Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine

How to Fix the Biggest PC Annoyances

Had it with Windows glitches, hardware headaches, and Internet irritations? Here's how to get rid of them for good.

Steve Bass

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No

PDA Problems

Emergency Power for Palms

Illustration: Edwin Fotheringham
The Annoyance: I love my Palm PDA, but I'm lucky if I get a day's worth of battery life out of it. At the office I can easily recharge it while I work; when traveling, however, I used to have to schlep the cradle with me to recharge the darn thing.

The Fix: Now I squeeze more juice out of my Palm by turning the gizmo's backlight brightness way down. When I'm on the road, I leave the cradle at home and instead use Tech Center Labs' $15 Power Adapter for Universal Connector Palms (see FIGURE 7 ). The device connects the cradle's AC adapter directly to my Palm. If you prefer, you can run your Palm with the company's $15 AA Emergency Charger, which uses rechargeable or regular AA batteries. And in dire emergencies, the company's 9-volt Emergency Charger, a $20 gadget, will give your Palm enough of a boost for you to win that last hand of solitaire.

Pocket PC File and Battery Woes

The Annoyance: That last tip was handy for Palm users, but what about all you Pocket PC users out there? You have two problems. Microsoft hides your battery-life indicator in the Settings, System, Power folder, requiring an annoying three clicks each time you want to see how much battery life you have left. And like Windows, the Pocket PC platform doesn't have a useful file management tool--you're stuck using the dreadful File Explorer to keep tabs on your files.

The Fix: First, grab a trial copy of Omega One's Battery Pack Pro, a $20 utility that not only displays a desktop bar indicating your Pocket PC's battery life, but also measures its expected life based on how you use the device. Next, replace File Explorer with Resco's $25 Explorer 2003--a great productivity tool that allows you to move your files in a single window, as well as to search, zip, and encrypt files.

Article PDF Available
The magazine version of this article is available for purchase in a downloadable .pdf format. This complete article includes all the formatting, photos, tips, and charts contained in the original.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Print 65% more pages than with refilled inks. Trust Original HP Inks. Hit Print Reliably.

Featured APC Accessories For Your System
10% Off Entire Cart at Online Store

  • APC Back-UPS ES Safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility & data lines.
  • APC SurgeArrest Performance Highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection.

Focus on Personal Productivitysponsored by Microsoft

  • Personal Finance 2.0 These free and fee-based Web services not only aggregate data from your online bank accounts, they give you tools for managing your money.
  • High-Tech Travel Tips Plenty of stories provide advice for elite mobile professionals. But what about you, the unproductive traveler?

People who read this also read:

  • 2007 Microsoft Office Suites Comparison This paper compares and contrasts four suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system: Microsoft Office Standard 2007, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007, Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. This paper is intended to help organizations understand the applications and capabilities offered, and to identify the suite that best fits their needs.
  • Windows Vista Migration: The Business Proposition It's not so much a matter of "if" but "when" for most organizations regarding migration to Windows Vista. Laying the groundwork now for this migration can yield higher ROI than waiting until later. This Computerworld Technology Briefing explains it all.

PC World's Marketplace