Windows Phone Thoughts: Customize Your Startup Commands

I have always liked to customize the way my notebook PC and Pocket PCs look and operate. Call it an obsession, call it insecurity, but I like them to reflect the "real me" (whatever that is). But it has always been difficult, if not impossible, to customize the way a Pocket PC behaves at power-on. Schmidt6 Software has just released a neat little program called PowerStart that helps you do just that. Using a simple wizard, you can configure what your device does...

...every time it is turned on
...the first time it is turned on each day
...every time it is reset
...on any particular day

And, at any of these times, PowerStart can:

• Launch a program
• Delete files in a directory
• Display a message
• Play a sound
• Close all running programs

The first thing I did with PowerStart is configure my Pocket PC to play the James Bond theme song the first time I turn it on in the morning. However, the true value of PowerStart is in how it can help automate much more important activities, such as:

Protecting against data loss by launching a backup application first thing every day
Freeing up memory by deleting TEMP directories and files once a week
Helping a novice user by displaying instructions after a reset
Speeding backups by closing other running applications prior to backing up
...And many, many more possibilities.

You can download a free demo version of PowerStart from the Handango site. However, once you try it, I'm sure you'll eagerly plunk down the $9.99 for the full registered version.

I think this is a great application. It lets me add some fun customization to my Pocket PC and makes it impossible for me to forget to start my daily backup application. These are just simple examples, though; I'd really love to hear some of the creative ways that YOU can think of to use PowerStart.