How to disable Autorun from SD/CF storage cards?

The simplest way to get rid of autorun from storage cards (SD/CF) is to put a dummy readonly application named autorun.exe into the \Windows folder.

Why will this work?

When an storage card is inserted, autorun.exe is copied from the storage card root folder to \Windows folder and then it is executed which may be resposible in showing some annoying user interface. By putting a readonly dummy execuatble with the same name, OS won't overwrite it with the copy from the storage card. It will just run the dummy autorun.exe which will do nothing.

Fixing ActiveSync battery drain issue on your WM 5 PDA

You may have observed your PDA's battery draining out faster when its connected to the desktop PC over ActiveSync. The reason may be because ActiveSync is scheduled to reconnect and sync up every X minutes. It will do so even if there is synchronization required.

You can fix this problem easily.

* Remove the PDA from cradle and disconnect ActiveSync
* Go to Start Menu -> Programs -> ActiveSync. This will launch activesync configuration application on the PDA
* Tap on Menu -> Add Server Source...
* In the Edit Server Settings page, enter any fake ip address or name. Tap on Next and enter fake credentials, Finally tap on Finish
* Now again tap on Menu -> Schedule and Select Manually in the two combo boxes
* Tap Menu -> Options and delete the fake server entry

The PDA is now ready to sync up whenever you want it to.

Getting rid of Start Menu animation

All pocket pc users will know that tapping on Start pulls down the menu with animation effect. For some people it may be a little incovenient to see this animation all the time. Well..it can be disabled with a very simple change in registry and doing a soft-reset for the change to take effect.

Use your favorite registry editor (mine are PHM Registry Editor available at http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/ and Remote Registry Editor which comes with Embedded Visual Tools)

Look for the following registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\GWE\Menu\

And change the AniType value to 0 instead of default 6.

Do a soft-reset and you will no more see Start Menu animation.

Pocket PC Start Menu

Even the first time user inadvertently use Start Menu on a Pocket PC screen. Start button resides at top left of the screen whatever be the screen rotation mode. Start Menu looks similar and works like Start Menu on Windows desktop i.e. to launch applications. But are differences in the way the content is organized in the Pocket PC Start Menu. There are 3 sections, separated by the line when the menu drops down.

1. Top section: Contains at the maximum 7 entries, each corresponding to an application to launch. The top item in this section is always Today item which is not changeable and hence is not included in the seven item count. The seven items can be changed according to your choice by going to Start -> Settings -> Menus. The list shows all the apps (ROM apps and third-party apps). You can uncheck/check the applications you want to hide or show in the menu. Note that if Help item is selected, it always shows at the bottom of the Start Menu.

2. Middle section: This sections lists all the applications that have recently been launched but are not listed in the other two section (Its nice design since you don't want duplicates on with limited screen real estate).

3. Bottom section: Contains Programs and Settings folders, and sometimes Help item also। If an item is listed in Programs folder, its removed from the list at Settings -> Menus (see Top section above) and vice-versa.

More on Start Menu later.

Disabling SmartMinimize on your Pocket PC PDA

First time users of Pocket PC device get a shock to see that tapping on 'X' button on the top-right corner of the application window does not close it, rather it pushes the application to background. This is not what Windows desktop users expect to see. Microsoft designed this "Smart Minimize" feature in Pocket PC to avoid releasing the memory allocated to an application until it is required by someone else. In case user launches a Smart-Minimized application again, the operating system brings up the already running background instance.

Though it also depends on the application how it handles the tap on 'X' button.

There are a few solutions to make sure applications go for complete exit:

1. Use a software like PocketSwitcher for Windows Mobile. Its available here.

2. Another solution is to bring up the SIP (Software Input Panel) and press Ctrl-q. This will send proper Windows message to the application for complete exit.

3. Goto Start -> Settings -> System -> Memory -> Running Programs and select the program you want to close and tap on Stop button. You can also tap on Stop All button to close all running programs.

Choice is yours. Use the method you find convenient.

Customizing launch of applications on Today screen

Today screen has items that show important information in smaller area, tapping on the item fully launches the related application showing detailed information. Well..if you want you can tap and launch a different application than what is associated with the today item. For e.g. if you want to launch, say calc.exe if Calendar today item is tapped on. You need to make the following registry change for this to happen.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:MSCALENDAR]
"1"="\\windows\\calc.exe" ;previously set to ":MSOUTLOOK calendar"

Doing this you can still view the important information from the main application but can launch another app upon tapping.

Understanding Shortcuts on Windows Mobile

In Windows Mobile you can create shortcuts to files and application just as like you do on desktop. Connect the device to the desktop over ActiveSync, explore the Mobile Device folder, right-click on the file you want to create shortcut for and then Click on Create Shortcut menu item.

But there are differences in formats of shortcut files between Windows Mobile and Windows Desktop. A typical shortcut on a Windows Mobile device will have the following format

xx#"\Location\application.exe"

where xx is number of characters in the above text excluding xx#, optionally it can also contain parameters.

For e.g. I created a shortcut to internet explorer, copied the shortcut file to desktop over activesync and opened it in notepad. This is what I see.

23#"\Windows\iexplore.exe"

where 23 is the count of characters after #.

Follow this format and you can manually or programmatically create shortcuts for Windows Mobile.

Read more articles on topics related to Windows Mobile

Where is the "Run" command?

Its sometimes very easy to launch applications on Windows desktop by going to "Run" window, typing the path of the application to launch and then hit enter or press OK button to actually launch it.

This feature is not apparent on Windows Mobile devices. But you can do it. Press the Action hardware button and simultaneously tap and hold the time display at the top right of the screen. When you release the stylus, a menu will popup with Run option. Tap on it and Run dialog will popup. Here you can enter full path of any executable on the device.