i

Hi,
:idea:
I'd be interested in everyone's comments re the slowdown caused by adding programs, and I guess others would too.
Part of it is normal caused by eating up the available memory, both storage (and ram?)
However I have found that some applications do not seem to work well on the XDA2i, even though they do actually work. The problem is that this only comes to light after a while, after you've actually shelled out the money for a product that seems fine.
I list below products that I have found work on my XDA2i and those that seem to irritate the XDA2i so that it gradually gets worse and needs a hard reset.
I have tried defragmenting, and believe that Pocket Mechanic works fine a few times then things grind to a halt.
I am not an expert, and obviously cannot prove that the products are faulty, so take what I list 'with a pinch of salt' - but it might be that others might add others or agree/disagree with my findings, and might be careful about thoughily testing before purchase.
1-Calc 2.3.1 seems fine
BIBLE WITH YOU for Pocket PC- GMPSoft seems fine.
Journal Bar seems fine
POCKET ARTIST seems fine
Pocket Controller- Professional 5.04 seems fine
POCKET DVD WIZARD seems fine
Pocket Streamer Pro seems fine
PocketBible - NIV Version by Laridian seems fine
RESCO EXPLORER 2005 seems fine
TCPMP (The Core Media Player) (freeware) seems fine
MTUX RingToneX - Ringtone Coloring 2.1 not sure about this
DVD to Pocket PC for me was problematic after version 2
1-Pass - Revolutionary Security App not sure
eXPerience (Windows XP Style Interface) had this running ok but slow on XDA2 but not tested on XDA2i
File Transfer Anywhere(PPC Anywhere) 3.01. Tried trial period but didn't like it.
iLOCK e-wallet password manager 1.0.1 had this running ok but slow on XDA2 but not tested on XDA2i
POCKET TV ENTERPRISE worked fine up to version 1.2 on my XDA2i
Pocket Mechanic. Not sure. I bought it to defrag XDA2i and storage. Found that after a few times the system slows down and needs to be restored.
TV Remote commander. Not sure about the usefulness because Very limited range.
---

andromeda9,
try using Tweaks2K2.NET. quite amazing tweaking software. can speed up your display. i can feel the speed different.....

Tweaks2k2net
Thanks Clustered.
I've downloaded the trial. What settings worked best for you?

Under Video, I tick the Speed Up Display.

Thanks the display is quicker...
Thanks for the tip...
The display is quicker.
It seems overkill to go for Tweaks2K2 but just for one display fix, and the Date/time on the bar (I love it!) so is there anything else you might recommend?
Thanks

just try yourself....maybe you will like others.....

Ok.
Appreciate your help.

I removed O2 Active and the XDA2i is about 10 times quicker and more reliable now.
This is how I removed O2 active:
1) Use file explorer to navigate to: my device>windows>startup.
2) Move the file called connections to another folder.
3) Navigate to: my device>windows>fonts.
4) Rename the "xpdr_02" file to "xpdr_021".
5) Soft reset your phone.
6) Go to: Settings>system>remove programs.
7) Uninstall O2 active. You may get a message saying that certain dll files are in use in windows directory- simply use file explorer to rename these files and try again. Rename them back afterwards.
8) Use file explorer to navigate to: my device>windows>fonts.
9) Rename the "xpdr_021" file back to "xpdr_02".
10) Navigate to: my device>windows>mobile solutions.
11) Cut and paste this folder to your built in storage
12) Soft reset the phone.

Thanks Hedley!

