by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Your Pocket PC, 2nd Edition

 
One of the most confusing parts of Pocket PC 2002 is Connection Manager, which you encounter when you tap Start, Settings, Connections, Connections. Here is an article I wrote a while back that explains it and provides a work around that keeps you from having to constantly switch your network card setting between Internet and Work.
posted by Frank at 9:14 AM

 
While Googling for an answer to a problem that I am having with my T-Mobile Pocket PC, I came across Pocket PC Central's hints page for using the T-Mobile Pocket PC. There is a lot of good stuff here, complete with screen shots. You may also want to check out their Help Central section, which appears to have a ton of good help on using Pocket PCs.
posted by Frank at 9:18 AM

 
If you have an iPAQ you may encounter a bug where whenever you try to start Media Player you get a message saying that it cannot be found. The solution to this problem is available at Pocket PC Thoughts.
posted by Frank at 6:54 PM

 
To the best of our knowledge there are no Pocket PC-specific viruses in the wild. The greatest concern for Pocket PCs and viruses is that the Pocket PCs become carriers of viruses that affect PCs and can be introduced to the PC and networks during synchronization. Consequently, most of the virus scanning tools for Pocket PC perform virus scans during synchronization to insure that files copied to a PC are free of viruses. Most of the popular desktop scanning products now have a Pocket PC equivalent that you can buy and install on your desktop and/or Pocket PC. These products are:

• McAfee Virus Scan for Pocket PC


• Trend Micro's PC-Cillion for Wireless


• F-Secure Anti-Virus for Pocket PC

posted by Frank at 12:53 PM

 
Problem: Almost every time I try to sync my iPaq 3660 with my Laptop (running Async 3.6, XP Pro SP1) I get the following: "There was no response from your mobile device while checking for out-of-date Appointments. Disconnect your device and try again..." I've reset the iPaq many times, and only on the odd occasion does it actually sync successfully.

Solution: Remove the file name "picviewSync.dat" in Windows directory.
posted by Frank at 10:41 AM

 
Scenario: My wife and I both have Pocket PCs that we want to synchronize with the one desktop computer that we both use at home. We can create partnerships between our Pocket PCs and the desktop computer, but our data gets combined so that I end up having all of my wife's appointments on my Pocket PC and vice versa. How can I keep my wife's data from getting synchronized to my Pocket PC?

Solution: The solution to this problem depends on how you want to use Outlook. If you want to keep the data separate in Outlook then the solution is two create two profiles in Outlook. The easiest way to do that if you are running Windows XP or Windows 2000 is to create separate Windows logon ids for you and your wife. A separate Outlook profile will be created for each user id so that when you log in to Windows and then start Outlook, you will only see your data. Likewise, when your wife logs in and starts Outlook she will only see her data. You can then synchronize your Pocket PCs and only your data will synchronize. This solution requires that you log in to Windows each time you start your computer, and that if you are logged in and your wife wants to sync you have to first log off and then let her log in.

You can also create separate profiles directly in Outlook 2000 if you configure Outlook 2000 for corporate or workgroup mode. Open the Mail setting in Control Panel to create the profiles and configure Outlook 2000 so that it prompts for which profile to use each time you start Outlook. To switch between the two you will need to need to shut down and restart Outlook.

If you want to combine the data in Outlook so that you can see both of your appointments in the same calendar, you can separate the data by assinging the appointments to specific categories and then configuring ActiveSync so that it only synchronizes items in specific categories to a Pocket PC. Create a category for yourself in Outlook, for example, Frank. Then assign all your appointments that category. Finally, double click the Calendar information type in ActiveSync and select to only synchronize appointments in the Frank category to your Pocket PC. (Keep in mind that when you sync two Pocket PCs with one desktop computer each Pocket PC must have a unique device id. Make sure you select your Pocket PC before configuring your ActiveSync settings.)

It is important to remember that you can only use Outlook categories to control what data that is on a desktop computer synchronizes with a Pocket PC. One data is on a Pocket PC it will synchronize with all partner desktop computers. For example, let's say you set up your Pocket PC to synchronize with your home computer with ActiveSync configured to only sync certain categories, and you also create a partnership between your Pocket PC and work computer. You create a new appointment in Outlook on your home computer, assign it to your category so that that it syncs to your Pocket PC. When you connect your Pocket PC with your work computer the new appointment will synchronize with the work computer. In short, once that appointment is on your Pocket PC there is no way to prevent it from syncing to desktop computers.
posted by Frank at 1:51 PM

 
Virtual private networks provides secure connections to corporate networks via the Internet. Pocket PC 2002 has built in support for VPNs using the point-to-point tunneling (PPTP) protocol. Click here to read more about how to use your Pocket PC with VPNs.
posted by Frank at 4:10 PM

 
Read Chris De Herrera's Battery FAQ for tips on how to maximize the battery life of your Pocket PC.
posted by Frank at 6:06 PM