My Pocket PC Software Collection
a/o November 1, 2009

Well, Tanker Bob expanded into the Pocket PC world on March 23, 2005 with a Dell Axim X50v. Originally, I intended to create a new Pocket PC website to parallel my Palm OS site. However, I decided to simply incorporate the Pocket PC information into my existing site. The Palm software page had already grown quite large, so I created this page for the Pocket PC side. Thankfully, you will see some commonality between them. Many developers now support both platforms, some quite seamlessly.

Memory management is a bit different on Pocket PCs. The Axim has 91.4MB of user-available, non-volitile, Built-in Storage (BIS) in which to store applications and data. I've elected to put almost all applications here than can run from BIS. Only Today apps, auto-loading programs, and input utilities reside in Storage Memory in RAM. A few apps reside on my 4GB RiData SD Card that would be useless without their core data on that card. Although SD card access is faster than BIS access, I wanted most of my apps available when I swapped out SD cards to listen to music. All large databases reside on the card. The 2GB Kingston Pro 50x CF card has the full Lexipedia Wikipedia database (minus graphics) on it as well as music and movies. You can never have enough storage!

I include the app size for all the programs on the Palm page, but that's far more difficult to discern for the PPC. Like Windows on the desktop, apps toss fonts and dynamic link libraries (DLL) in the Windows directory. There's no easy way that I've found to get my arms around each program's total overhead. If I find one, I'll update the page accordingly. In addition to all the programs below, I also have all the usual Dell and Windows Mobile 2003 SE programs and utilities loaded.

Consider all programs to be in BIS unless otherwise noted.

Update: As of February 1, 2008, I'm using the awesome HP iPAQ 211. Since it has 162 MB of available Flash and 66 MB of available RAM, almost everything is installed in the Flash. The only exceptions are very large databases that remain on the cards and a few key apps that I put in the iPAQ File Store. As of February 20, 2009, I have a 32 GB PNY SDHC card to store the 3.2 GB Wikipedia database for TomeRaider.

Update 2: As of October 19, 2009, I'm using the excellent HTC Tilt 2 from AT&T. Almost all software is stored in the 266 MB of available Flash Storage. I also have a 16 GB microSD card to store the 3.2 GB Wikipedia database for TomeRaider and a host of other stuff. Plus it's a great phone.

Adobe Reader LE 2.5 - Freeware from Adobe. Read PDF documents on your PPC in native format. The fidelity of the rendering compared to the desktop is excellent. Adobe comes with the Tilt 2, works fast, and does a great job of rendering pages.

***AlarmClock - Freeware by M.Toda. Nice, small alarm clock app that performs the basics quickly, effectively, and without bloat. Supports repeating and snoozing. ***Don't need it on the Tilt 2

AIRoboform - Shareware by Siber Systems. Handy viewer for the login data that your keep in RoboForm on your desktop. Bi-directional syncing keeps data consistent across multiple PCs. Supports DES and 3DES encryption. It ActiveSyncs to the master data list on the desktop, so the Palm and PPC versions are automatically in sync with each other if you operate both platforms. Roboform also supports plugins for Firefox.

***apReminderPlus - Freeware by Alex Pakhotin. Excellent enhancement to the PPC alarm system. Implements repeat alarms, ascending volume on repeats, choose alarms, and automatic snoozing. Very nice. ***Doesn't appear to do anything under WM6, so I disabled it.

***AvantGo - Freeware from AvantGo. It downloads (configurable) news from the web during ActiveSync and presents it in a browser-like format. Although free, it updates and displays painfully slowly. I primarily use iSilo for my daily news and only use AvantGo on the road where it will download updates over WiFi. ***Doesn't seem to work under WM6 .

***Axim Self Diagnostic - Free from Dell. Can't find the link on Dell's site anymore, but this is a nice utility to check the basic system components non-destructively. The video test may not work with VGA devices, but everything else seems to work fine. ***No longer use the Axim.