Hedley,
:?:
I just thought of a question re your unistall procedure.
After unistall, can you change 'profile' in order not to cause problems on aircraft?
In Active, I quite liked the simplicity of the email setup. I suppose once it's installed it is not neccessary, but did you find / is there anything else likely to be needed after removing?
Thanks

It is definately Faster!!
I am impressed with this one, my XDAIIi is definately a lot faster!
Cheers for that! :lol:

Airplane trips?
andromeda9 said:
Thanks Hedley!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Hedley,
:?:
I'm thinking about what you describe, maybe migfht trial it over Christmas... but once Active is uninstalled can you tell me how I might cope with Airplane travel?
i.e. can you turn off the 'airplane' parts? because obviously just shutting down the XDA leves it actively listening.#
Thanks

"Flight" mode
You can enable flight mode (turn off mobile receiver) by tapping the reception icon on the top bar. In the bubble that appears, there is a link to "Turn on flight mode" / "Turn off flight mode"
The piece of software I really miss in the O2 active is the "profile" stuff, which unless I'm blind isn't in the 2003 OS. For example: normal, work, silent, noisy etc
I wouldn't manually uninstall the Active rubbish - do a corporate install instead. If you have to manually delete locked files etc etc you're asking for trouble later.

Thanks MMM
Thanks for the information and tips.
What is a corporate install - I am not familar with the term.

thorneh said:
7) Uninstall O2 active. You may get a message saying that certain dll files are in use in windows directory- simply use file explorer to rename these files and try again. Rename them back afterwards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Goto Start->Settings->Today->Items and uncheck the ones O2 puts on there (can't think off hand which ones they are!) this stops the dll in use messages.
mmm_ok said:
I wouldn't manually uninstall the Active rubbish - do a corporate install instead. If you have to manually delete locked files etc etc you're asking for trouble later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem with the corporate install I found, was it didn't setup the O2 GPRS and MMS settings before finishing device setup, I had a pain setting them up manually, and when I finally managed it, they didn't work 100% (or maybe it was i didn't trust my work 100%!)
You can invoke a corporate install by selecting it when it asks if you are a personal or corporate user. it'll ask you for a password, which is 0506 if memory serves me correct.

What to do with blank OS

I have attempted to flash Touch-IT 3 to my WING and it failed. I tried this twice the first time it disconnected somewhere in the middle of flashing and the second time it gave me a sector "error" (Can't remember exactly what it said). Now the lucky part is that I have be able to restart the device and it does function partially. Problem is that most of the functions of WM6 are now missing and I would like to have some opinions as to what would be a good way of building a usable device from this.
Things I need
Office
Transcriber (I am one of the few that use this)
Internet Sharing
A text messaging app. (I can receive them but cannot reply-to or find them after I dismiss it).
What to tweak to improve sound quality.
Network Name (like it says T-mobile not GET MORE.......)
WiFi to connect without having to select the network and press connect
Bluetooth Functionality (Bluetooth Sharing, A2DP)
A fix for this memory leak
Current State
32.98MB Storage Free
26.19MB Program Free (After Soft Reset)
No Programs Installed (Under Remove Programs)
Touchflo with Cube (Installed From Flash)
HTC Audio Manager (Links but no program)
MS Word (found a link that works but seems to be decompressing from someplace)
HTC Album (Does seem to function)
Total Commander
Calendar
Camera
Contacts (Has references in menus to PocketCM but it is not there)
Windows Media (Touch-It Skinned)
Tasks and Voice Recorder (Work)
Help (Has contents and most help files it seems)
HTC Home (Functions but no options)
That covers just about everything. If anyone has any ideas I'll be glad to hear them. The things in the list are the only stuff I have no idea how to put on without cooking them into a ROM and some of the stuff I have never even tried before.
Thanks

Look at either the HyperCore kitchen or the EasyBakeOven. The hypercore has more options, but the easy bake oven... well, it's easy. These will help you create a ROM.
As far as the errors, make sure the phone has its phone features turned off when you do start updating. If someone tries to call mid-update, it will break the update.

