Windows Phone Thoughts: Share Your MVT: Most Valuable Tip!

I remember how nervous I was the first time I hard-reset my device. How would I get it back to the way it was? Wasn't this a big mistake? Would the ROM upgrade work? A flood of thoughts came over me as I nervously did the ROM flash on that T-Mobile Pocket PC. As I re-calibrated the screen and moved the obligatory doctors appointment, I realized something: If this had happened to me on the road, or on vacation, I would be really messed up - not knowing how to re-setup my device, re-install my programs, restore my data! Thankfully, my upgrade went without a hitch, and I leared my most valuable tip when it comes to Mobile Devices: Play with them when you have the time to learn, and then if disaster strikes (dead device, weird errors, etc..), you'll know how to bounce back - and hey, you learn about all the cool stuff you can do beyond what's written on the box!.

I can't tell you how many times I've thanked myself for not being squemish about resetting, upgrading, flashing, uninstalling, re-installing, backing up, restoring, tweaking registry keys, etc.. - and it's all because I took the time to really learn about my device before I was forced to.

That's my Most Valuable Tip to people when they first start using a Windows Mobile device - play with it's features, learn about it, check out every setting, etc..! Other tips I have are fairly simple and less lofty, such as "backup your memory card every so often" and "Check for updated software before re-installing old saved copies". From large thoughts to small tweaks, valuable tips come in all sizes (Heck, our friends at Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine have a whole report on 101 tips!)

So why not spend your Monday contributing your favorite tip to this thread? Tell us what the tip is, and (if not self-evident), why you rely on it so much. If you are at a loss for picking a "most valuable", then give us your top competitors (I won't complain if you contribute 2 or 3 tips)!