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Today and Home Screen

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Using the “Today timeout” feature

Submitted Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Today timeout feature allows you to set the amount of time (1-12 hours) that you want your device to wait before it automatically returns to the Today screen if another program is open. Note that your device must be powered off and remain idle for the allotted time in order for the Today timeout to work.
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Three ways to make phone calls

Submitted Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Windows Mobile smartphones have a variety of ways that you can make phone calls. Here are the three primary ways:

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Using the Device Lock feature

Submitted Thursday, March 27, 2008

Windows Mobile 5 and 6 touch screen devices have a “Device Lock” feature that disables all input into the device. This feature is useful if you want to make sure that there will be no accidental button presses or other input into the device, perhaps while you’re carrying it in your pocket or a shoulder bag.

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The Today screen “New” menu

Submitted Thursday, March 6, 2008
On pre-WM 5 touch screen devices, there was a convenient built-in feature on the Today screen: a New menu in the lower left corner that allowed you to quickly open a new Word document, Contact, Appointment, or other item without having to navigate to it through the Start menu.
This feature was left off of Windows Mobile starting with version 5, but a third-party freeware program called WM5NewMenu (saman-cz.com/ppc/index.html) is available that adds this feature back to Windows Mobile
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Access Clocks & Alarms directly from the Today screen

Submitted Wednesday, December 19, 2007

You can open the Clocks & Alarms Settings menu from the Today screen on touch screen devices by tapping on the date, which is located at the top of the screen directly under the Start menu. This lets you set an alarm, adjust date and time, or switch between Home and Visiting cities quickly without having to go through Start >Settings >Systems >Clock.

Changing the text font color on the Today screen

Submitted Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Werner Ruotsalainen discusses the third-party programs (including Tweaks2K2 and CETuner) that can change the Today screen’s text font color. Click here for the full article.

See more about appointments and Tasks on the Today screen

Submitted Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Appointments
If you find yourself constantly opening the Calendar application to check your upcoming appointments for the day, you can change the settings so that they will appear on the Today screen for quick viewing.
  1. Tap Start >Settings >Today.
  2. Tap on the Items tab and select Calendar.
  3. Tap the Options button and select “Upcoming appointments.” (Note: You can also check the "Display all day events" check box so that any event you entered in Calendar for that
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Free themes for Windows Mobile devices

Submitted Wednesday, December 13, 2006
You can change the look of the Today or Home screen on any Windows Mobile device (2002 or later) by selecting a different “theme” file. Individual themes include a color scheme for menus and a background image for the Today screen. To change the theme, please see “How to customize the Today or Home screen” in the Learning section.
Windows Mobile devices come with a couple of default themes.
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Use soft keyboards and Today screen plug-ins to be more effective

Submitted Wednesday, December 13, 2006
You can be more effective and make your device more useful to you by installing one of these soft keyboards and Today screen plug-ins.
 
TenGo places the entire alphabet on six large keys.
Soft keyboards
A number of third-party soft k
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What do those status icons mean?

Submitted Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Status icons are small icons that appear at the top of the screen to indicate what’s going on with your device. For example, if you’re running low on power, the “low battery” icon will pop-up, and if your device has a phone built into it, a signal strength icon will be displayed.
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How to set an image as your Today or Home screen background

Submitted Friday, December 8, 2006
On most Windows Mobile devices, you can use the Pictures & Videos application (known as “Pictures” in pre-WM 5 Pocket PCs) to select a JPEG image file as your Today or Home screen background image. Open the full-screen view of the desired image and select Menu >Set as Today Background (or Menu >Use as Home Screen).

Today screen with no background image

Submitted Wednesday, April 11, 2007

If you want a Today screen with no background image, you can create an image file with your preferred color (such as white) and add it as your background.

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How to customize the Today or Home screen

Submitted Friday, February 23, 2007
Customize the Today screen (Home screen in non-touch screen smartphones) by going into Start >Settings >Today (smartphones: Start >Settings >Display or Home Screen) and choosing the options you want. Touch screen devices have an “Items” tab where specific programs can be chosen to appear on the Home screen.

How to delete application icons manually

Submitted Friday, February 23, 2007
Use File Explorer (Smartphones: File Manager) to delete icons and other stray files that remain after uninstall process.