O2 Stellar and HTC X button

I'd be grateful if anyone could offer any help with this issue.
I have an O2 branded version of the Kaiser. I have installed various of the cabs for HTC software available on this forum - which is excellent, by the way - and was very glad to find an "X" button solution.
Unfortunately, the device then started to crash whenever I closed a program for the first time and had to soft reset. I got a message saying that there was a problem with the shell.
As it stopped when I uninstalled HTC X Button, I am 99% certain that it was source of my problem. O2 stick a program manager in the system bar. It does not add X button functionality, but it does allow manual closure of a program. It does not appear ion any program list, and cannot be removed or closed itself, so I assume that it is part of the rom (not that I am an expert!)
Can anyone confirm this problem, and/or suggest a (preferably freely available) X button program that does not cause any issues? Alternatively, can the (fairly useless) O2 program be removed or closed without replacing the rom?

you are probably correct that the 2 apps are causing the issue. Have you looked in the \windows\startup folder for the O2 app? Also, there is a registry entry called INIT that does startup of services for the device. I can't remember right now where it's located in the registry. Let me know if you find anything in the startup folder and if not, I'll look up the key for you.

There is a file called O2 Custom in the Startup folder which has the same icon as the manager program I want rid of, but it is only 21b in size, so I assume that it is a shortcut.
Thanks for the suggestion. I would be grateful for some guidance on thew registry, since I am too inexperienced with this stuff to go poking around without very specific instructions!

spider_j said:
There is a file called O2 Custom in the Startup folder which has the same icon as the manager program I want rid of, but it is only 21b in size, so I assume that it is a shortcut.
Thanks for the suggestion. I would be grateful for some guidance on thew registry, since I am too inexperienced with this stuff to go poking around without very specific instructions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that startup is probably it. you can try to cut&paste the shortcut to your 'my documents' folder, then reboot, then see if that o2 app is started after reboot. if not, then you found the solution.

I wonder if we are able to do a "corporate" install after hard reset like I used to be able to do with my Universal so it doesn't load all the 02 rubbish

Works like a charm, thanks smittyofdhs. The o2 program manager is gone, and HTC XButton 1.51 has not caused any soft resets so far.
You know, I feel really stupid not realising that removing the shortcut from startup would have done the job. I would have done the equivalent on my desktop or laptop without even thinking about it.

HTC has a new version of their Task Manager (V2.0) that can be found pretty easily by searching this website. The only problem I have with HTC's Task Manager(s) is that while the "X" functionality works in every application, the Task Manager feature seems to work only on the Today screen. Therefore, I have found WkTask to be a very good free task manager which also combines a program launcher.

Annoying remnants of uninstalled programs

First of all, I am very very satisfied witj my TyTN II.
Video playback WAS an issue for me (as a AV professional), but I am absolutely satisfied after installing CorePlayer and looking forward to the upgrade to version 1.2 of that program.
Other programs were less to my liking and after evaluation I decided to uninstall them using the uninstall utility of MS Active Sync.
But some of these programs simply refuse to uninstall. So I still have a shortcut to the Feedreader program News Gato in my programs map and I cannot get rid of it.
Even more annoying is the Spite Backup program that came with the TyTN II on CD, which I uninstalled, but still givbes me a warning at startup that the file Sprite.exe cannot be found.
DO ANY OF YOU HAVE A CLUE HOW I SHOULD CLEAN UP?
Thanks!

I know what you mean about annoying programmes which won't disapear when they are uninstalled.
One of them for me is a windows live messenger version which I installed. I couldn't get rid of it by softresetting so I had to do the hard reset.
Moreover, PointUI is anothe programme that when uninstalled, still remains on my programme list. Because of this, I had to also hard reset my device.
The hard reset function is the only solution I know that will rid me of troublesome remnants of programmes...

Try SKtools its a good program and has a few features that clean up your registry and it also has an uninstaller better then the one provided by windows. Don't know if it'll work, but worth a shot.

