Well after having my Axim for a good week, I've absolutely loaded it with software...and finally decided upon what I liked, and erased the rest. I did a hard reset yesterday and installed just the apps I wanted, and started fresh. So here's the list of applications that you simply must have.
1. Pocket Facelift
This one you have to be careful with, because you *have* to turn off menu animations and a few other options, or else it bogs down your system. I also turned off the battery meter and plaunch functions. Once that was all done, it was smooth and fast...still is. It brings back cascading menus like actual Windows, adds great menu graphics, and adds a few handy features here and there. It basically makes your Axim useable. I'll never go without it.
2. CleanTemp
This little program cleans all of your Temp files out each time you soft boot. I soft boot once a day just for good measure, and this works wonders. (Freeware)
3. Launcher
A tiny little program that puts a "QuickLaunch" of sorts onto your Today screen. You can add and remove programs as you please. It's very stable, and the icons are nice and tidy and small. I love it. (Freeware)
4. Battery Monitor
A commercial program that monitors your usage and sleep time, and charts your batteries life, accordingly. Very handy.
5. PocketMVP
Crappy interface, excellent usability. Plays all but WMV files (which Media player will do), is great for MP3s, has a nice equalizer, and has button mapping so you can turn off your screen while listening to music. Also supports playlists of multiple media types. (Freeware)
6. Resco File Explorer
Absolute must have, to replace the crappy file explorer that comes with your Axim.
7. Pocket Tools
Gives you the rundown of all your system files running, memory settings, processes, device manager, etc. Very powerful and very handy. I actually found a situation in which the system wouldn't shut down a program that I wanted to erase, and Pocket Tools shut it down with no problem.
8. Pocket Tweak
Lets you animate menus, enable clear type in more applications, change file associations, change system fonts and sizes, scrollbar size, etc. A must have.
So that's it guys...software that I will never live without, on my new baby Axim. While I won't get into details, I have all of the above software in full version, and didn't pay a penny for it. That's not to say that I condone piracy, as I do plan on buying the software soon as I can afford it. But if you look hard enough, it's all out there. I'd be happy to email the Freeware software to anybody who asks, it's all small enough for an email attachment.
Osiris-Yes, I would also like the links. I have the trial version of Pocket Facelift and it tends to lock things up on the Today screen every now and then and I'm forced to do a soft reset. Any ideas?
Thanks,
MissC
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Quote - The more we know, the more we forgive.
Osiris -
I have loved watching your posts as you prepared for your new "bundle of joy" then received it, now have it all outfitted. You sound like a person who researches their stuff. I have had mine for a week or two longer than yours and am going to try some of your advice. Now I wonder what your desktop PC must be like (...I think you stated somewhere her name was Isis?...). She must run like a CHARM !!! Keep up with the great insight, sharing, advice :)
Thanks for the comments! Isis is my hand built baby, an Athlon XP 1700+ computer in an Antec mid tower case, with a half gig of RAM and 30 gigs of hard drive space. She's got DDR memory, an ATA133 HD interface, and an Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti 4200 graphics card which has 128 MB of RAM. In front is two Antec case fans with imbedded blue LED lights, which illuminates the entire front and inside of the case in blue. Inside the system are rounded IDE drive cables, as to allow better air flow. There are no wide IDE cables to be found. The system is running Windows XP Pro, and is babied every day. I run auto scripts to clean out the temp files upon each boot, and the entire system registry gets cleaned once a week along with a defragmentation of the drives. :) She'll soon have a 60 gig Serial ATA drive which will be added for speed.
I've also got a 250 gig server sitting next to her, which runs an FTP 24/7, which just happens to have Pocket PC software on it. ;)
Naturally, I'm just as much of a freak about my Axim, the temp files get cleaned automatically with each soft reset, and I soft reset the system once a day or so, just for good measure. I love my new toy! :)
I took pictures of both Isis, and of my Axim the day I got it. I'll post all the pictures in a new message post in about 5 minutes, I'll just need to resize them and upload them to my server.
I had the same problems with Pocket Facelift upon first installation. It was quite slow, bogged down my Axim, and even crashed once in a while. Heck, while at work last week it rendered my Start menu inoperable and I had to do a hard reset. I then got the full version, turned off most of the fancy animation options and whatnot, and it runs perfectly. There's no slowdown, no crashes, and I love it. The options to turn off are "pLauncher" and the battery monitor, and window and menu animations. Do that, and it's smooth sailing.
Besides, "Launcher" is a better freeware program, if you want a program launcher on your today menu.
What would be the difference between Pocket Facelift and Snoopsoft? I looked at both as I pine away waiting for the delivery of my Axim. Also does anyone out there have experience with a 3rd party product to bring Access into the Pocket PC?
Thanks,
I use a program from Omega One (Battery Pack 2003) that incorporates Today screen shortcuts (launcher), battery monitor, memory monitor, clean-up and tweaks (and probably others I forgot to mention) all in one program.
It is very stable and I don't know how I lived without it!
I found it here, but you can also get it at Handango...
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Alan
Dell Axim X5 Advanced 400 MHz Lover by Nature, Drinker by Choice, Fighter by Trade
One of the great programs for any PPC is Avantgo[/URL]http://www.avantgo.com It allows you to carry around news, weather, articles (on topics you select), and it's free. I have used it for years (palm to ppc), and I will load it on the wife's Axim as soon as it arrives. Also Resco's file explorer that was mentioned previously. like working on a desktop...K
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