***BatteryStatus - Freeware by awojtas. The link provided goes to the XDA developer's forum, where various versions of this utility have been posted. They put either the battery status or battery and memory status at the top or bottom of the screen depending on the version. buzz_lightyear modified a neat version he called e_status for the bottom of the screen. All excellent work. ***I'm now using the built-in battery display on the Tilt 2***

***BDicty Pro - Commercial from Beiks. Very nice dictionary reader. Main dictionary is based on WordNet's database (see my dictionary review for details). Sports a clever feature that increases the relative size of the active window, then automatically swaps the emphasis when appropriate. For example, when looking up a word, the word search window is large and the definition pane small. When the word is found or selected, the definition pane increases in size while the search window shrinks. Well executed, and Beiks' has outstanding support. ***Hadn't used it in a long time, so I uninstalled it.***

BibleReader+ - Freeware/Shareware/Commercial by Olive Tree Bible Software. Powerful Bible study program with the most powerful reference set on the market as of this writing. Reader supports multiple open windows, Christ's words in red in selected versions, extensive hyperlinking to cross-references and notes, and lots of customizing features. The Scholar's Tools (commercial package) include the Hebrew Masoretic Text (w/separate parsing module) Hebrew Old Testament,BDB Hebrew Lexicon, GRAMCORD Lite Greek New Testament (parsed), and UBS Greek Dictionary+. Wow! That's unbelievabe language power in your hand. This is the only Bible reader on my Dell. I do my normal reading in the NKJV w/notes, original language Greek and Hebrew work in the Scholar's Tools, the AMG Complete Word Study Bible, the LXX and Majority Text, and commentary work with the JFB and Matthew Henry commentaries. All databases work on both the PPC and Palm and the reader is free, so moving from Palm to PPC proved painless. Note: See the What's New page's August 16, 2004, to see a more detailed discussion of the AMG Complete Word Study Bible.

*** BTKeybd Driver - Commercial from Freedom Input. Not an app in itself, but the driver for the Freedom Keyboard. This excellent Bluetooth keyboard makes a great traveling companion. ***Not needed on the Tilt 2

***CAB Install - Freeware from SK Tools. Must-have utility that allows you to target the install location for CAB file installs on your PPC. Most installs from CABs will simply go in RAM, but CAB Install lets you install the application to anyplace you desire on your PPC. Sweet! ***Don't need this under WM6 and SKTools 4

***Calligrapher 8.6 - Shareware from Phatware. Interesting input method that does sophisticated character/handwriting recognition. It boasts advanced fuzzy logic and neural net techniques. Worked incredibly well after its initial training period. Still not my primary input (Fitaly 5 is), because even though recent updates improved the recognition of my illegible writing, my writing still defies digital analysis. ***Don't need this with the Tilt 2 because of the keyboard.

***Card Export II - Commercial from Softick. Great way to connect your Palm or Windows Mobile device to your computer as a USB mass storage device. Over a straight USB connection, it will reach over 6 Gb/sec transfer speeds. Very nice for daily use, and may save you from leaving the house with your card still in the card reader. ***Tilt 2 supports USB host mode, so doesn't need Card Export.

***Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Shareware by Revolutionary Software Front. A managable encyclopedia database that weighs in at about 7MB. Includes just under 17,000 articles. Not comprehensive by any means, but a good selection of material in a simple interface. ***Finally removed this as I never use it. Lexipedia is my primary reference.

***ContactBreeze - Shareware from SBSH Mobile Software. Excellent access to your contacts right on your Today screen. Implemented as a plug-in to PocketBreeze (see below). Nifty design even has a mode that enables easy lookup using your fingers, something that I missed from some older Palm apps. New version increased loading speed of large Contact databases significantly. ***Not needed on the Tilt 2

ConverterCE - Freeware from Fann Software. Basic unit/currency conversion utility that works well. It has a big brother ConverterCE Pro if you need more.

***Dictonary Editor - Freeware by Demitry Geels. Nifty tool to cleanup the word completion dictionaries in the Windows Mobile operating system. I used it to delete some annoying duplicate entries. ***Doesn't work under WM6

***Digitizer Check - Freeware by Feng Wei. Nice utility to check your PPC's digitizer alignment. Supports VGA displays. ***Haven't needed this so didn't put it on the 211.

Ephemeris - Freeware by Jon Sachs. Nice sun and moon data calculator with an included sun compass.

***Eponyms - Freeware by Andrew Yee, MD. Good collection of formal medical names for things, helpful for decoding medical reports. ***Hadn't used it in a long time, so didn't migrate to the Tilt 2.

Fitaly for PPC - Shareware from Textware. Excellent input system for Palm and PPC. The PPC version provides more functionality due to Windows Mobile's better handling of text input. I had problems trying to get the typing speeds in Fitaly up to those I get in MessagEase, but I'm working on that on the PPC now. New version supports sophisticated macro capabilities, and now glossaries like Instant Text.

