I decided to make a single package after thinking about the pros and cons of both solutions, single package for all or separate package for each...
The problem is that most of these tools are very small, and need some installation/uninstallation logic, if I separate them in different packages, someone who install nearly all of them would spend more than twice the memory, because much of the installation logic will be duplicated in each package (and that must stay on the device, in \Windows\AppMgr\).
Also, some features are smaller when packaged together, the next version will have a single DLL to manage the 3 input methods, I compared the file size and it makes it about half the size for the same features!
Unfortunately, it is not technically possible to do like on XP and get a treeview of the components to install or not in a single package, except by providing them as separate packages and thus eating more memory on the device for most users (or by providing a lot of features in the installation DLL, but again, that stays on the device and would end up in more memory than if you just left all the items installed).
It is however very easy to remove an item you do not need or want, this is one of the reasons why I though that having them all in a single package is not such a big issue, power users can easily remove what they don't want.
All you need to remember is that some of them requires extra care before deleting the files.
Note that I do NOT recommand to do the other way, as extracting the files you want from the CAB or installing it, backing up the files and uninstalling it, as both would lead to some items running without the cleanup code included in the CAB for uninstallation, tools like AutoPlay register with the system when you enable it, if you delete the file without the cleanup code, the system might be looking for the exe even after you deleted it, the uninstall procedure calls the cleanup code contained in a DLL to take care of all these.
COM (Component Object Model) based components can not be deleted as it, as they are registered in the system for consumer applications, at this time this is only the 3 SIP components (note that starting with the next version, the 3 SIP will be inside a single DLL, thus registered/unregistered as one).
To delete these, you first need to unregister them, which is pretty easy if you have the regsvrce (COM registration/unregistration tool) installed on your device, as all of them includes the required logic needed for a clean uninstall.
All you need to do is call "regsvrce /u [filename]" to unregister it and then you can delete the file (note the SIP will be removed from the input method list immediately after unregistering the component, you can verify if it's correctly unregistered by looking at your input methods menu.
Regsvrce also includes a GUI if you run it without parameters.
Note that you might need to soft reset for the operating system to unlock SIP files after you've used them.
Let me know if you need the regsvrce.exe tool from the SDK (might not be in ROM).
Some components are registered in the Notification database (aka Scheduled tasks):
- AutoPlay
AutoPlay is registered to run on hardware changes only if enabled, you can unregister it by unchecking the "Enable AutoPlay" checkbox in AutoPlay itself, or by deleting its entry using the Scheduled Tasks settings applet.
- Screensaver
Screensaver is a bit more tricky, as what it will do is register itself when ran so that it can shut down if you turn the device off and on again, so you should never end in a state where your screen is on with screensaver being registered, just remember not to delete its file using your connected PC while it's actually in use on the Pocket PC, again you can simply use Scheduled Tasks applet to delete any registration at anytime.
Somes creates shortcuts in your Windows StartUp folder:
- TrayLaunch
When enabled, a shortcut is created in the StartUp folder to be automatically loaded after soft resets, you can simply clear the "Enable TrayLaunch" checkbox and tap (ok), or delete the shortcut manually.
Note that you can also prevent a SIP from being displayed without unregistering it by searching the registry in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ key for "IsSIPInputMethod" keys, then changing the Default value from 1 to 0 for the ones you don't want to be displayed. This procedure will be required if you want to disable only some of the 3 SIPs in next release, as they register/unregister as a whole.
Except for this, you can simply delete the files you don't want.
<pre>
Application folder (\Program Files\PHM Tools\) ---->
- Alt-F4 AltF4.exe
- Alt-Tab AltTab.exe
- My Documents mydocs.exe
- Notepad notepad.exe
- Reset Reset.exe
- Run Run.exe
- Screensaver Scrsaver.exe
- Suspend Suspend.exe
- TaskMan TaskMan.exe
- Today Today.exe
- TrayLaunch TrayLnch.exe
Windows folder (\Windows\) ---->
- AutoPlay PHMAtPly.exe
- Admin. Tools PHMATSF.cpl
- Databases PHMCEDB.cpl
- Fonts PHMFonts.cpl
- Scheduled Tasks PHMNtfy.cpl
- PHMShell32.dll PHMShell32.dll (+ icon.lnk files in customized folders)
- Charmap PHMCMSIP.dll (PHMPTSIP.dll in next release)
- Clipboard Pane PHMCBSIP.dll (PHMPTSIP.dll in next release)
- Ext. Keyboard PHMEKSIP.dll (PHMPTSIP.dll in next release)
</pre>