[General Questions and Answers] wg5566:
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Search for a value

Now if you know the exact name of the value (setting) then you can do a search for the value instead of drilling down to find it. This is also very helpful if you know the name of the value, but do not know what key or subkey it is under. So, let's do the exact same registry tweak as above, but this time let's find it by searching. First, click "Menu" and then "Find".

In the search window, type in "glyphcache".

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Click on "Done" and it will start searching the registry...

If it does not find the exact value of the subkey you want, then click on "Menu" and "Find Next". Repeat as needed until it finds the one you are looking for.

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Once it finds the value or subkey you are looking for, in this case "GLYPHCACHE" under the subkey "GDI", click on "GLYPHCACHE" and look at the bottom window and you will see the value called "Limit".

Click on the value called "Limit" to open it up. Do not change the name of the value, but do change the number to either "4096", "8192", or "16384" (hint... the more RAM your phone has the higher the number you want to choose) and click "Done".

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Now you just did a registry edit by drilling down in the registry tree and by searching for it.

Getting ready to move on to the next one

Above is a pretty good example of how most registry edits are done. Some registry tweaks will require that you change two or more values. Just repeat the above steps for each value you have to change.

Some registry edits will require you to add a value. I would recommend that you only do this after you have had experience working with the registry. There are several different kinds of values and you have to make sure you have the right one, and with all the right settings. This is beyond the scope of the goals of this article.

If you feel a registry hack is too complicated for your comfort level, no worries, just skip it.

.......PSSSTTTT.....again, before we continue did you remember to do a full backup?​

Good Registry Edits to Start With

When looking at registry edits posted on forums, on websites, in articles, or in books, it is important to know that some of them are specific to a version of WM (i.e. only in WM 03) and that some are specific to a certain model of phone (i.e. Treo 700wx). Normally, when this is the case, this information will be posted with the registry edit, but if not and you try to find it on your phone and the value you are looking for is not there, then there is a good chance this is why. Just move on to another registry tweak.

After you make a registry edit, some of them will not take effect until after you do a soft reset with your phone. This is basically just rebooting or restarting your phone. On most phones you take the stylus and stick the tip into a small hole on the bottom or edge of the phone for 1 second.

Special note for Registry edits & soft resets WM 05 & WM 06

Due to the way WM 05 & WM 06 manages its memory, the registry changes do not get saved or applied to the phone for several minutes after you make the changes. If you need to do a soft reset using the reset button, you should wait several minutes to make sure that phone saves the recent changes. If you reset using any one of the various software reset utilities available, it will commit your changes to storage. In short, if you reset using the reset button shortly after making registry changes, then you will keep seeing your changes being undone unless you wait a while for the changes to have a chance to be saved. If you must know more, you can look here for a little deeper explanation why this happens.

Where do I find all the good registry edits?

You can do a Google for PocketPC, Windows Mobile, or WM as the first word, along with hack, tweak, or edit in your search query. But the best place to look is in forums for your specific handheld. Do a search with any combination of reg or registry with hack, tweak, or edit. Most forums for a specific phone will usually have one thread that has become THE registry edit thread with several other smaller ones with some great tweaks in them too. You can also look in threads for other phones with your same WM OS. For example, if you have a WM 03 phone, most any reg hack thread for any WM 03 based phone will work. As a side note a lot of the reg hacks for WM03 will work with WM05 & WM06, but certainly not all of them. But as a general rule, all of the WM05 reg hacks will work with most WM06 phones just fine.

Here are some great places to get started:

WM05 / WM06 Registry Edits

PocketPC Tweaks

Some great New Reg Tricks

Reg Tweak: Enable Power Management to save battery life

WM5 / WM6 Tweaks

Wiki Registry Hacks

Windows Mobile Registry Hacks, Part 1

Additional Resources

For those with that need to scratch that itch on the geeky side of their nature, here are some real in-depth articles on the Windows Registry giving you more information than you ever wanted to know (or could stay awake long enough to read through). Even though these focus on the registry for Windows for the PC for the most part, much of the information applies directly to the registry on WM as well:

http://www.trendsmobile.com/main/showsection.asp?SectionID=96

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/tips/winntmag/inreg.mspx?mfr=true

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724871.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry#Manual_editing

So! What are you favorite Registry Edits?

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