***Flexmail 2006 - Shareware from WebIS. Excellent replacement for the weak built-in WM messaging program. Supports polling and sending with multiple mail services simultaneously. Also highly configurable and deletes entire mailbox contents with one step. Supports POP3, IMAP4, and Activesync. Has some reliability quirks that I haven't sorted out yet, but I like it. ***Didn't work on the iPAQ and haven't been brave enough to put it on the Tilt 2.

***Foxit Reader PPC - Freeware from Foxit. Early beta of a pdf viewer. Faster and smaller than Adobe's offering, but it has a ways to go yet to maturity. The desktop version works great, though, and is my default pdf reader on my PC. ***The iPAQ came with a pdf viewer so I'll try that for a while.

Google Maps - Freeware from Google. I still like MS Pocket Streets, but I'm having difficulty in getting it to work right with the GPS in my Tilt 2. OTOH, Google Maps works perfectly over 3G. Even gives directions, which PS doesn't do.

HandyShopper3 - Freeware by Christopher Antos. Great database program that's much more than just a shopping program. The Yahoo! forum is replete with ideas on how to leverage the program. I used to make my shopping lists in memos. Where HandyShopper shines is in the ability to keep lists by store, track prices and quantity, and reuse items from lists. Lists can include all items or just the ones needed on the current trip. Support is outstanding, better than most commercial software. Can't beat the price. Still in alpha development, but works fine.

***iLauncher- Shareware by SBSH. Very nice launcher for the Today screen. It's simple operation, clean appearance, and flexibility make it a joy with which to work. Latest version supports text tabs very nicely, system meters, meters on the task bar, running task icons on the task bar, and a meter bar over the task bar. It can also place shortcut icons on the system tray--very handy. Very stable, and now my primary launcher on the Today screen. ***I don't use the Today screen on the Tilt 2, so don't need this, but I do miss it. Hasn't been updated in a long time.

iSilo - Shareware by iSilo. Document, HTML, and image viewer with compression. Strength lies in its HTML conversions with preserved hyperlinking and its handling of tables. Documents are compressed, formatted nicely, and with preserved fonts, etc. iSilo can also sync with web sites through iSiloX, its desktop component. I use iSilo to convert and read a number of reference docs in that format which I captured/converted from the web. My crowning achievement was converting Calvin's Commentary to a 25MB file, which was too big for HandStory to handle. I use its scheduling feature to download the news automatically every morning. It's databases can be read on both the Palm and PPC platforms.

Lexionary - Shareware by Revolutionary Software Front. Nice and compact implementation of the WordNet lexical database. The taxonomy icons, while saving space, make the program a bit difficult to learn quickly. But it does work well.

***Lexipedia - Shareware by Revolutionary Software Front. Nice implementation of Wikipedia for the PPC with over 550,000 articles. Available with a standard 225MB database truncated to use only the executive overviews from each article, or the full 720MB database if your card can handle it. Interface is very simple but it gets the job done, and lookup on an SD card is pretty quick. Loaded on the SD card. ***The database hasn't been updated since 2006. I now use a 3.2 GB Wikipedia 2008 database for TomeRaider as my primary version.

Magic Button - Freeware by TranCreative. Excellent task manager that puts icons for all running programs on the title bar. It also fixes Microsoft's "minimize" behavior on the X button and allows some additional customization of the title bar. I think that it has compatibility issues with some software, but haven't nailed that down yet. Although I have several task managers available, this one is my favorite. Simply tapping on icons on the title bar to swap apps can quickly become addictive. Also has a nice battery monitor for the title bar. UPDATE: The Tilt 2 comes with a QuickMenu which does some of this. I tried Magic Button, but it looks strange and needs to be updated for WM 6.5's top bar. However, it does function correctly.

MathUPro - Shareware by Creative Creek. Outstanding programmable, scientific, RPN calculator patterned after the classic Hewlett-Packard lines which I've used for decades. The screen is such that you can actually use it by "pressing" the individual keys. Programming is just like the old HPs, based on the keys w/o a complicated language or script to learn. Creative Creek also makes a non-programmable version for less money. Currently in beta for the PPC platform, it has a ways to go to catch up with its Palm sibling, but I still love the format and implementation.

mDigger - Freeware from Quarta Mobile Inc. Excellent program for downloading and reading news. It downloads whole articles, has an online catalog, and loads very quickly. I use it every day.

