Hello Guys,
As we know on WM2003 all the programs pool up in the memory, as using the "X" Doesn't really quit them.
I'm wondering is there any sort of user-configurable script avaliable to be able to shut down all the programs in the tray that are idle or not in use or something similar as the device get's slow after all the programs are open and it's a bit annoying having to manually go into the task manager and shut them all down.
I know some may suggest upgrade to WM5/6 but I like the Speed and old style look of WM2003.
Thanks guys.
kidcash said:
Hello Guys,
As we know on WM2003 all the programs pool up in the memory, as using the "X" Doesn't really quit them.
I'm wondering is there any sort of user-configurable script avaliable to be able to shut down all the programs in the tray that are idle or not in use or something similar as the device get's slow after all the programs are open and it's a bit annoying having to manually go into the task manager and shut them all down.
I know some may suggest upgrade to WM5/6 but I like the Speed and old style look of WM2003.
Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me that it will annoy you.
For example: You use some type of communicator which don't send non-idle messages, then you want to explore the INTERNEEETTT... puff your communicator shot down and you gave up all texting.
Related
Hi,
I've recently started using my XDA II, but I'm having a very frustrating problem which I suspect may be a 'feature' of PocketPC 2003 memory management.
When I open up applications and then switch focus away from them (e.g., by using a task switcher like Go, Smallmenu, MagicButton, etc.) they then 'close' themselves in the background.
This is annoying enough when it's just e.g., viewing a file and then have to reopen it and find your place again, but it's seriously irritating when you're in the middle of a task, swap out for a few seconds, and then try to return only to find that PocketExcel has closed, having 'saved' your file with a silly name, meaning you have to open it again. In some apps it even seems to lead to data loss (e.g., if you're half way through entering a new contact, and then do something else, you lose your half-completed entry).
I've got stacks of memory free, so if it's a memory management 'feature' it's being far, far too zealous in reclaiming what it thinks are "unused" resources.
Does anyone else have this problem -- and if so, is there a way to solve it? (please say yes!)
thanks!
Greg.
Hello gregmarsh,
this is a well-known issue with all XDA2 and alike devices (i.e. MDA2, i-Mate etc.) and early ROM's such as 1.03 etc. Check the following link for more info on this issue with a few suggestions how to (at least partialy) get rid off it:
http://ppcw.net/mobile2003.php?itemid=1645
The good news is that the number of running processes have been reduced in ROM 1.60.
PavelR.
PavelR,
Thanks for your help on this point -- I will try some of those suggestions.
I hope that O2 releases a new supported version of the ROM soon (I don't quite have the guts to flash this myself just in case all hell breaks loose...!)
cheers,
Greg.
Good Day to everyone, I want to know how to fully close a program without needing a soft reset.. because whenever I use the running program, Its really not showing all the program and therefore might not be closing all running programs.. I know there is a lot of programs running still because I had an h5550 before and I usually see a long list of running programs as compare to the xda II. Why is this so and how is the problem solved? thanks much
Use Magic Button.
http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/magicbutton.shtml
well in settings under memory
under running programs i can close my programs if i want
though i cant say if they removed that feature in 2003
Hi ...
there is a difference between applications and processes. the first type you close and you can see on running programs. while the 2nd type is system processes ... windows control their start and end. closing any of them may cause a system crash.
What are processes? Is it essential that I close them? Will it make the xda slower if many processes are running? thanks and pardon me for my ignorance..
well in a multitasking envioment
a program is 1 process which can have many threads
imho then if i dont do a softreset my xda get slower and slower
as time goes by
a softreset solve this problem just like that
If you're not using a task manager of some sort (I use Resco), the easiest and way to close an app is to use the on-screen keyboard (if the app lets you open the keyboard that is :wink: .) Simply kit Ctrl+Q, just like the Windows shortcut!
Some other handy PPC shortcuts are;
Ctrl+C (copy), Ctrl+V (paste), Ctrl+X (Cut), Ctrl+A (Select all), Shift+tap (select multiple adjacent items), Ctrl+tap (select multiple items).
Hi.
Isn't this non-closing of programs a bit of a bug? I can see how PPC might want to leave commonly used apps in memory instead of actually quitting them (i.e. Contacts), but to be honest it doesn't exactly take that long to start them up from scratch.
I'm used to (from desktop win) pressing the X in the top-right corner and the program actually closing, or at least going to the tasktray (where you can see it to quit it).
I've only had my XDA-II for a week, and I'm scared that I've run up a massive bill already because of this prob, but will have to wait to find out -
Basically I used the Terminal Services Client to connect to my PC at home whilst at work. I only did this for about 30 seconds, after which I pressed the X at the top right corner. After about 4 hours or so I got home and looked at the screen an there was an error dialog coming from the supposedly closed Terminal Services Client! So the TSC might have been downloading thru GPRS for 4 hours!
I call that a bug. I reproduced it again at home. I have Rescoe task monitor and I can see TSC staying around after I've closed it. I'm now waiting to see what appears on my bill. Damned if I'm paying for it tho...
No doubt I'm the only person who has had this prob... :?
