PHM PowerToys Released

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/PowerToys/' target='_blank'>http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/PowerToys/</a><br /><br /></div>Philippe, who created the popular <a href="http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/">free Registry Editor</a>, today released v0.1 of a neat collection of applets, called "PowerToys". This free bundle includes 17 different applets, ranging from fonts and database viewers to a Character Map SIP to a soft reset application. While most of them are very small, a couple look extremely handy. I'm going to have to download and check this out.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030713-PHM-PowerToys.gif" /><br /><br />(Note that this is a very early release, v0.1, so things might not quite work as desired. Make sure you back up before doing anything drastic!)

[Jason Dunn]

I should note that the developer isn't sure if they're Windows Mobile 2003 compatible...so use at your own risk.

[huangzhinong]

I tried all of them in h2215, all compatiable and no harm at all, just go ahead and use it.

Actually I have downloaded most separate apps in their website before and used without any problem in PPC 2003.

[kfluet]

Yay, more cool stuff from PHM!

I've been using many of these in the past, especially the alt-tab tool which I have programmed into the iTask button on my iPAQ.

[Kaber]

Lots of good stuff in there if you don't already have other versions of similar tools. The font reader is nice and I liked the folder icons. The new SIP functions are handy.

The list of shortcuts is useful too and they stick around after uninstall.

NOTE: After removing the software my .txt file associations stopped working. I fixed that using Resco File Explorer.

[dean_shan]

This is a really nice package of apps. A new must have app. Great job PHM.

[ux4484]

I'd already been using Alt-Tab (mapped to my Home button), but these others seem quite handy also.

[Jason Lee]

Can you install these seperatly? or is it all or nothing?

[Dave Beauvais]

At least in this release, it's all or nothing. :(

--Dave

[PhMajerus]

Can you install these seperatly? or is it all or nothing?
It's all or nothing for the install, and I have what I believe are very good reasons for this:

- RAM (this is really what made me chose the single package)
Because it needs to perform some logic during install and uninstall, this installation package includes a setup dll, if it was a separate package for each application, it would require a separate setup dll for each that require some install/uninstall logic (and there are many of these).
Each time we create an exe or a dll, it must contain some common code, meaning that the current 8KB setup dll would not translate into 8 dlls of 1KB each, but more like 8 dlls of 5KB each, and these setup dlls are always stored in Storage RAM !
Also, each installed package uses some registry entries for the Application Manager, again using some bytes for each package.
Remember the average size of the applications in this package is around 10KB, adding 5KB to each of them means using 50% more RAM for people who install all of them.

- Number of items in the uninstall list
Do you really want these PowerToys to add 17 entries in both your Remove Programs list and ActiveSync Applications Manager list ?

- PowerToys for Power Users
These tools are designed for power users, and most power users know how to remove separate tools from their device after the install, for most of these it is as simple as deleting the corresponding exe file.

However if the general feedback is that they should be separate CABs, I might look at that solution.

[Dave Beauvais]

I consider myself to be a power user and as such, I like to have control of what gets installed on my computers and Pocket PC and what doesn't. As a rule, I always choose "custom setup" when given the option, so I can decide what gets put where. While it's true that I can easily remove the things I don't use later, I'd prefer that they never be installed in the first place. For example, I am pretty picky about my filesystem, so the addition of folders -- even with cool icons :) -- bugged me a bit.

I'd also like to say that the Character Map SIP and Alt-Tab are very cool! These are the two I'll use the most.

--Dave

[msprague]

Philippe,
Thanks for your great contributions to the community! :way to go:

[PhMajerus]

(...) I am pretty ****-retentive about my filesystem, so the addition of folders -- even with cool icons :) -- bugged me a bit. (...)
--Dave

Would one more dialog box during the install asking "Do you want to create special folders ?" fix that ?
Note that if you want to use these icons for some other folders, it's easier to have the folder created by setup, then move the icon.lnk file to the folder you want to customize and delete the folder created by setup, than having to create the icon.lnk file manually.

(...)
I'd also like to say that the Character Map SIP and Alt-Tab are very cool! These are the two I'll use the most.(...)
--Dave

Glad you like them even though some other tools feels too intrusive :-)

[ctmagnus]

:way to go:

I think that separate cab files for each app as well as the whole package is a good idea. Like Dave Beauvais, I'd rather have only one or two apps out of the bunch but if someone wants to install the whole works, they can just download the big cab.

[Dave Beauvais]

Would one more dialog box during the install asking "Do you want to create special folders ?" fix that ? ...
Yep, that would make me a happy camper. :)

Note that if you want to use these icons for some other folders, it's easier ... than having to create the icon.lnk file manually.
No argument there! I tried that to recreate the icon.lnk file for someone's Games folder when they deleted it accidentally, but could never get it to work. (And for whatever reason, they couldn't use the copy of mine that I sent them.)

As msprague said, thanks for your freeware! I've been using your Registry Editor for a long time. I even reviewed (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,7834) it for this site several months ago as my first review as a member of the review team.

--Dave

[PhMajerus]

Would one more dialog box during the install asking "Do you want to create special folders ?" fix that ? ...
Yep, that would make me a happy camper. :)
--Dave

Done in 0.11, available on the web site :)

[Dave Beauvais]

Thanks! I love your software and you keep making it better!

--Dave

[pocketpcfox]

Hi,

After uninstalling the Powertoys version 0.1 the menu remains in my start list even after a soft reset... trying to de-select the menu in the menu page (from settings) keeps "reselecting itself" ... what to do? javascript:emoticon(':?:')