***MedAlert - Freeware from Skyscape. Retrieves monthly medical news. Offered for install with Skyscape products. ***Removed because I don't ActiveSync very often anymore.

***MedCalc - Freeware by Mathias Tschopp, MD. Nice medical calcuator. ***Rarely used it.

***MessagEase for PPC - Shareware from EXideas, Inc. Excellent soft keyboard replacement for the Pocket PC. The command button provides the most-used OS functions (copy, cut, paste, command, shortcut, undo) at your stylus tip. Concentrated, well planned keyboard enables minimal hand movement, and tons of punctuation and symbols are readily accessible. Works perfectly in portrait mode AND landscape. Exideas offers a generous 60-day trial period on the PPC. This is one of the first apps that I installed on my Axim! ***Hasn't been updated in years and appears to only be partially incompatible with WM6. Disabled for now.

MetrO - Freeware by F. Van Caenegem & P. Bernard. Slick program that provides directions to get from one location to another using public transportation in a host of the world's cities. Very nicely excuted interface, quick searching, good use of color, and accurate directions make it a snap to use. Databases are updated regularly. Great program for travelers.

***MortPlayer - Freeware by Mirko Schenk. Very nice music player that also has an alarm feature. The alarm let's you wake up to your favorite music. Supports MP2, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV formats and sports a number of nice features. ***Never used it so uninstalled for now.***

***MSDict Professional Dictionary Bundle - Shareware from Mobile Systems. Great English dictionary, thesaurus, phrase list, and acronym reference. It sports a very attractive interface and is simple to use. The dictionary has concise, informative definitions, and the thesaurus is very helpful in discerning the nuances between similar words. As good as these are, the real star of this collection may be the English phrase database. Don't be fooled by the name--it explains a number of common latin phrases and formal names, as well as colloquial expressions. Almost all other PDA dictionaries use a reduced version of Princeton's WorldNet lexicon, which is really a sophisticated thesaurus-like psychological language learning project and makes a less than exemplary dictionary even in full PC form. See my more detailed comments on this database here. I compared a number of popular dictionary programs before settling on MSDict, whose demo is time-limited, full function software. Mobile Systems' support proved very helpful, promptly answering questions and concerns before I registered. I have a review of MSDict for the Palm here, but the PPC version looks and works the same. Installed on my SD card. ***Haven't used these in a very long time so didn't install them on my iPAQ.

***Netfront 3.2 - Shareware from ACCESS. Outstanding web browser that supports Java and JavaScript, SSL, etc. Looks great in native VGA mode. Web pages on your PPC look just like on your desktop, or you can wrap them to fit the screen. If you surf the web with your PPC, you should take a serious look at Netfront. ***No longer used because I primarily use Pocket IE with PIEPlus now.

***Oxford Dictionary of Idioms - Shareware from Mobile Systems. Very nice collection of English idioms searchable on key works in each idiom. Excellent reference if you want to get it just right. Also available as part of an Oxford Reference Suite. See my review here. Installed on my SD card. ***Haven't used this in a long time so didn't install it on the 211.

***OzVGA - Freeware by Oleg Zakharov. Super utility to put your X50v into true VGA 640x480 display mode. Allows you to customize your font and control sizes and even make registry changes to support different configurations. Works great, but not all apps support true VGA. ***Tilt 2 is beyond VGA, so don't need this.

PhatNotes 5.2 Professional Edition - Shareware from Phatware. This version ActiveSyncs with its own desktop program, which will import/export Outlook notes flawlessly. It stores notes as a Windows Mobile database on your handheld, handles categories beautifully, supports rich formatting, and is fully supported by WebIS' Pocket Informant 2005. PhatNotes also has a nice Today plug-in that works great under PocketBreeze as a custom tab. Pretty slick setup.

***PIEPlus - Shareware from ReenSoft. Nice add-in to the stock Pocket Internet Explorer that adds things like multiple windows, landscape support, full screen mode, etc. While it doesn't make full use of the Axim's VGA screen, it operates far more reliably than Netfront. ***Tilt 2 comes with Opera Mobile, which works better.

***PocketBreeze - Shareware from SBSH Mobile Software. Super Today screen utility that puts your calendar and tasks on the Today screen. Highly customizable and actively supports Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion. Newer versions support a custom tab, which is where I keep my weather information, plus will display daily forecasts from PocketWeather 2.0 on each daily title line. Awesome! ***Don't use it with TouchFLO 3D.

