House cleaning

[fiatster]

Does anyone periodontally clean out there Treo and start over? What is the best way to do this and end up with a clean machine without losing all the settings as would happen with a hard reset. Guess I'm looking for a way to wipe out all on the machine, reinstall what I want where I want it, but not loss all my settings (ZLauncher, Blazer, Network, Treo settings, Ringo etc.)

Also, how would you handle the expansion card for such a clean up.

This business reminds me of reformatting a computer and all the pain and time afterward. I hope there is a simpler way>

[plunker]

I believe that the guys that load alot of software use an uninstaller to clean them up. I think zlauncher will let you move stuff from your card and to the treo or back and forth. I also think it is very good at removing all the files of a program. Hmmm.... better read up on zlauncher or wait for another poster to besure of the uninstaller part.

[benjie]

I use ZLauncher and Uninstall Monitor to routinely delete files and Cleanup to look for lonesome files and then once in a while I manually look through the file listings for files that look lonesome.

Using ZLauncher does as Plunker mentions, allows you to move things back and forth and it in itself does a good job of deleting applications. Uninstall Monitor once in a while does not capture an application, but it is rare. ZLauncher has in the past missed two files - not bad for the year plus I have been using it.

As for starting over - only if I do not have a good backup and having learned my lesson (went from 9 to 3 not too long ago and am back to 9 backup copies), I make sure I have a good number of backups.

If you should use UninstallManager, watch for the list of monitored applications - it also has been known to delete the wrong files - never allow it to delete without watching what it wants to delete. As for Cleanup, very powerful - use with care and make sure the docs are read. Used properly, Uninstall Manager and Cleanup do a good job.

Ben

[ffolliet]

Does anyone periodontally clean out theIr Treo

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/periodontally

find this is the best way

(think i need to get out more!)

i don't clean the treo out as i did once and clearly was too "rigorous" and lost some useful files in my zeal. i try and stay tidy as i go on rather than one big spring clean.

a bit like periodontal care!

[kabeyun]

Does anyone periodontally clean out there Treo and start over? What is the best way to do this and end up with a clean machine without losing all the settings as would happen with a hard reset. Guess I'm looking for a way to wipe out all on the machine, reinstall what I want where I want it, but not loss all my settings (ZLauncher, Blazer, Network, Treo settings, Ringo etc.)

The first question I'd ask is why do you want to do this? If your Treo is misbehaving it's not an unreasonable option, but you may want to reinstall apps one-by-one to see if there's a conflict. If you're simply memory-starved, moving apps to an SD card can free up a lot of space.

Regarding saving settings, I don't generally recommend it if you're "clean slating" your Treo to restore stability. You can restore settings, but who knows if the accessory file you're restoring is the culprit.

Pref preservation after a zero out reset is Treo 301, not Treo 101, so proceed only if you're comfortable manipulating invisible support files. If you want to try, I recommend installing the app Filez, navigating to "View & Edit Files > Internal, and copying support files to the SD card (top level or known directory). After the wipe and app reinstall, use Filez to copy these files back to internal RAM (tap Yes if asked to replace).

For zLauncher, the specific files to reserve are anything that begins with "ZL" (including "ZLa") and ends with "DB". For Blazer, save BF-History, Bookmarks, and the 3 autofills. Don't copy CacheHistory or Cookies. For the others you can look with Filez and determine on your own which files may contain settings for their mother app. I strongly suggest you don't try to save Treo settings. Doing so can cause trouble, and it's not that bad to reapply alarm/sound prefs, etc.

It is true that so-called orphan files can accumulate and hog RAM. I use and do recommend Northglide's CleanUp and Uninstaller utilities (the Neat Freak Pack). If you do wipe your Treo, install this first. That way, it will monitor everything subsequently installed, and be able to remove files that it knows to be associated with their mother apps (not always determinable from the creatorID).

Good luck!

-K

[jfa]

Thanks for the explanation kabeyun

[kabeyun]

Not at all. BTW, if you do manually preserve prefs of various apps, it's good practice to soft reset (recessed back button) afterwards.

Cheers,

-K

[fiatster]

Thanks for all the good info. I did purchase the Neat Freak Pack and will get on learning how to use it. My Treo is not acting up except for an occasional reboot and I have about 10MB of ram left so I guess I'll stop looking for trouble and just enjoy the thing until I need to do the house cleaning. Thanks again. Mike

[kabeyun]

Thanks for all the good info. I did purchase the Neat Freak Pack and will get on learning how to use it. My Treo is not acting up except for an occasional reboot and I have about 10MB of ram left so I guess I'll stop looking for trouble and just enjoy the thing until I need to do the house cleaning. Thanks again. Mike

Wise call on both counts. Happy Treoing!

-K

[jfa]

It sounds like a good thing for all of us treo'ers to have on our devices