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View Full Version : REVIEW: Beta of (soon) forthcoming SKTools 3 made public! GO GET IT!


Menneisyys
08-04-2006, 04:28 PM
Anyone having read my roundup of generic cleaning utilities (SKTools, MemMaid, Space Reclaimer etc.; see this (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=360617) (alternatives: iPAQ HQ (http://www.ipaqhq.com/forums/showthread.php?p=105842), AximSite (http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=94657), PPC Magazine (http://pocketpcmag.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17596), FirstLoox (http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?p=36794))) knows that SKTools is by far the most versatile all-in-one generic system tool on the Pocket PC.

Long gone are the days of SKTools being mostly a simple “cleanup” tool, however. In addition to really needed necessities like high-quality storage card formatting capabilities (which is really important for optimizing your storage cards for speed and/or storage capacity (http://pocketpcmag.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17921)), PIM – for example, contact and appointment – duplication (which you may often run into if you synchronize them with your desktop Outlook) removing capabilities, they have implemented a lot of additional tools like backing up and restoring and, as of the latest, 3.0 betas, benchmarking capabilities.

http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKToolsMainMenu.bmp.png

Availability

The latest beta is available HERE for download (http://s-k-tools.com/sktools/skt.zip). The file is updated every day; therefore, you may want to re-download it often to always have the latest-and-greatest.

Backup / restore: finally, fully WM5-compliant!

The new, 3.0 version offers, finally, flawless Windows Mobile 5 back-up capabilities. This will be certainly welcome news to everyone that doesn’t want to purchase a more expensive WM5 back-up solution like Sprite or Spb Backup, the only two fully reliable and usable backup solution for Windows Mobile 5. (Please read the related articles in my blog for more information on these programs and why I don’t recommend ANY other backup solution, including Sunnysoft Backup Manager or the built-in Data Backup in Dell Axims, for WM5.)

It is capable of selective backup (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Backup-selback.bmp.png) / restore (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Backup-selrest.bmp.png). As can also be seen in these two screenshots, you can restore PIM and Messaging stuff selectively and backup the Registry, the WinCE databases, the files, all the PIM stuff, all the Messaging (Pocket Outlook) data, the ActiveSync partnership only – or, the entire system.

It, as with any decent backup utility, offers the capability of selective extraction/ restoration of individual files as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Backup-selindivfiiles.bmp.png). Unfortunately, upon backup, you can’t make selective backups – that is, to only backup one file or one directory, as opposed to, say, Sprite Backup (or even old(er) iPAQ Backups).

Also, backups can be scheduled (so that they are done automatically), the files password protected and/or compressed (the compression ratio can be set) as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Backup-Settings-1.bmp.png) and here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Backup-Settings-2.bmp.png). Unfortunately, you can’t create self-extracting backup files, unlike with some other alternatives.

Yes, that’s nice, but does it really work on WM5 devices, you may ask. Does it really and reliably restore all the PIM stuff, SMS and other, traditional Messaging messages – the traditional stumbling blocks for other Windows Mobile backup applications under WM5 and/or WM Phone Edition? Does it work with the HP Protect-Tools (Credant) on the HP iPAQ hx series?

The answer is yes, it does! I’ve thoroughly tested the backup applications on my following three WM5 devices:

Dell Axim x51v (A12 ROM)
HP iPAQ h4700 (2.01 ROM; with and without enabled HP Protect-Tools)
HTC Wizard (AKA imate K-Jam, T-Mobile MDA Vario, Qtek 9100, MDA Vario, XDA mini S, SPV M3000, VPA Compact II, Dopod 838), a Phone Edition device (yeah, I’ve also tested SMS backup/restoration!)


All my tests were positive: I’ve never encountered any problems after my test restorations, unlike with (some) other apps.

With HP Protect-Tools activated, you can’t make scheduled, automatic backups because, before starting to back up, SKTools will soft reset the device, which will result in an inevitable Protect-Tools activation. The latter can only be passed manually. However, manual back-ups worked flawlessly in this case too.

Also note that the backup/restore functionality works 100% with the unregistered, trial version too – that is, you don’t need to purchase SKTools in order to be able to test its backup capabilities.