Pocket Chemistry - Now free from Ra Software. Nice chemistry reference with lots of data on the elements of the Periodic Table.

***PocketClock - Shareware from MegaSoft2000. Currently testing this for use as my standard alarm clock. Plays wavs from anywhere on your device. Also boasts multiple time zones, alarms, timers, stopwatches, moon/sun data, and even a screensaver. Very nice. ***Removed in favor of the much smaller AlarmClock and SmallTime.***

Pocket Informant 9 - Shareware from WebIS. Outstanding Personal Information Manager with which to organize your life. More full-featured than MS Outlook itself, with which it is fully compatible. Great ease-of-use that belies the incredible power beneath. Manage your calendar, tasks, contacts, and notes all in one app that supports seemingly endless customizability. Also has a nice feature to force Windows to update all alarms for those time when Windows inevitably starts missing them. The longer I use this, the deeper I fall under its spell.

***Pocket Oxford English Dictionary - Shareware from Mobile Systems. Great implementation of the standard English dictionary. Includes etymology, pronunciation, deriviatives, usage, and even related concepts for some words. Also available as part of an Oxford Reference Suite. See my review here. ***Haven't used in a long time so didn't install it on my 211.

***PocketPC Expense - Freeware from Microsoft. Unsupported program that provides some of the same expense-tracking capability as comes on Palm devices. Haven't used it yet, but it will be nice for tracking expenses when traveling. ***Never used it so didn't install on the 211.

PocketStars - Shareware by Jay Alan Borseth. Outstanding astronomy tool and reference. Fast, realtime tracking, great reference data, can take your location from a GPS, and highly configurable. Provides necessary data for celestial navigation as well. Excellent implementation.

Pocket Streets 2006 - Commercial from Microsoft. Nice port of the desktop map version to PPC. Doesn't provide directions, but does include a large collection of free databases for cities around the world. Very usable in real-life situations. This helped me find some landmarks and the closest Metro station in Washington, DC, during a visit there, as well as in Berlin. Will link to and track with a GPS if you have one. 2006 version can dowload and use custom maps from Maps and Streets 2005.

***PocketTV Pro - Shareware from MPEGTV LLC. MPEG movies viewer for PPC. ***Uninstalled because I never use it.***

PocketWeather- Shareware from SBSH Mobile Software. With version 2.0, includes better scripting capability, but not yet up to WeatherPanel standards. I'm running as a tab under PocketBreeze so that PocketBreeze can put the daily forecasts from PocketWeather on the calendar. Very nice integration. It doesn't look very good on the Tilt 2, and the TouchFLO has its own weather tab. I still loaded this, but it may not stay on for long.

***PocketWinc - Commercial from Cirond. Nice WiFi utility to search out and connect to 802.11 networks. Provides good feedback on access points, but doesn't support WPA-PSK security. ***WiFi works great on the iPAQ, so I don't need this anymore.

***PocketXpdf - Free Open Source. Good pdf reader and much faster than ClearVue PDF, the one that comes with the iPAQ. ***No longer needed on the Tilt 2.

***Powerstatus - Freeware by inteks. Another neat indicator for the top of the screen that shows relative battery life and memory status. Battery and memory lines are different colors. Very nice implementation. ***I went back to using spb Pocket Plus' excellent battery monitor above the task bar rather than have another program eating nanos and memory, even through Powerstatus has a small footprint.***

***Resco File Explorer 2005 - Shareware from Resco. Outstanding File Explorer for PPC. Looks and works like Windows Explorer on the desktop, but includes strong file encryption, ZIP file support, built-in viewer, network browser, registry editor, and now a Today screen plugin--all seamlessly integrated. Works great when hacked into VGA mode as well. Best purchased as part of the Resco Utility Package. ***After considerable time, I found that I never used it. Total Commander CE is free and does everything that Resco does. Plus, Resco wants upgrade money every year for minor changes. Uninstalled it.***

Resco Photo Viewer - Shareware from Resco. Outstanding photo viewer/editor. Supports RAB, BMP, 2BP, JPG, JPE, JPEG, GIF, PCX, PCD, TIF, and TIFF formats. Includes zoom, rotate, contrast and color adjustment, and slide show creation. Also includes an excellent screen capture utility that supports full VGA. Best purchased as part of the Resco Utility Package.