I had the same problem with Sprite - at their web site I found the following fix, which worked for me:
To uninstall everything from your device and PC please follow these steps;
To remove from your device;
1. Use File Explorer to delete the entire folder on your device;
"\Program Files\Sprite Software" if Sprite Backup was installed on device
or
"\Storage Card\Program Files\Sprite Software" if installed on storage card
2. Use a registry editor (e.g. www.phm.lu) for Windows Mobile device to delete the following key in the registry on your device;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Sprite Software\Sprite Backup]
3. Please also delete the following link file if it exists:
- My Device\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Sprite Backup(.lnk)
To uninstall from your PC;
Steps for manually removing ALL Sprite Software entries from your PC. Please follow these steps carefully to manually remove all Sprite Backup software;
1. Click Start> Run on your PC and type "Regedit" in the bar
2. Delete the following keys;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\AppMgr\Apps\Sprite Software Sprite Backup]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sprite Software\Sprite Backup]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{D8FD4D0D-E171-4FFC-91CE-BA38EEAC5E06}]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sprite Software\Sprite Backup]
3. Close the Registry Editor
4. Use Windows Explorer to delete these folders;
C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{D8FD4D0D-E171-4FFC-91CE-BA38EEAC5E06}
C:\Program Files\Sprite Software\Sprite Backup
C:\Program Files\Sprite Software\Sprite Explorer
This will uninstall everything related to Sprite Backup.

246810 said:
I know what you mean about annoying programmes which won't disapear when they are uninstalled.
One of them for me is a windows live messenger version which I installed. I couldn't get rid of it by softresetting so I had to do the hard reset.
Moreover, PointUI is anothe programme that when uninstalled, still remains on my programme list. Because of this, I had to also hard reset my device.
The hard reset function is the only solution I know that will rid me of troublesome remnants of programmes...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that same application ths morning and 2 hours later I was uninstalling it. It looked cool, but my internet was painfully slow, and the gestures were all backwards. To get the menu to slide left, you had to slide your finger right on the screen. The hardware keys didn't work, and then when the application locked up on me that was it. The only way out I found was to hit the end key repeatedly until it finally exited. Then the uninstall instructions didn't work. I think that could be a fine program once it is refined, but right now it was a pain.
-Jay

Jay2TheRescue said:
I tried that same application ths morning and 2 hours later I was uninstalling it. It looked cool, but my internet was painfully slow, and the gestures were all backwards. To get the menu to slide left, you had to slide your finger right on the screen. The hardware keys didn't work, and then when the application locked up on me that was it. The only way out I found was to hit the end key repeatedly until it finally exited. Then the uninstall instructions didn't work. I think that could be a fine program once it is refined, but right now it was a pain.
-Jay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean about the gestures being in reverse. This took a while to get used to.
By the way, I had the previous blue version installed on my Kaiser, not the latest black version. I suppose I could give it anothe go, but I can't be bothered to do another hard reset if I don't like the programme and want it fully removed
But yes, I do agree that it would be a good programme once all the little technicalities are fixed. I still do like the normal windows 6 UI, after installing Dutty's CAB which makes the start menu bigger

246810 said:
I know what you mean about the gestures being in reverse. This took a while to get used to.
By the way, I had the previous blue version installed on my Kaiser, not the latest black version. I suppose I could give it anothe go, but I can't be bothered to do another hard reset if I don't like the programme and want it fully removed
But yes, I do agree that it would be a good programme once all the little technicalities are fixed. I still do like the normal windows 6 UI, after installing Dutty's CAB which makes the start menu bigger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dutty's enlarged start menu is fantastic. I can navigate the start menu w/o my stylus. One of the best, easiest, and most useful mods out there!
-Jay

I tried SK Tools...and it did the job!
Thanks for the tip

GoodLink problem, anyone can help?

I have goodlink installed on my Kaiser and can't remove it since it is required by the company.
Well, the bad things are:
1. The goodlink main program "GoodApp.exe" can somehow start itself automatically. It really eat a lot of battery and can cause extra GPRS traffic.
I've remove the .lnk file from \Windows\Startup directory so that GoodApp can't start during system startup.
But, it will still run after several minutes and can't be correcly stopped.
Generally, there're two Good applications displayed in the TaskMgr: GoodApp.exe and GmdMoniterApp.exe, it's easy to kill the GmdMonitorApp.exe but when you want to kill GoodApp.exe, it will always prompt an error, though after that it seems the GoodApp.exe disappears in the TaskMgr. However it will start again after several minutes. CRAZY!
Anyone knows how to kill the GoodApp.exe so that I can run it on my will?
2. The Good software modifies the shortcut to the "Contact" menu (on the bottom-right corner of the screen). Normally when you hit the "Contact" menu it should display the contact list of your SIM card or so. But after installing Good, this menu points to the Good contact list. It's really annoying!
Where could I get the "Contact" menu back?
Thanks a lot!

