Closing Programs - best way?

[dh]

I feel a bit of an idiot asking this, especially since I have so many posts against my name. My excuse is that I have not used consumer PPCs for a few years so I'm rather starting again.

Anyway, back in my PPC 2002 days, I used a utility called BatteryPack to close my applications because PPC just minimized them when I tapped on the X. Since I sell industrial Windows Mobile devices (mainly Symbol) I know that the X issue has not ever been solved by Microsoft.

So I'm now getting a WM5 PPC and wondering if I should get BatteryPack again or is there a better utility around to do that job? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[JesterMania]

I know a lot of people (including myself) favour Spb Pocket Plus, which includes a real close button. Another software that includes a real close button is Wisbar Advance (the Lite edition includes that too). But for my personal preference, I prefer letting the close button 'minimize', because in WM5 ROM and RAM are now separate and I find leaving things minimized leaves my device running smoother overall. Of course, that can depend on your usage patterns.

[haesslich]

I know a lot of people (including myself) favour Spb Pocket Plus, which includes a real close button. Another software that includes a real close button is Wisbar Advance (the Lite edition includes that too). But for my personal preference, I prefer letting the close button 'minimize', because in WM5 ROM and RAM are now separate and I find leaving things minimized leaves my device running smoother overall. Of course, that can depend on your usage patterns.

ILauncher 3 also now offers this close-button functionality - in my experience, I find that (with WM5 at least), things go more smoothly if you actually KILL the tasks involved using the Close button, unless you enjoy running out of memory, since you can't store current-state data in ROM (aka: no swap files) and I find that programs either run for a bit and cause some lag... or else get closed out as more memory-intensive programs try to grab the RAM back for their own purposes.

[isajoo]

a great app to close other apps is magicbutton...its also free...here the link...a great app to close other apps is magicbutton...its also free...here the link...
http://www.trancreative.com/mb.aspx

Only 71 KB executable file does it all

i think it also has a battery meter
and it shows the icons of open apps.

[ctmagnus]

I use Spb Pocket Plus as well, but I set the close button to minimize by default. I find that things run more smoothly that way. I also assigned the close menu to a hardware button and closing an app I don't want running anymore or that I feel is consuming memory that could be put to better use at that point in time is as simple as pressing the hardware button and tapping the X beside that application.

Also, on both a 400 MHz iPaq 5550 and a 200-ish MHz iMate JAMin, I've noticed a slight lag in the OS when closing an application if I set the X button to close by default. If I set the button to minimize by default and then close the application I recently minimized at a later time, I don't notice that lag.