***Resco Stickies - Shareware from Resco. Neat handwritten note app that supports alarms and plugs into the Today screen. Best purchased as part of the Resco Utility Package. ***Never used it so uninstalled it.***

***ResourceInfo - Freeware by Wolfgang Rolke. Nifty program that puts the battery and memory status in the System Tray. It tracks time on the battery and sports a host of useful information in a tabbed format, accessed by tapping on the icons. Slick implementation. ***Superceded by iLauncher's excellent meters.***

SafeMode 3 - Shareware by monocube. It does what it says--boots you into a safe mode just like Windows so that you can disable or uninstall offending programs. This is the way to get out of a soft reset loop. Since I no longer use iLauncher, I'm back to SafeMode.

***Shop2Go Lite - Freeware by pocketWorks. Nice shopping list application to help with those important chores. Supports one-handed operation. ***Removed. Took too much space for what it did, and didn't work after updating my firmware to A03 without reinstalling some components over new libraries in the update.***

SKTools - Shareware from SK Software. First app that I installed on the iPAQ 211. Outstanding collection of maintenance utilities for your PPC. Clean up orphaned registry entries, temp files, caches, the notification queue, PPC databases, orphaned uninstall pieces, bad shortcuts, duplicate appointments, contacts, tasks, etc. Also find out where all your RAM is being eaten up, key system information, manage Today plugins and input methods, find duplicate files and contacts and transpired alarms, manage running process and Windows startup files, and manage aliases. Also includes a backup program. This package does it all well and safely. If you have a PPC, you need this. It was the first PPC app that I registered. I never leave home without it.

***SKTracker - Shareware from SK Software. Nice utility that takes snapshots of the entire system before and after installing new software or updates, and generates reports on what changed. Although an all-manual operation, it's a big step in keeping trial software from garbaging up your device. ***Never really panned out to what I hoped, so I uninstalled it.***

***SlovoEd Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Ed. - Shareware from penreader. Excellent and very comprehensive dictionary with a nice interface and resident mode. The latter enables you to look up words from many other programs and pops up a small window with the definition. Installed on my SD card. Very nicely executed. ***Upgraded to the dictionary below.***

SlovoEd 7.0 Merriam-Webster Third International Dictionary, Unabridged. - Shareware from penreader. The reader is updated to support WM 6.x better. While I was updating the reader, I decided on a more comprehensive dictionary. The interface and overall execution remains excellent. Installed to the MicroSD card.

***SmallTime - Early versions freeware by Marty Hammel, later ones shareware. Small, clean and effective timer program. Supports countdown and stopwatch functions, as well as displays the current time. ***Replaced by SpbTime.***

SoftMaker Office 2008 - Shareware from SoftMaker. The only full-powered office suite for PPC. We all know that Pocket Word is a joke. TextMaker is like having MS Word in your hand, no kidding. If there's something it won't do, I haven't found it yet. TM supports tables, graphics, headers, footers, spell checking, full font and paragraph formatting, and outlining. The office suite also has PlanMaker and PresentationMaker which are the substantial equivalents of Excel and Powerpoint, and allow creating and editing of those files in native format. The suite isn't cheap, but in this case you get more than you pay for. I write a good part of my reviews for MobileTechReview in TM. 

***SpashID- Shareware from SplashData. Attractive app to keep your passwords, bank info, credit card data, etc., safe. Uses 256-bit Blowfish encryption, has great flexibility in creating templates and customizing individual entries, and comes with a nice desktop component. Nicely executed, but keeps Palm and PPC databases separately requiring them to be manually synced through export/import operations. ***Changed over to Spb Wallet because I always had trouble restoring SplashID's database, which requires Activesync. Got tired of the hassle.

***Spb Insight - Shareware by spbSoftwareHouse. Nice RSS newsreader that downloads full articles from channels like AvantGo. It has nice hands-free operation as well. Works fine loaded on an SD card. ***I use mDigger now.

Spb Mobile DVD - Shareware by SpbSoftwareHouse. Not technically on my X50v, but it converts and compresses DVDs to WMV or AVI format for use on your PDA. Very nicely done and extremely easy to use.

