Built-In Applications
Preferences
The built-in Preferences application is one of the most powerful tools for customizing your Palm OS device. You probably know the Preferences application as the one that lets you tell the Palm OS device the current date and time. Preferences also helps you secure your device against being lost, and change the meanings of the four hard buttons and one application silk-screened button.
To “secure” your Palm OS device against loss is a three-step process. First, enter owner information using the Preferences application. Launch the “Prefs” application, and select “Owner” from the drop-down list in the top right. If you have already set a device password, you need to tap the “unlock” button and enter the device password. You can then edit the owner message: it is wise to put contact information (name, work address and telephone number) here. Second, set a device password in you have not already done so. Launch the “Security” application and tap the selection box next to the word “Password.” Choose a password, enter it, and confirm it. Third, assign lock and turn off to the full screen stroke. Launch the “Prefs” application again, and select “Buttons” from the drop-down list. Tap the “Pen” button, and select “Turn off and lock” from the dialog then displayed.
After you do this, a full-screen stroke (drag from the Graffiti area to the top of the screen) will lock the Palm OS device. When the device is next turned on, it will display the owner information you entered.
This “protection” is actually quite weak and can be defeated in a number of ways. It does, however, give an honest person finding a lost Palm OS device a way to find its owner—much like a business card tucked into a raincoat pocket or hatband.
After you have set the owner information, you will likely use the Preferences application primarily to change the applications launched by the various buttons. This is a perfectly typical thing to do—on my Palm OS device, only two of the five buttons launch the “standard” programs. To change the application launched by a button, launch the “Prefs” application and choose “Buttons” from the drop-down list. The screen then displayed shows the icons for the five assignable buttons. Next to each icon is a drop-down list listing all of the applications installed on your device. Tap the drop-down list next to the button you want to assign, and select the application you want the button to launch. That button will now launch the application you selected.
You can also use the Preferences application to set date, time, and number display formats (choose “Formats” on the drop-down list) and to define and edit your own shortcuts. If you manage to lose the date stamp, date and time stamp, and time stamp shortcuts, their text equivalents are @DS @DTS and @TS respectively.
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Copyright © 2002 Brian Hetrick
Page last updated 15 December 2002.