Benchmark capabilities

Brand new in the 3.0 series are the benchmarking features. There are few benchmark types available as of now (see this screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Benchmark.bmp.png); note that the last three - CF, SD Card and Ramdisk – are (with Ramdisk, virtual (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1091&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)) storage cards in my hx4700) and it lacks the excellent on-line comparison capabilities of Spb Benchmark too. However, for a quick test and comparison (particularly because it has an always-extending list of device data as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3Benchmark-2.bmp.png)), this may be sufficient.

Other niceties

Users of WM5 on most non-native WM5 devices (say, the Dell Axim x50 and HP iPAQ hx series) will be delighted to see that the new SKTools also implements some of my WM5 advice (see for example this article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=929&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)); for example, making often written-to, pretty meaningless status files like the ActiveSync CtrlLog.txt read-only (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/ASSyncfileReadO.bmp.png). (Don’t, however, expect SKTools to implement all the possible, say, hx4700 or Dell Axim x50 WM5 hacks. For example, it doesn’t let for in-app deletion of the NavPointService or the fake server hack (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1096&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).) There are only some well-known, device (in this case, hx4700)-specific hacks here; for example, the DockWare filepath registry hack (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/DockWareHack.bmp.png).

Also, it offers in-application System Path (search my blog / my articles for more info on it if interested) modification capabilities (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SystemPathAndPIECache.bmp.png) (which isn’t trivial with some registry editors because not all of them (for example, Total Commander or PHM Registry Editor, as can also be seen in the Ultimate Roundup of Registry Editors for the Pocket PC (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/menneisyys/UltimateRoundupOfRegistryEditors.asp)) support this). It also supports DLL relocation (a subject of many of my articles), with a much more sophisticated algorithm (which is pretty similar and, in some respects, even better than that of MemMaid – again, check out my relocation-related articles for more info.) As can also be seen in the above screenshot, you can also modify the PIE/IEM cache / cookie / history location from inside SKTools – as with previous versions.

WindowsCE database browser for WM5 – at last!

If you follow my WM5 system hacking, “guru” articles (for example this one (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=600&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)), you know that the currently available WindowsCE database explorers, PhatWare Pocket dbExplorer and Kenny Soft dbView (see for example this article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=231&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) on them) are not WM5-compliant. This is very bad news because a LOT of extended hacking (for example, the above-linked Messaging account renaming) is only possible with directly accessing/editing the WindowsCE databases. I do hope the S-K folks, some time, implement database editing (not just export/import/deletion/emptying) capabilities too.

The database explorer in the 2.x series of SKTools wasn’t WM5-compliant either; it could only display very few databases. Now, the 3.0 series boasts full WM5-compliance; as can be seen in for example this screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3CEDatabases.bmp.png), now, it is able to list and process (almost) all of them.

Unfortunately, as can be seen in this screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3CEDatabasesAction.bmp.png) (taken on the Action menu), it (still?) has no editing capabilities (including deleting records one-by-one), “only” deletion/ export/ import/ emptying. Also note that EDB databases (all databases in PIM.vol) can not be exported/imported as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/082006SKTools3beta/SKTools3CEDatabasesAction-EBD.bmp.png).

Verdict

Now, SKTools has everything a serious user would ever need for quickly and, what is more easily, as easily as possible backup/restore, benchmark, clean and tweak his or her device. While the new version of SKTools is definitely not as capable as, say, a combination of Spb Benchmark, Spb/Sprite Backup, MemMaid/Tweaks2k2, a registry editor, a third-party memory card application (Flash Format/ Pocket Mechanic / Storage Tools) and a WinCE database browser (again, there are no WM5-compliant ones!),


it takes much less memory
you only need to install one application to get the most important functionality
you end up having to pay far less than by purchasing all the above-mentioned apps



I can, as with other S-K products, only recommend the new, 3.0 beta of SKTools.

A tip: the beta works great with the old, 2.x registration key. This may also mean it’ll be free for all legal 2.x customers, which is very good news.

Another quick remark: the excellent S-K folks have a lot of other (http://s-k-tools.com/), really nice products I’ve elaborated a lot on in my blog and articles: I really recommend looking around on their homepage (http://s-k-tools.com/) and, then, looking up additional information on the particular tool you’d like to know more in my blog / articles.