***SpbPocket Plus - Shareware from Spb Software House. After literally going through the entire Today plug-in market, I settled on Pocket Plus as my Today screen integrator and system manager. It uses a tab-based program launcher that takes up almost no room on the Today screen, includes system monitoring icons, fixes Windows' abomidable minimize rather than close problem, enhances Pocket Internet Explorer, provides a taskbar battery indicator, and adds ZIP file support to File Explorer. Version 3.0 fixed all the issues that I had with version 2.5. It now works great on my X50v. ***Haven't used this in a long time.

***SpbTime - Shareware from Spb Software House. Great program that provides flexible and reliable alarm support, world time, count down/up timers, and a Today plugin. Loaded as a custom tab under PocketBreeze. ***Don't need this on the Tilt 2

SpbWallet 2.0 - Shareware from Spb Software House. Excellent and secure password keeper. Stores data in an encrypted (256-bit AES) database in the same format on your WM device and your PC. Although it can and does Activesync, you really only need to copy the databases back and forth. Very happy with this.

Sprite Backup 6 - Shareware from Sprite Software. After one unplanned hard reset and one firmware upgrade, I'm a true believer in this software. It makes scheduled backups, backups based on battery level, self-extracting backups, selective backups and restores, and also will backup to the desktop--and does it all at high speed. It also comes with a small collection of helpful utilities to display your storage media status. The most amazing feature has to be its ability to use a snapshot of the pristine system to restore your files after a system upgrade or moving to a new device without overwriting newer or upgraded registry keys or system setting/files. This feature alone is worth the price of admission. If you have a PPC, you absolutely need this software for your backup solution.

Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 28th Edition - Commercial from Skyscape. Very comprehensive with excellent definitions. After considerable research, I've found this dictionary to be the one to have if you can only have one. Links to other Skyscape products. My only complaint is that the index is split in two parts at L-M. This can be annoying when you start typing before realizing that the wrong index is active. However, given that it has over 102,000 terms and a huge data file, maybe that was the best compromise for performance. In the end, the content quality won out.

***StyleTap Platform - Shareware from StyleTap. Fascinating Palm OS emulation for the PPC. Currently in beta, it runs a good number of Palm apps perfectly and quickly. More complex applications like Star Pilot Advanced have recently added to the compatibility list. Apps appear in Programs on the PPC as well as in the StyleTap launcher. I'm currently running BibleThumper, ChemTable, MiniCalc and MiniChart, MyBible, ShadowPlan 4.1, Star Pilot Advanced, Wordz, and YAUC with no issues, and all from my SD card. It also releases all its memory after exiting--very clean operation. I risked early adoption based on StyleTap's promises, and I'm certainly glad that I registered! ***I no longer need this. I have WM replacements for all these apps.

Tabor's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary,20th Edition - Geared to nursing and health administration, it contains some very good and practical treatment information along with the definitions. While not comprehensive enough to be my only medical dictionary, the explanatory information was good enough to buy it as a supplementary source of information. Links to other Skyscape products.

Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe - Shareware by USBMIS, Inc. PDA implementation of the popular pocket medication reference, covering about 4000 medications and many herbal/alternative meds. It has good scope, adequate depth, and a straight-forward interface. Unlike most other drug references, only the adverse affects that occurred in over 5% of the test subjects and at twice the rate as the placebo--i.e., those that are clinically significant--appear in the monographs. You can update automatically on ActiveSync, and the updates are zipped to save bandwidth. Includes an excellent drug interaction function informed by the Medical Letter. You can get monthly or annual subscription to the databases, and they are significantly less expensive than the competition. Its support is outstanding.

TaskFacade 4 - Freeware by gps-lover. A graphical task switcher for WM 6.5. It requires .Net Compact Framework (I loaded 3.5 on my card). I'm just testing it at this point, but it seems to work pretty well. The task switcher in WM 6.5 works pretty well, but you can't go directly between programs. That's really my only complaint with it. TaskFascade 4 fixes that.

The Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP) (formerly BetaPlayer) - Open Source project. Outstanding free multimedia player that fully supports the X50v's VGA and 2700G capabilities. Looks and sounds outstanding. Supports about every music standard out there, even AAC if you know where to look (please don't ask). Update: I had to get an updated version by Phenom from the xda-developers forum for the Tilt 2. It does't work perfectly, but it does work.

Tip Calculator and Bill Splitter - Freeware by BrainThump, LLC. Nifty little utility that does exactly what it says. Good for cool points at office lunches.