Not a bug, a feature
Partridge, it is not a bug, it's how Pocket PC's have been working at least for PPC 2002 and PPC 2003.
It is well known in the PPC community and there are a number of fixes.
I would strongly suggest that the first application you purchase are GPRS Monitor from SPB.
It gives you a small icon on the top line where you can see your GPRS traffic, an a Today plug-in that lists the amount of MB and the cost of the day's session. Using this, you will quickly notice if some application is using GPRS behind your back.
Regards
Michael
Not a bug, a feature
Partridge, it is not a bug, it's how Pocket PC's have been working at least for PPC 2002 and PPC 2003.
It is well known in the PPC community and there are a number of fixes.
I would strongly suggest that the first application you purchase are GPRS Monitor from SPB.
It gives you a small icon on the top line where you can see your GPRS traffic, an a Today plug-in that lists the amount of MB and the cost of the day's session. Using this, you will quickly notice if some application is using GPRS behind your back.
Regards
Michael
Thanks for the reply and advice.
Admittedly I'm brand new to this PPC game.
I still think its a bit naff that PPC's do this.
I expect a program thats expensive to run in terms of network bandwidth (and therefore money), to close when I press the X button. I guess thats just me...
Thanks anyway
Partridge.
hi guys,
just got my M5000, however i got 2 questions, its driving me mad and losing faith with my new purchase fast
I am a new owner so be gentle
1. Programs are still running, when i close them if i look in settings-->system--->memory, running programs still has programs running! do these stay forever? and i have to close them in here EVERYTIME?
2. do you guys have to reset the machine every so often? seems bizarre coming from a nokia phone. Is it normal to reset the phone?
1. The programs will stay running, they are designed to. Windows Mobile (5 in this case) will manage the memory, and when more is required, it will close down programs automatically.
There really is no need to keep closing them usually, unless you are about to do something where you specifically need a large amount of memory, and want to be sure...
2. What particular problems are you having that are requiring you to reset the device? I havent reset mine in weeks, maybe we can help? Define 'every so often'. Remeber, this is basically a mini PC running windows you have here, and as such will need to be restarted at times, just like your home pc.
thanks for the reply
1. ok a bit flawed wn5 design but i see why MS did it :twisted:
any cheap utility i can use thats reliable and safe?
2. i say 1 a day, but i play with it a lot as i only got it on friday evening
mstar said:
thanks for the reply
1. ok a bit flawed wn5 design but i see why MS did it :twisted:
any cheap utility i can use thats reliable and safe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spb Pocket Plus is my favourite for this kind of stuff. It gives you shortcut buttons on the Today screen, as well as a Close button that really closes the programs, Safe Mode booting, etc.
They charge USD 24.95. Check it out here: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus/?en
mstar said:
thanks for the reply
1. ok a bit flawed wn5 design but i see why MS did it :twisted:
any cheap utility i can use thats reliable and safe?
2. i say 1 a day, but i play with it a lot as i only got it on friday evening
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Only had mine about 4 weeks - however have been using PPCs for about 8 years.
I have always been a loyal fan of pocket plus - but find it just too slow on the M5000. I have replaced all of that functionality with magic button(free), small menu(free-there is a plus version for a fee) and apreminder+(free)-all take much less space than ppc+!
Magic button allows you either close the app or minimise and even if you choose to close apps you can build an exception list just in case you want to leave any open!
At first I had to soft reset my device at least six times a day when i was messing around installing apps etc - now i would say its about 1 a day maybe every other day - it is quite stable, and with wm5 you never have to worry about loosing data if the battery gets disconnected or run down.
When I switched from Nokia - 2 things hit me battery life and soft reseting.
Matt
yer matt you notice these things when u move from a establised phone maker like Nokia.
However what is magic button? sorry me a newbie M500 owner
mstar said:
yer matt you notice these things when u move from a establised phone maker like Nokia.
However what is magic button? sorry me a newbie M500 owner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.trancreative.com/mb.aspx
There you go - also has an option to soft reset your device so you dont have to keep prodding that hole - mind looks damaged already!
BTW :
apreminder+ is a repeating alarms utility (You'll notice that clock alarms repeat ok, but alarms for tasks or calender appts - do not repeat even if the option is checked!! - Its a long standing fault of wm2003SE and has reoccured in wm5) The only problems (but its free) with apreminder+ is dont change options whilst in landscape view - (switch first) and for some reason it repeats the reminder sound during the clock alarm.
small menu - this basically replaces the start menu and with alot of playing around you can basically customise it so all favourite apps are a click away!
others might have different views on better apps but these suit my needs.
Matt
You might want to check out Wisbar Lite (really cheap if not free ... cant remember) here... its a great application manager (so you can close apps if you want to) and it features a really cool battery manager (just uses the top 2 rows of pixels at the top of the screen).
They do a Wisbar Pro (or something like that) that is said to provide really nice skins for the device.... never tried it though.
matt1971 said:
I have always been a loyal fan of pocket plus - but find it just too slow on the M5000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that you've mentioned it, I do agree with you about Pocket Plus' performance on the Universal, especially the close button - if I have 2 or 3 programs running in the background, the close button menu can take up to 5 seconds to open up!
