The real Pocket PC experts are the people who use the devices day-in, day-out to make each day easier, their work more productive, and life more fun. If you have a short tip (100-300 words) you'd like to share with your fellow Pocket PC users, send it in and we'll consider it for publication in this column. If we select your tip for publication, we will send you a free copy of our Back Issue CD, which has the first three years of Pocket PC magazine in Microsoft Reader format. Sorry, but we cannot substitute other products for this CD.
E-mail your tips to:
Rich@PocketPCmag.com
The Pocket PC's main strength is also its greatest security weakness. It's small, slips into your pocket easily, and goes with you wherever you go. It can just as easily slip out of your pocket or be left behind. Of course, you can password protect your Pocket PC. And you definitely should back it up regularly. But you still lose valuable information, as well as a few hundred dollars worth of equipment, if you leave it behind.
Get in the habit of carrying it in the same place as much as possible. For example, I almost always carry mine in my coat pocket. Occasionally, when I'm at a computer show, I'll carry it in a shoulder bag. The point is, you should always know where it is and you shouldn't have to go hunting for it. When you put it somewhere unusual, you're more likely to lose it.
The only time you should set it down and forget about it is in your office (where it's resting in the data/recharging cradle), or at home or in your hotel room (where it's always on the same table or nightstand). The key is always to put it in the same place so you know where to look for it.
If you're at a restaurant and have to look up a name in Contacts, put it back in your pocket immediately. If you're in a phone booth and have to look up a number, put it back in your pocket immediately. The trick is to not set it down and forget about it. That's when it gets lost!
The "ignore_my_documents" file is a hidden, zero-byte file that is created by the Pocket PC 2002 OS when you save a document from Pocket Word or Pocket Excel to a storage card that has no My Documents folder on it. This can cause problems if you later create a "My Documents" folder on that card. When you try to store a document, your Pocket PC becomes confused about where to store it, and this causes a slowdown or an "infinite hour-glass" problem.
To prevent this from happening, always create a My Documents folder on every storage card before you put it into use. If you are already experiencing the problem, here's how to solve it:
- Insert the problematic storage card into your Pocket PC.
- Sync your Pocket PC with your desktop PC and click the Explore button on the ActiveSync menu. This will launch the folder viewer. (You need to use the desktop PC version of File Explorer because "ignore_my_documents" is a hidden file. The desktop PC version can display hidden files; the Pocket PC version cannot.)
- In the desktop PC File Explorer program, go to the "Mobile Devices" icon in the folders list and find the storage card folder.
- At the top of the folder viewer menu, click Tools > Folder Options.
- Click the View tab, and under Advanced Settings look for "Hidden files and folders."
- Click the radio button next to "Show hidden files and folders."
- Click the "OK" box to close the Folder Options menu.
- Refresh the view by pressing View > Refresh on the folder menu. If the "ignore_my_documents" file has been created, it should now be displayed in the list of files on the storage card.
- BEFORE you delete anything, create a My Documents folder on the card if it hasn't already been created. Then, move all the documents on the card into the My Documents folder.
- Finally, delete the pesky "ignore_my_documents" file.
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