Colorful Words

When using your handwriting to make notes in Pocket Word, the line can be in a different color, so it stands out more. Switch to writing mode by tapping View and Writing. Tap the icon with two arrows going in opposite directions to get the writing toolbar. Tap the font icon with two Fs, tap the arrow beneath Line/Font, and select a color. All your handwritten notes appear in the newly selected color.

Drawing & Coloring Pictures In Word

Drawing perfect circles and squares is impossible without using the integrated drawing tools of Pocket Word. Open Pocket Word and switch to drawing mode by tapping View and Drawing. Tap the icon with two arrows going in opposite directions to open the drawing toolbar. Draw a square without worrying about perfection. Tap the pen (first icon on the left in the toolbar) to turn it off. Select the shape by tapping it. Tap the shape and hold until a menu appears. Select Shape and Rectangle, and a perfect shape replaces your drawing.

Now you can add a splash of color to drawings and shapes. To change the color of the rectangle from the previous task, select it. Tap the Up arrow next to the fill icon (paint bucket) and select the color you want to inside the shape. Your shape instantly appears filled with the new color. You can do the same with the shape’s line by tapping the Up arrow next to the line color icon and selecting the desired color. The line color immediately changes.



Regular Reminders

Do you need to be reminded to do something every morning, like take prescribed medicine, while getting a notification on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to exercise? You can do it without going into the calendar to set up a recurring appointment. Reminders you enter into Clock & Alarms won’t be added to the Calendar, so you won’t have the clutter from the frequently recurring appointments.

From the Today screen, tap the date and select the Alarms tab from the Clocks & Alarms window. Tap < Description > and enter whatever you’d like to call the reminder, such as “Take meds.” Tap the days you need to be reminded. Tap the clock and then tap the clock’s hands to move them or use the arrows beneath the clock to set the reminder. Tap OK.

A warning message may appear to let you know that if sounds and notifications are turned off, you won’t be notified. To turn them on, tap Start, Settings, and Sounds & Notifications from the Personal Tab. Check the Events box to enable sounds for the reminders unless you only want a display message notification. Tap the Notifications tab, check the box next to Play sound, and select Reminders from the Events drop-down list. Time to read the next tip.



Keeping Track Of Time

Ah, spring time. Many of us think about spring break as we make plans to travel. When you or someone you know travels to another time zone, it gets confusing to figure out when to touch base, especially when there is a difference of four or more hours between your time zones. No one wants to accidentally call someone at 2 a.m. Quickly solve that problem by tapping the date that appears in the Today screen, tap the Visit-ing radio button, and select the nearest city. Select the Home radio button and tap OK. Anytime you need to see the time zones, just tap the date.

Calculate Tips

You're tired. It has been a long day, and your brain can't function and figure out what to tip the waiter. Or worse, you're dining with five people, and that means calculating how much to split on the bill since the restaurant doesn't do separate receipts. Use the free Tip Calculator And Bill Splitter 1.0 software from BrainThump (www.brainthump.com) to save you all the trouble.



Move Data To A Storage Card

It’s spring cleaning time, and your handheld could use a little help. Save space on your device by moving music, pictures, and other files onto an external card, such as CF (Compact Flash), SD (Secure Digital), memory stick, or MMC (MultiMedia Card). Tap Start and File Explorer and navigate until you find the file you want by tapping the Down arrow that appears beneath File Explorer. Tap the file to move to the storage card, hold until the context menu appears, and then select Copy. (We use Copy instead of Cut to ensure the file safely makes it to its new destination.)

Tap the Down arrow again and select My Device and Storage Card. Tap and hold until the menu appears and tap Paste. Once your file is safely on the storage card, you can go back to its original location and delete it by tapping and holding to get the context menu and selecting Delete.

Delete A Program Icon

After uninstalling a program from your device, you may find its icon steadfastly refuses to go away, and that adds clutter to the Program window. There has to be a way to remove it; after all, we can delete an icon off the Desktop simply by selecting it and tapping Delete. The process isn’t the same, but it’s similar and easy. Open ActiveSync and click Explore. Browse your way through the following folders: My Pocket PC, Windows, Start Menu, and Programs.

If you open Programs on your device (tap Start and Programs), you’ll notice the file names in Explorer are the same as those in the Programs. Simply delete the file that corresponds with the Program icon. Take care when deleting such icons because restoring them isn’t as easy as deleting them.

Pocket PC Buying Tip

If you have an external storage card already, consider the slots when looking for a Windows Mobile device. The most common types to look for are SD (Secure Digital), CF (Compact Flash), and Sony’s proprietary memory stick. HP’s (www.hp.com) hx2490 with a 520MHz processor comes with an SDIO (works with SD and MMC [MultiMedia Card] cards) slot and a CF type II slot, as well as an upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0, the newest operating system.