But I do like its Safe Mode feature... Any recommendations for this one?
Thanks for the list of freebies too.
richardlai said:
matt1971 said:
But I do like its Safe Mode feature... Any recommendations for this one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point....The safe mode saved me from hard resets at least twice on my M2000. My device had locked up due to messed up today plugins - which I think is the main reason for a safe mode!!
Catch22 really:
Keep PPC+ but suffer performance (that 5 secs nonsense to open running programs really got to me) but be safe in the knowledge that if your today plugins screw up you have a way out.
OR
Dont bother about the safe mode and always remember to backup before installing today apps.
Personally, I have sprite backup, takes about 5mins to backup and restores prefectly when needed and dont forget M5000 has persistant storage so not likely to lose data if you have a device lockup.
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have always been a fan of spb, in fact have installed PP, diary, backup, gprs, weather.
howwever in the end, I have decommissioned all of them as the total drain on performance was frustrating.
I turn them on again when iget bored and want a change.
SPB PP runs much faster as a today plugin without the extras enabled.
the reason I mention it now is that without all the extra features, plug ins etc, I can just leave all the running programs as it will only zap my memory from 30mb to 20mb, thus leaving plenty of breathing space. however with all the plugins loaded I would start at 20 dropping to below 10 thus taking quite a memory hit.
my resets are also reduced using the basic device to once per week compared to once per day.
but as I said, I am a sucker for plugins and new stuff so I use them, then get frustrated and go back to the basic device.
my 2 bobs worth...
is there a registry hack that will close a program instead of minimising it?
Here you go! http://www.trancreative.com/mb.aspx and the best part is that it's free!!!
There are many programs that will do this, some of them have many other functions that you will find useful.
My favourite program, WisBar Advance does this as part of a massive set of functions, and adds the ability to completely skin your device.
The trade is that it uses heaps of valuable RAM and isn't free.
ViJay555 has a piece of software that will also perform this function, VJOKButt.
This is something that many people ask about, we all find our own solution.
cheers guys i'll try them out. does anyone know why microsoft did this?
bobbyb said:
cheers guys i'll try them out. does anyone know why microsoft did this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that applications will "seem" to start faster after the first initial load.
The way MS sees us using the device often has little to do with the reality of using a PDA.
The default tools loaded by WM5 or the carriers (the ExtROM contents) are what they assume we will use and they do try to provide the things that most people want. Word, Phone, Calendar etc will all run quite happily in the memory that we have been (grieviously under)allocated on the device. However, when you start putting lots of third party apps in there you find that 64MB isn't enough. Skinning, Today plugins, TomTom, alternative BT stacks and voice diallers, better PIMs and the like all take up more space than MS had planned and we have to close them to save space.
If you ran it the way it was intended then minimising without closing would be acceptable.
Reminds me of Monty Python:
You're all individuals!
I'm not ...
One day I'll find a way to upgrade this baby to 512MB of DDR and drop a 2GHz CPU in it ... Then I'll be a happy camper =)
One problem I ran into, well, really not a problem just didnt think. As mentioned there are several programs that work great and I run SPB Pocket plus and all was great until my Exec started running slower & slower and eventually crashed. What I realized was that I was closing programs with the "ok" button on the keypad. This will only minimize not close so my programs were still running and stacking up in memory. This is a big "DUH". As long as you use the "x" in the top coner then the programs mentioned can close your program (as designed) but if you use the keypad "ok" the programs will continue to run in the background. Just a heads up.
Unless you use PQz! This program has an option that lets the "ok" button on the keyboard actually close apps.
have I mentioned I'm a fan of PQz? ;-)
Thanks, I will check it out.
Hi guys,
I know you already know this, but I'm just wondering how you have dealt with the problem.
When you click on a program 'x' it doesn't really close the program like on a PC, as the program is still active in the Task Manager, which wastes power.
Is there a program which fixes this so that the 'x' means close properly? Or do you have to go to the Task Manager every time and close it from there?
Thanks a lot,
Paul
Welcome to the world to WM where Micro$oft decided "close" was a four letter word. There are many, many "x" button/task bar/task managers etc. out there to solve just this problem. Search a little and you'll find them. I personally use pBar, and the Oxios apps.
benmyers2941 said:
Welcome to the world to WM where Micro$oft decided "close" was a four letter word. There are many, many "x" button/task bar/task managers etc. out there to solve just this problem. Search a little and you'll find them. I personally use pBar, and the Oxios apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I was successful when I searched 'closing programs'. Why didn't I think of that before?!
I'm trying to use 'smclose', which requires placement in the startup folder. I can access this on the Wizard, but I can't find it through the Explore in Activesync!
Got it in by copying the file into Startup in Wizard. Thanks!
search for HTC X button 1.5 . it is the most stable version.
it allows you to close and to quit programs by tap and hold. also, in the today screen you have the option to close programs that you dont want to run while keeping the programs you want to run stay in minimized windows.
That sounds like a better tool SVI, thanks!
Seconds on the HTC X Button. It just does what you want, without a bunch of extra bunk.