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Changing directions...

Dashboard is unfairly underrated

If you're here, then chances are that you own a PDA or at least have an interest in purchasing one. If you've been here before, then you likely remember when this site was dedicated to the Casio BE-300.

I'm going to tell you right up from that this site will virtually ignore those PDAs that do not run some form of Windows. So if you're here to learn about the Palm Pilot, Palm Tungsten or some other Palm-based product, you'll do better to look somewhere else. I don't write about things I don't know... and I've never owned a Palm. I probably never will.

However, if you're here because you're a Pocket PC fan (or for that matter, a Casio BE-300 fan), then you're in the right place. I'll post reviews on the various software I'm test driving and give you frank, honest and unbiased opinions. I am not paid to write these reviews, nor do I receive any kind of compensation for my opinions. I'll provide links where you can download the software with a minimum of hassle and even host some of my personal favorites that are no longer widely available.

So, without further adieu, let's jump right in with my thoughts on Snoopsoft's Dashboard.

Okay, I have to speak out here. Seeing as how this is my website, I'm free to do that. <grin>

It appears that there are a large number of individuals who have had difficulties with using Snoopsoft's Dashboard product. By "a large number," I mean 25% of the respondents who passed an opinion on Dashboard at CNet's Download.com replied with negative feedback.

I'll be the first to agree that the shareware/trial version of the software leaves much to be desired. This is due in large part to the fact that most dashboard skins are not written for this older version of Dashboard, but rather for its newer counterpart. I realized this when I initially tested the software.

Seeing the potential benefits in using Dashboard, I decided to invest the few dollars it takes to purchase a registered copy. Read: A separate download from the shareware that I'd previously installed.

Version 1.5 was far and away an improvement!

However, the real joy came when I found that you could download and install a beta copy of version 2.0 of Dashboard. This beta offered support for the same plug-ins on multiple pages, and multiple plug-ins on the same pages! Finally! Flexibility for my Today screen that I'd been longing for since I first took my Pocket PC out of its box.

Version 2.0 of Dashboard is now the "production model" and is available

See Snoopsoft's website for more details.

Dashboard is pictured above with the following plug-ins: Omega One's Journal Bar, Microsoft Money for the Pocket PC and Dashboard's own Agenda and Mini-Launcher plug-ins.

Photo © Snoopsoft, Inc.

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Getting even more out of Dashboard

BE-300 Stuff

	What to do with your BE-300
	BeShell
	Tricorder skin

Pocket PC Stuff

	AcitveSync
	CE Capture
	Freecell
	Macromedia Flash Player
	Microsoft Money 2002 for Pocket PC
	Microsoft Money 2004 and 2003 for Pocket PC

More coming soon!

If Dashboard has one drawback, it is that it does not skin the taskbar or the menubar. However, there are several excellent freeware solutions.

My personal favorite is more a matter of taste and what it is you want to do with your taskbar and menubar. I personally recommend WisBar Advance (Lakeridge Software).

Any skin set designed for WisBar can be easily adapted to work with WisBar Advance.

The illustrations on the right all utilize the same basic skin set. However, WisBar Advance will let you skin the lower menubar so that your wallpaper can appear larger than the standard Today screen size. What's not illustrated here (but is entirely possible) is the fact that the taskbar itself can become part of your wallpaper!

Of course, a well-designed skin would include icons with transparency designed into them as well as a minimalist approach to the various buttons including Start and WisBar Advance's own Menu button.

I will soon be offering entire skin sets for Dashboard/WisBar Advance/Today. Stay tuned for details!

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