A couple of wee things...

[Guest Sherbet66]

Hi,

I'm playing around with my new gadget, the MDA compact. There is a couple of things that are bugging me that i cannot seem to sort out and i was wondering if anyone could offer some advice. Firstly i am aiming to store installed programs on my SD card, all good and well, when i did this with my Mpx200 they all neatly installed into a folder named program files. On the pocket pc however, i am finding that all the programs i install create their own folders leaving me with an SD card cluttered with 16 folder and counting. This is making things a bit hard to find so i was wondering if there was any way to create a default installation folder on the SD card that the phone will use (a registry hack perhaps?). I tried creating a "Program files" and then "My Documents" folder but the programs just ignored them and installed in their own folder regardless.

Secondly i have Avantgo channel on my IE favorites that i want rid of, it is not removable through IE add/remove favorites, Avantgo is not installed on my PC and not installed on my device, i've tried installing the program and then removing it but this channel persists. Does anyone know hoew to get rid of it?

D

[Guest brykins]

First one: If you install software via Activesync and choose to install it to SD/CF card on a PocketPC then yes, it will install to the root directory of the memory card.

The solution is to install from .cab files. Many developers provide .cab files of their software and these are copied to the PocketPC using Windows Explorer and are then executed on the PocketPC to install. However....the built-in PocketPC .cab file installer will install them to the default location and then delete the .cab file.

So you need (Google for it) a utility called CabInstall. You can (if you want) associate this with .cab files and when they are run they will install with CabInstall which asks you for where you want to install them (into specific directories) and also whether to delete the .cab file afterwards. I keep all my .cab files in a "software" directory on a CF card and install all my software into a "Programs" or "Games" directory on SD card. This method also means I can re-install after a hard reset without having to be near a PC and my PC isn't cluttered with loads of installed PPC software.

The second one is easy as well....using a Registry editor on the PocketPC (Resco is good), navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Microsoft -> Internet Explorer -> Main -> FavoritesEntries and you'll see AvantGo Channels there. Just delete it and it'll be gone from your favourites (or you can open it and edit the "Read Only" entry and then delete it in Pocket IE instead).

As always with registry edits....back up first and don't assume that just because it works for me, it'll work for you! Oh...I use Windows 2003 SE on a Dell Axim X50v so it *may* not be the same for you.

Hope this helps.

[Guest Sherbet66]

Hi,

I'm playing around with my new gadget, the MDA compact. There is a couple of things that are bugging me that i cannot seem to sort out and i was wondering if anyone could offer some advice. Firstly i am aiming to store installed programs on my SD card, all good and well, when i did this with my Mpx200 they all neatly installed into a folder named program files. On the pocket pc however, i am finding that all the programs i install create their own folders leaving me with an SD card cluttered with 16 folder and counting. This is making things a bit hard to find so i was wondering if there was any way to create a default installation folder on the SD card that the phone will use (a registry hack perhaps?). I tried creating a "Program files" and then "My Documents" folder but the programs just ignored them and installed in their own folder regardless.

Secondly i have Avantgo channel on my IE favorites that i want rid of, it is not removable through IE add/remove favorites, Avantgo is not installed on my PC and not installed on my device, i've tried installing the program and then removing it but this channel persists. Does anyone know hoew to get rid of it?

D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats fantastic, the reg hack worked a treat, i will keep an eye out for the cabs like you said (anything not a cab, i.e, an exe i will slot into the default directory on the phone).

Dave

[Guest brykins]

Thats fantastic, the reg hack worked a treat, i will keep an eye out for the cabs like you said (anything not a cab, i.e, an exe i will slot into the default directory on the phone).

You *may* be able to "extract" some .cab files from the applications that only like to install from the desktop. Most of these will place the .cab file somewhere on your hard drive before transfering it to the PocketPC to install and then delete and it can be possible to "intercept" this .cab file.

When you run the installer, wait until it asks you where you want to install it to (ie, main memory, sd card, etc). At that stage, alt-tab to Windows Explorer and have a look through your temporary files directories, the c:\program files\microsoft activesync directory and possibly any c:\program files\ directory. Often the installer will place the .cab file there.

If it has, make a copy of it somewhere safe in case the installer should try and delete it again and proceed with the installation to main memory.

Then uninstall it on the PocketPC, copy over the .cab file and see if you can re-install to a different location using the .cab file. Often it works, sometimes it doesn't.

The one advantage of this is that some installers ask you for the reg code on your desktop and then write that code into the .cab file....so copying the pre-registered .cab file to the ppc means you don't need to remember your reg code when you need to re-install.

Have a look around you hard drive and see if Activesync installer has left any .cab files laying around.....

[Guest Sherbet66]

You *may* be able to "extract" some .cab files from the applications that only like to install from the desktop. Most of these will place the .cab file somewhere on your hard drive before transfering it to the PocketPC to install and then delete and it can be possible to "intercept" this .cab file.

When you run the installer, wait until it asks you where you want to install it to (ie, main memory, sd card, etc). At that stage, alt-tab to Windows Explorer and have a look through your temporary files directories, the c:\program files\microsoft activesync directory and possibly any c:\program files\ directory. Often the installer will place the .cab file there.

If it has, make a copy of it somewhere safe in case the installer should try and delete it again and proceed with the installation to main memory.

Then uninstall it on the PocketPC, copy over the .cab file and see if you can re-install to a different location using the .cab file. Often it works, sometimes it doesn't.

The one advantage of this is that some installers ask you for the reg code on your desktop and then write that code into the .cab file....so copying the pre-registered .cab file to the ppc means you don't need to remember your reg code when you need to re-install.

Have a look around you hard drive and see if Activesync installer has left any .cab files laying around.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the advice, that’s a really neat trick with the cab file, I've been busily installing my bits and bobs using Cabinstall and it’s pretty good, I will definitely check and see what cabs are being created during installation. I am a big fan of customising my phone in every way from the ground up. I had an MPx200 that I upgraded to 2003 and basically set about customising it quite fundamentally to my personal preference. With the new ppc however I am a bit lost with regards to the device so posts like yours go a long way to both helping me specifically and also sharing this information with everyone in the forum, once again, thanks.