.KEYWORD newdesktop
.FLYINGHEAD TECH SUPPORT INSIDER
.TITLE Upgrading to Palm Desktop 3.0
.DEPT
.SUMMARY Did you know you could get some Palm III functionality right now, for free–even if you use a PalmPilot or earlier machine? We didn’t either. But Tech Support Insider Chris Brown tells us about the Palm Desktop 3.0 application. It’s cool. It’s new. It’s free. And you can download it today!
.AUTHOR Chris Brown
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 A goodbye and a good deal
This short article marks a departure for Chris from this column for a while. We’ll miss Chris, but he’s got lots of Palm IIIs to support. Next month, we introduce a new column called "The Ultimate Guide", by David Pogue. David’s the author of PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide and is one of the most entertaining, knowledgable, and well respected writers in the PC industry.
David has asked us to share with you a contest opportunity, but you’ll need to act before July 5. If you purchase his book from Computer Literacy Bookstore, you’ll have a chance to win one of five PalmPilot leather bomber jackets. You can find out more at David’s site: http://www.pogueman.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
I’ve been talking a lot about updates and upgrades lately, so why stop? Some new things have come down the pipe since we last saw each other, so let’s talk.
So you’re married to your PalmPilot Professional organizer, huh? Your sense of loyalty aches when you simply think about upgrading to a sexy new Palm III organizer? I sympathize with you. I’ve stuck with my own PalmPilot Professional, even though it doesn’t have all the cool new Palm III features. Maybe its the limited-edition transparent casing that I have it in (think Wonder Woman’s "Invisible" Jet), or because it’s been my best friend for the last year, but I’m very reluctant to just ditch my baby.
If you dread the thought of parting with your trusty pal, or you just don’t feel like breaking into your piggy bank right now to upgrade, you can at least give the software on your PC a makeover by installing Palm Desktop 3.0. That’s right, you can go ahead and install Palm Desktop 3.0, the new version of our personal information manager (PIM) software included with the Palm III organizer, even if you still have a PalmPilot Professional or a Pilot 1000 organizer.
Remember that URL I gave you last month to find the latest in Palm software downloads? For those of you that missed it last month, point your web browser to the following address: http://www.palm.com/custsupp/downloads.
You should see the Palm Desktop 3.0 download highlighted near the top–we don’t want you to miss it. In fact, if you are running Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 on your desktop PC (which is required to install Palm Desktop 3.0), we highly encourage you to install it. We just think it’s a really great improvement from PalmPilot Desktop 2.x.
So what’s the big deal? None, actually. That is, it’s still the simple-to-use, familiar Desktop software that you’ve been working with the whole time, but with new features that make it nicer to use. For example, installing applications on your organizer used to be somewhat confusing, especially when you had to launch a separate application besides your PalmPilot Desktop 2.0 software to do it. Now, a convenient button in the Palm Desktop 3.0 window launches the Palm Install Tool with no searching around for it in your Programs folder.
You might also notice the cool new drag-and-drop functions in the Datebook application. You can drag and reposition any events in your day to another start and end time, as well as easily add any necessary information from your Address Book and To Do List applications. You’ll also find that you can adjust the width of the text area in the Memo Pad application to make it easier to see what you are typing.
You’ll also feel more secure knowing that those secret records that you have hidden on your organizer are just as hush-hush in Palm Desktop 3.0. If you’ve set a security password on your organizer to hide your records, the Palm Desktop software will ask for the same password in order to reveal your secret data. This is a great improvement on previous versions, which allowed access to all records, regardless if they were classified secret on your organizer or not.
But that’s not all! (Gee, that sounds like a cheesy infomercial
