Resco Explorer 2003 Reviewed on PDAJunkie

[marlof]

<a href="http://www.pdajunkie.net/Resco%202003.htm">http://www.pdajunkie.net/Resco%202003.htm</a><br /><br />On <a href="http://www.pdajunkie.net/Resco%202003.htm">PDAJunkie</a> Steve Yee reviews Resco Explorer 2003. The article gives a good overview of the file exploring, registry editing and network sharing that can be done with Resco Explorer. His conclusion: "Resco Explorer 2003 is a worthwhile addition to any Pocket PC user. It's ability to be configured for both normal and power user along with it's intuitive ease of use makes it one of those rare programs that everyone must own to take full advantage of their Pocket PC."

[sponge]

What's so amazing about the fact they made the registry act like a folder? And 900K is large? What's with saying that the split screen mode is a CON and should be removed? I find it useful for some occasions.. I don't know, the review seemed unprofessional

It's still a great program otherwise.

[T-Will]

It's nice to have everything integrated in one program. Also, I'm sure when Resco Explorer started out it was probably half that size, but I'm not positive about that. 900k really isn't that much for that kind of functionality.

[jet8810]

900k could be large or small, that is totally relative to how you think about it. As for any other pros/cons, remember, this is the writers opinion and he is entitled to his own opinion, as are you.

:D

[Ed Hansberry]

:( Good review, but totally left out the encryption, other than a mention of it. I have a 128 bit SSL device yet RFE2003 still only allows 40 and 56 bit encryption. The Pocket PC only has Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0 available. My desktop has that, Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider v1.0 and about 15 others.

So, is this a bug in Resco or do the PPC 2002 devices not have all of the right libraries installed even though 128bit SSL is included (Except on e740's, which need EUU3)

[sgyee]

:( Good review, but totally left out the encryption, other than a mention of it. I have a 128 bit SSL device yet RFE2003 still only allows 40 and 56 bit encryption. The Pocket PC only has Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0 available. My desktop has that, Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider v1.0 and about 15 others.

So, is this a bug in Resco or do the PPC 2002 devices not have all of the right libraries installed even though 128bit SSL is included (Except on e740's, which need EUU3)

One of the things about the encryption is that you have no choice as to how strong or weak you want the encryption to be other than two choices.

On both the PocketPC and the Desktop PC, when you choose a file, you can select to Encrypt or Decrypt. Then you have the option (on my machines that run PocketPC 2002) of either RC2 40 bit, or DES 56 bit. On the PC side, I have a larger choice, but I can't decrypt anything other than RC2 40 or DES 56. My Toshiba E740 with EUU3 also only does RC2 40 or DES 56.

Resco claims that their File Explorer will do more, providing you load the PocketPC 2000 Encryption Pack.

It may have been a bad call, but I didn't expand on it since I was getting wordy already.

[sgyee]

What's so amazing about the fact they made the registry act like a folder? And 900K is large? What's with saying that the split screen mode is a CON and should be removed? I find it useful for some occasions.. I don't know, the review seemed unprofessional

It's still a great program otherwise.

It is unique that having the Registry act as a folder, because it blends in total functionality of files, network, and registry into one program.

As for 900k, eating up 1/32nd of storage space (remember, on average, a 64MB PocketPC uses 32MB for Storage, and 32MB for Executable space) is getting to be bloated in the PocketPC world. The previous version of Resco that I have (3.93) eats up 216K for the Explorer itself, and 263K for the ZIPfile addon. That's 479k that does everything that I have now with Resco Explorer 2003, except the integrated Registry editing. PHM's RegEdit is 61K...so that is 540K.

Resco's new version (Explorer 2003) moves away from separate executables and goes towards DLL's. Explorer's core now takes up 163K, but eats up 158K for Picture Viewing, 225K for the ZipFile Shell, 86K for the Registry Editor, 203K for the file management DLL, 31K for IRDA support, 28k for cryptography, and about 10k for other stuff that I can't decipher from the .CAB file. That's 870K right there, excluding any registry entries and pointers to external programs that Resco supports.

Split Screen mode is fine if you don't use file extensions and you keep your PDA pristine in it's file system. For people like myself who totally rely on their PDA as a true DayRunner replacement, files are placed all over Main Memory, Storage Cards, and Network mounts. This means that I'm scrolling back and forth (horizontally) to view complete trees from the root of a Network mount, as well as vertically.

Since PocketPC's support CIFS file mounts, it's crucial that you are able to see as much information as possible as clearly as possible. You don't get that in split screen mode, despite the fact that you can reduce the font size.

Overall, it is a great program. For me, it's one of those "must haves" on any PocketPC.

[sgyee]

It's also been recommended that people use some sort of Landscape rotation utiliity to view splitscreen modes.

This is fine - providing you have one of those PDA's that can run Landscape compressed. If it works, great ! Not everyone has JS Landscape or Nyditot, however....

[rapidnet_rick]

I am with you on the encryption..... I posted the same issue about a week ago or so... I also sent an email to Resco, but haven't heard a word. I have a 3835 with EUU3, and have only 40 bit and 56 bit encryption.... Seems to be a common theme.


--=Rick=--