Hands-down the best WM admin app out there -- and it's free!

[Guest dwallersv]

Well, best in my opinion, but I'm guessing there are few that will disagree :-)

We're talking registry changes all the time here, and people are routinely asking how to do it, what app, etc. There are a million, and they all work adequately.

I use Task Manager by DotFred to edit my registry. One of the things I like about it is that it has full support for easily exporting keys, so it's easy to share changes with the community. The layout and other tools associated with the regedit capabilities are well thought out and easy too.

But that's not why it's my favorite tool. It wins the best tool award from me because of everything it does, and that's a lot!

It provides similar functionality to Windows desktop Task Manager functionality, and a lot more. In addition to being able to view and manipulate running applications and processes, it has sortable CPU usage data (so you can see which process is making you run sluggish, possibly in some sort of loop), network configuration views, network ping and trace testing, services listing (with the ability to start, stop, change automatic/manual, etc), and much much more.

It has become the most indispensible tool in my quiver on WM devices over the years.

I've attached a zip with the latest version. I also encourage you to visit DotFred's site and read detailed information on it, its features and use, and if you find this utility as awesome and useful as I do, hit the donate button and throw a few bucks his way to support continued development.

Enjoy!

FdcSoft_TaskMgr_wm2005_3.1.cab

Edited January 14, 2009 by dwallersv

[Guest dwallersv]

Oh, forgot to mention one other extremely valuable feature: Provides means to "soft-reset" the device, the only safe way to really do so after making registry changes. The program has an option to create shortcuts in a folder in the Start Menu to perform sleep and soft-reset functions, as well as execution of these features directly from the app itself.

Why is this important? The registry is cached in main memory when running. This is presumably to improve performance where there is a difference between main memory hardware and storage hardware. In many devices this is unnecessary as the same flash memory is used for RAM as well as storage. Regardless, this is how WM works.

Flushing the cache to storage happens in a "lazy" way... basically, whenever windows has nothing else to do and gets around to it. This is why registry changes very often do not "stick" if you immediately reset/reboot your device via the hardware reset button. That approach resets via an interrupt to the CPU, invoking the boot loader. Windows Mobile is not notified that it is being rebooted, and has no opportunity to clean up.

A soft reset reboots too, but does so through the equivalent of a "restart" command to WM. As such, WM has a chance to flush caches and do an orderly shutdown, and then reboot.

This is why people always say to wait 5 minutes or so after making a registry change before resetting the device. This is usually (virtually always) long enough for the lazy cache flush to occur, thereby updating the stored registry to match the in-memory cached version. With the soft-reset capability, no such wait is required. You can change the registry, and immediately reset your device -- right from the registry editor (Task Manager), and go on. Unlike Windows XP/Vista etc., this "restart" is just as fast as the hardware button reset -- there's no perceptible delay, as far as I can tell.

So, one more reason to use this tool!

[Guest Raul6]

agreed, very good. thanks for posting

[Guest abu123]

I prefer to use a desktop registory editor such as CeRegistryEditor

For standalone PDA version TRE Tascal registry editor

as for taskmanagers DotFred's is good but I prefer the WkTask

All freeware

Personal taste. Each to their own!!

[Guest dwallersv]

as for taskmanagers DotFred's is good but I prefer the WkTask

I'll grabit and check it out -- the description looks good, and it has a nice GUI.

Based on the functionality, the overlap between this and DotFred's is minimal -- can't review and manipulate services, devices, notifications, and a bunch of other stuff with WkTask. OTOH, it may be a superior tool for basic task management, and I really like the XP-like taskbar stuff. Also, since it provides modification of the [X] / [OK] button behavior, I may be able to dump SBP Pocket Plus, which I am only using to provide "real close" functionality now that I've moved to the Omnia.

One more thing you (inadvertantly) turned me on to with this: The barcode reader app/capability. Dang, there so much out there that's really cool for WM devices! Just reinforces why I moved to, and am sticking with this open platform, despite all its warts. If I were on an iPhone or some other proprietary touch-based OS, I'd be stuck with what the carrier wanted me to have, and little more. As it stands, I've been able to get around every limitation Verizon has tried to impose on me with the i910, including GPS, since I have an external BT unit leftover from my Treo750. Not the perfect solution, but makes it possible to wait for the promised GPS unlock from Verizon without spitting nails.