I'm in the same boat, hate what Good Mail hijacks! Found a couple of ini's but since Good's support site is garbage, it didn't help much.
Have tried a whole mess of things, all to no avail....
If anyone else comes up with any suggestions, I'm all ears.
MBN

Just as a follow up, I've reflashed my phone umpteen times trying various "fixes" with no luck. Thought I'd found the registry entries (HKLM\Sofware\Microsoft\Shell\RAI) and tried tweaking those.... no help, DOH!
Tried to overwrite the various exe's with empty "fabricated" ones (renamed empty text docs and overwrote the Good mail ones), still nothing.
A couple of weeks ago I had a version of Good that at least left the contacts in my dialpad intact...latest version hijacked that one as well.
I have my IT dept contacting Good to see if they will offer any insight (not holding my breath). I fear I am left only with trying a third party PIM.... but the way things are going, Good will hijack that too!!!
If I hear or find anything, I'll update.
MBN

I have to say that GoodLink is the most dirty PDA software I've ever seen.
It uses a lot of dirty method to protect it from being disabled.
There are 3 main programs related with the protection(I can't remembet all the names):
1. GmdLockApp.exe: to protect your cellphone with a password. it will force you to set a password and you'll have to input the password every time the phone come back from standby mode (or so...).
2. GmdProtector.exe: to protect GoodLink components. With this program running, you'll never get a chance to modify any configuration of GoodLink (such as renaming a GoodLink program, or change a Reg key of it...).
3. GmdLaunchGuard.exe: this is the most dirty program, it hijacks almost all other application's shortcuts. Try to search "GmdLaunchGuard" in the Reg table you will find there's many results indicating the original windows configuration was changed by it.
For problem 1 & 2, I got a workaround so that you can at least modify some Reg key to do furthur test and can kill the GmdMonitorApp.exe & GoodApp.exe at last:
Steps:
1. Use GoodLink backup tool to backup it on to the storge card;
2. On the root of storage card there's a directory "GoodLink Backup", enter that dir and just delete the GmdLockApp.exe;
3. Also in that dir, rename the GmdProtector.exe to GmdProtectorBak.exe or something like that;
4. Soft reset you cellphone (by pressing both function keys then press reset) to let it return to the original state;
5. After restart, in the storage card root dir, there's a Restore GoodLink short cut, excute it will restore GoodLink to the memory;
6. Enter Windows\Startup dir, delete the short cut which points to GoodLink;
After above steps at least GoodLink will not start immediately after system startup, but it can start at anytime (I'm not sure).
However you can kill the GmdMonitorApp.exe and GoodApp.exe in the TaskMgr. You'd better stop GPRS before you kill GoodApp.exe, or it will prompt you an error.
For problem 3 (actually it relates with displaying the contacts), I still didn't find a good way to resolve it (simply rename the GmdLaunchGuard.exe will not work, and perhaps will make you can't load any program).
However you can see your SIM card contact by pressing "Send" key, it will bring out the contact list though it's very inconvenient and lossing some functionality such as smart searching...

You can rename the GoodApp.exe so it will never be started.

I could probably live with the constant presence of Good, I just hate that it hijacked my contacts....
It links contacts to only one of our company's address books, and it happens to be the employee addy book.... doesn't exactly help me much.
Oh, and have I mentioned that it's pushing Lotus Notes...another favorite of mine!

Resurrecting an old thread here... I hate how Good hijacks the Calendar and Contacts softkeys and I want to work on that issue again. Has anyone made progress with that?
As far as the GPRS activity and battery life, if you launch GoodMail and then goto the options menu you can set it to "Work Offline" which prevents it from auto-checking for new mail. You can then go to that same options menu whenever you want and select "Send/Receive" to manually pull your mail.