Total Commander Pocket PC - Freeware by Christian Ghisler. Excellent file manager and more for the PPC at an unbeatable price. I've been using Total Commander (then Windows Commander) since Windows 3.1--you count the years. The PPC version can link to the desktop version through ActiveSync using a free plugin. Support ZIP files, two-window view, tree view, network drives, registry editing, ftp, etc. I'm been a huge fan of Christian's for many years, and his support is unbeatable--but you'll rarely need it!

***TreeSize - Freeware by Mike Berro. Simple utility to track down where the largest files are on your PPC. Nice for housekeeping. ***Removed. Didn't need it with Sprite's Space Detector loaded.***

***UpTime- Freeware by Alexander Eltsyn. Nice Today plugin to monitor battery status and total uptime since last charge. Other utilities do this, but this one also can track what applications are running and produce a report of battery charge over time tied to app usage. Very handy. Loaded as a custom tab under PocketBreeze. ***Don't use the Today screen on the Tilt 2, so can't use this now. Sure miss it, though.

VistaHide Battery Guage - Freeware by ins0mniaque. Puts a very nice, only 3-pixel wide battery bar at the top of the screen. Very small, simple and effective. I wanted it because I want a clock on the task bar but also want to track the battery. I'm also looking for a battery driver that will display in 1% increments rather than HTC's 10% increments, but none of the available ones seem to work on an AT&T variant.

***Wakeup Tweak - Freeware by Burr Oak Software. Excellent utility that fixes the infamous Widows Mobile 2003 alarm problems. Changes the housekeeping wake time for Windows at midnight to a long enough period (one minute recommended) so that Windows can complete updating all your alarms. Works for me. ***Don't think that I need this on WM6.

***WeatherPanel - Shareware from Marsware. Outstanding weather tool for the Today screen that automatically updates over the Internet whenever a connection is available. Simple script language makes it easy to customize displays, or you can take advantage of the many custom layouts available on the site. This is the most comprehensive weather app available for PPC. I run it as a custom tab under PocketBreeze. Don't leave home without it! Note that you can only get new registrations from the Marsware site, not from third-party sales sites. Loaded as a custom tab under PocketBreeze. Update: Although I haven't uninstalled this yet, I'm now using PocketWeather as my weather program. ***Gone.

***WebIS Toolbox 3 - Shareware from WebIS. Collection of utilities for a number of functions. The most useful is one that changes your appointment times for time zone changes, although is doesn't seem to work for recurring appointments. Also has other PIM maintenance functions, including search and replace across appointments and tasks. ***Never used this much so didn't install it on the 211.

***Where is my RAM - Freeware by Rolf Olsen. Very nice utility to help cleanup your RAM. Includes deleting capability right in the app. Will also display file information so that you may ensure that you are deleting what you desire. ***Removed. Didn't need it with Sprite's Space Detector loaded.***

***WiFiFoFum - Freeware by Aspecto Software. Nice 802.11 WiFi scanning utility. Doesn't support true VGA yet, but the developer is working on it. ***Removed because I rarely ever used it.***

***WordNetCE 2.7 - Freeware by Troy Simpson. Excellent PPC implementation of Princeton's WordNet 2.1 for the desktop. In addition to basic definitions and linguistic differentiations, this version does anagrams regular expressions, and crossword-type searches. Supports VGA and landscape. Uses the WordNet 2.1 desktop data files--over 35MB of data--stored on the card. Requires Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP3 to work properly, which is part of the A05 firmware update to the Dell Axim X50v. The WordNet 2.1 implementation is much improved over earlier efforts, and makes a reasonable dictionary now. Installed on my SD card. ***Although I like this program, it doesn't display properly on the HP 211, so I replace it with Lexionary 2.4.

***X50Mix - Freeware by emulamer, Jon Misurda, and Kraven. Must-have utility to adjust the sound quality on Dell Axim X50 devices. The improvement in quality when using this utility has to be heard to be believed. Saves up to four profiles for different listenting setups. Read the instructions carefully to know which file to install. ***Obviously don't need this on the iPAQ.

Games:

Bejeweled 2 - Shareware from Astraware. Awesome new version of the above. Not only addicting, but stunning new graphics, great background music, and new games and pieces. You gotta have this one.

***Pocket Sudoku - Freeware by Emil Andersson. Very nice game implementation that works well. ***Tilt 2 came with Astroware Suduko, so I'm using it now.

Spb Brain Evolution - Shareware from Spb Software House. Exercise for your brain with great graphics. Very cool.