Note: All tips and tricks apply to the original Pocket PC 2000 and have not been tested on Pocket PC 2002.

CLEAN OUT THOSE INTERNET TEMP FILES

If you do any Web surfing with your Pocket PC, you'll find that over time the temporary "cache" files that Pocket Internet Explorer creates can really accumulate, stealing memory from file storage and from applications. To prevent this, download the Internet Explorer Tools for Pocket PCs from Microsoft. With this free plug-in, you can pre-set the amount of space you want to allocate to temp file storage, and clear the cache at any time using the Remove button.

Download it at www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/powertoys.asp

SURF THE WEB ON YOUR POCKET PC--WHILE IT'S CONNECTED TO YOUR PC

OK, this tip is not for the timid. It involves making changes to the registry on your Pocket PC, and the potential downside to that is a complete lockup of the device, entailing a hard reset. You'll want to back everything up before you try this. [Note that users of the new Pocket PC 2002 can use the new "pass-through" feature in ActiveSync to surf the Web from their Pocket PC, without anything else.]

On the other hand, it's not that hard. You have to set up a proxy server on your desktop PC and then configure your Pocket PC to connect to it. If you have confidence in your ability to follow directions, you will find an excellent tutorial at the URL below.

Daron Brewood at Tekguru.co.uk walks you through the complete setup with lots of screenshots. Download it at www.tekguru.co.uk/EM500/usbtonet.htm

DELETING MOBILE FAVORITES

ActiveSync is not the place to delete Mobile Favorites. If you uncheck a Favorite in ActiveSync (Options > Sync Options > Favorite > Settings), it will no longer be updated but it will still show up on both your Pocket PC and your desktop PC as a Mobile Favorite. To get rid of it completely, either (a) open Pocket IE, tap the Favorites folder icon, tap the Add/Delete tab, select the Favorite you want to delete, and tap Delete; or (b) open IE on your desktop PC, open the Mobile Favorites folder (in the Favorites menu), right-click the Favorite you want to delete, and select Delete.

WHERE ARE MY CONTACTS AND E-MAILS STORED?

They are stored in databases that are invisible to the File Explorer of your Pocket or Handheld PC. To find and manipulate these databases, you'll need a third-party application such as Data Sources from Philippe Majerus or HPC dbExplorer from PhatWare Corporation. Using one of these programs, you can find the databases, back them up to your PC or a storage card, delete those that are unused, and more.

Download at www.phm.lu/products/wcedbmgr.asp

Download at www.phatware.com/hpcdbex.html

CLIPBOARD ON STEROIDS

I have been using a program called Clipomatic on my desktop PC for some time. It allows me to paste commonly used text strings with ease. I was delighted to find a similar program for the Pocket PC: CopyText. This free utility allows you to keep several pieces of text on hand for quick pasting, including a date stamp and a date-and-time stamp. Use it for e-mail signatures, URLs, and lots of other things.

Download at www.biohazardsoftware.com/copytext.htm

CopyText lets you keep several pieces of text on hand for quick pasting into documents, including date and time stamps.