Having problems with MSN Messenger and some other applications while using the OnSpeed service? Here's the solution!

(NOTE: only read this article if you don't use Pocket Internet Explorer on your Pocket PC, but an alternative, better and also proxy-enabled browser!)

OnSpeed, the, along with Toonel, only "invisible", really-really recommended Internet traffic reduction service, while being just great at saving for example GPRS traffic costs, has a real annoyance: It always enables the system-wide proxy setting when it is enabled when you reboot the PDA or explicitly restart the service.

The system-wide proxy setting is, unfortunately, a double-edged sword in all (except for the original Pocket PC 2000) Pocket PC / Windows Mobile operating systems.

In theory, it offers an indeed great and standardized way to store HTTP, WAP, Secure WAP and SOCKS proxy settings. If all, for example, proxy-capable Web browsers used this setting, then, you would only need to set the proxy server once, and all the browsers would just get the proxy information from this centralized location.

In practice, however, only NetFront is able to access this global, system-wide setting, the other two proxy-capable (Thuderhawk and Opera Mini can't use any external proxy) Pocket Web browsers, Minimo (as of version 0.012) and Opera (as of version 8.5 beta build 166x) can not use it. That is, due to alternative browser developers' concentrating their forces on other issues/neglecting this possibility, this otherwise nice idea just can't be used to its full potential.

Furthermore, setting a HTTP proxy royally messes up some other, also built-in programs. For example, if you (or OnSpeed) enable the HTTP proxy setting, MSN Messenger won't be able to connect to the Net any more. Furthermore, you will be most likely end up having to redefine the default connection(s) the mailer client, Messaging uses so that you can continue accessing your POP3/IMAP server(s).

If you don't plan to use Pocket Internet Explorer (a.k.a. Internet Explorer Mobile in WM5) but use a much more decent browser instead (Opera under WM5, NetFront under all operating systems, Thunderhawk on QVGA devices etc.) and would definitely want to use the built-in MSN Messenger client, then, it's the best to force the OnSpeed client not to enable the proxy at all in order to avoid having to manually disable the proxy setting (it takes several taps) every time you want to use any of the applications affected by the global proxy setting.

I've scrutinized the OnSpeed client and successfully found out the following: if you change the '1' to '0' at position 0x18950 in onspeedCE.exe, then, the OnSpeed client will never again enable the system-wide proxy setting.

To do this, make sure OnSpeed is shut down so that you can move/overwrite the onspeedCE.EXE file. It'll be in the \Program Files\ONSPEED directory if installed to the main memory (you may also install it to the file store but preferably not to a storage card because it's started at boot time). Copy it to your desktop PC and get a hexa editor. I recommend, for example, Geoffrey Prewett's free HexEdit.exe. Start the hexeditor and load onspeedCE.exe.

Now, navigate to the hexa position 18950 and out the cursor (by clicking) in the character representation, '1', of the given byte at the right side:

click for screenshot

Press 0; this is what you'll see:

click for screenshot

Save the file (File/Save as) and transfer it back to your PDA, overwriting the original, non-patched onspeedCE.exe. Now, you can restart OnSpeed (by, say, rebooting the Pocket PC) and can use MSN Messenger without any problems any more.

Please note that this tip only concerns the current, 3.3.65535 version of the OnSpeed client. Future versions may have the byte-to-be-changed at a different location. That is, when an updated client arrives and you do update it, come back to this blog and look (or, if I haven't done it yet, ask) for the updated guide.

To make your life easier and safer (you can't mess up anything), you can download the patched onspeedCE.exe from here.

Recommended links

My explanation of how the Pocket PC registry stores the Proxy information. Without this knowledge, I wouldn't have been able to invent this useful patch.

OnSpeed and Windows Mobile 5. It also contains links to other blog entries/articles on OnSpeed and its alternatives in general. Of them, you may want to start with this article (alternatives:iPAQ HQ, AximSite, PPC Magazine, FirstLoox, BrightHand).

ADDITION (03/15/2006, 6:50CET): the recently released new (4.1) version of the CrEme Java Virtual Machine supports WM5 and Toonel nicely and also has a working WM5 Internet Explorer Mobile Java applet plug-in. That is, now we have a reliable JVM for WM5 too with full Toonel support and also a Java applet plug-in for IEM. Highly recommended! Please read this article for more information.