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Resco Explorer 2008 ReviewSeptember 2, 2008 For general use, the built-in File Explorer in Windows Mobile devices does an adequate job. The native application allows you to add and delete files and folders, rename things and do general but simple file management. However, if you need to do serious work like renaming file extensions or finding files stored in your device's ROM, File Explorer simply can't cope. Resco, the Slovakian based developer, has been addressing the limitations of File Explorer for several years now with their Resco Explorer application. The latest edition, Resco Explorer 2008, is another solid step forward in the life of the application and brings to bear a long list of new features and enhancements over previous versions. The last review I wrote on this product was Resco Explorer 2005. Without question this latest edition has matured nicely, adding a whole new user interface that is finger-friendly while still maintaining the powerful file management aspects that have made this product second-to-none. Explorer 2008 installs on your Windows Mobile device via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and requires approximately 1.5MB of storage space on your device. Your device must be running PocketPC 2000 or higher, opening this application to virtually any Windows Mobile or PocketPC owner. This is one of the very few applications in the market today that has remained backward compatible to pre-Windows Mobile days. While installations on your device can be done either into main memory or to a storage card, I found performance to be better when installing it into main memory. The installation program allows you to select the three components of Explorer 2008 you wish to install: Explorer 2008 itself, The Registry add-in, the FTP add-in and the Today screen plug-in. I will go over each of these in detail later in the review. The installer also can install desktop components on your PC as well. These extensions allow you to encrypt or decrypt files on your desktop PC as well as send files from your PC to your device. These extensions are optional to install and your PC must be running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Resco does offer CAB installation as well if you are one who does not like synchronizing with your desktop.
After the installation is complete, Explorer 2008 will prompt you as to which user interface configuration you wish to use. Touch Optimized Mode is the newest and is designed to be used with thumbs and fingers for one handed use without having to pick up your stylus. Files and directories take up larger space on the display for easier manipulation with a large buttoned toolbar at the bottom of the screen. This toolbar can be customized as well to better fit your needs. Touch Optimized Mode also can take advantage of TouchFLO enabled devices for quick and easy scrolling. This is the mode I will be in for the remainder of this review. It works well for me, especially on my Advantage, without having to pick up the stylus regularly.
Standard Mode is the mode that you would have seen in previous versions of Explorer. In this mode, the look is similar to Touch Optimized Mode only everything is smaller, lending itself to stylus use rather than fingers. This is the classic look of this application and if you are a previous version owner, is likely the mode you will be most comfortable with starting out. Like the Touch Optimized Mode, Standard Mode can take advantage of TouchFLO as well.
The Compact Mode provides you both with a file listing as well as a directory tree. This is very similar to what you would see on your desktop PC with File Explorer. In the left-hand pane is your directory tree while in the right pane are your files. This mode is stylus intensive much like the Standard Mode.
The first aspect of Explorer 2008 that I will cover is the large taskbar at the bottom of the display. The taskbar gives you quick and easy access to a variety of functions within Explorer 2008 such as searching, file or folder properties, deleting of files and so forth. Resco has made this toolbar completely customizable so you can add or remove icons to make the application fit your needs better. Customizing of the menu is done from the Menu>Options>Customize menu.
The search function built into Explorer 2008 is great and works exceptionally well. Like most search functions, simply put in the name or part of the name of something you wish to search for on your device and tap the Find soft key. All results for the directory you are searching will be displayed. It's that simple! If you want to search your entire device simply change the folder using the pull-down menu at the top of the display. The search function will allow you to search your entire device if you choose to do so including storage cards. I find the search function in Explorer 2008 to be better than the one built into Windows Mobile 6.1.
The Send To function in Explorer 2008 is powerful. Not only can you send a file to someone via Bluetooth or Infrared, you can also send that file to the Resco Today screen plug-in, to your My Documents folder or as a shortcut on the Start menu.
The Multi-Select Mode on the toolbar allows you to select multiple files or folders and manipulate them in some way. For example, you can select multiple folders on your storage card and move them to your My Documents folder. To use the Multi-Select Mode, tap the icon on the toolbar. You will notice that a small checkbox appears on the icon of each file and folder. Simply tap the box to check the item then use the delete or Send-To function to move the files.
One of my favorite functions in Explorer 2008 is the, uh, Favorites! This feature works much like Favorites in Internet Explorer only it is focused on your device. By selected a file or folder and adding it to your Favorites by tapping the Favorites icon in the toolbar, you can use the Favorites star icon at the top of the display to quickly navigate to that file or folder. I have found Favorites to be a great way to move through the folders that I commonly use in my day-to-day work with my device.
With the toolbar covered, let's take a look at the overall file operations of Explorer 2008. The application allows you to do far more than the native application built into Windows Mobile. In addition to Cut, Copy, Delete and rename, with Explorer 2008 you can also view the properties of a file or folder (and change them), encrypt a file or compress it, move it and copy it to another location. The Properties function is Particularly handy when it comes to getting vital information about a file or folder including its size, if it is a system or hidden file or if it is a part of your device's ROM image. When you tap-and-hold a file or folder and tap Properties on the menu, you will see information such as when it was created, the size of the file and if you select a folder, you will also see the number of files and folders it contains. Explorer 2008 also gives you an graphic indicator bar to show you how much space a particular file or folder is consuming on your device.
Explorer 2008 includes a file compression tool that allows you to increase storage space on your device by compressing older files. The ZIP algorithm used by Explorer 2008 is PC compatible so you can easily move files to and from your PC using the compression tool (assuming you have installed the compression component on your PC) and can extract them on both devices as well. You have a variety of compression levels available and you can also encrypt the compressed file as well.
Encryption is also built into Explorer 2008 with a whole range of encryption algorithms installed to support the feature. By default there are two providers installed on your device: Base providers which provide RC2-40bit and DES-56bit encryption and Enhanced providers which provide RC2-128bit, RC5-128bit, DEC-56bit, 3DES Two Key - 112bit, 3DES-168bit, and AES 128, 192 and 256bit encryption. If you want to see a list of the providers, visit the Resco website for details. To encrypt a file or folder, tap-and-hold it and choose a password for the file or folder. You can adjust the encryption alogrithm by tapping the Settings... button. Once you are done, tap done and the encryption process will begin. Note that the original files will be deleted but you can override this on the password page. If you have file you want to decrypt, tap-and-hold it and choose decrypt on the menu. Once you enter the password the file or folder will be decrypted.
The network function in Explorer 2008 allows you to map a drive on your network to allow your device access to it when you start Explorer 2008. This is a great way to get information to and from your device regardless if you are using your home network or your enterprise network. In order to use this feature you will need to have your device connected to your network either by wired or wireless connectivity. Once that is established you will need to know the server name and folder that you want to map on your device. You will then need to provide your username and password to gain access to the drive.
Another advanced network function built into Explorer 2008 is the FTP application. FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, allows you to move files from a server location to your device (or vise versa) through a lightweight standard Internet protocol. The original FTP RFC (Request for Comment - the standards documents for all things Internet) was published in 1971! That makes it one of the oldest protocols out there and it is still going strong. While it is not the most secure protocol available, it does work and works well. As Windows Mobile devices have become more powerful, the desire to have a basic FTP client has increased as well. Resco solved this several versions ago by including a FTP client in the Explorer series and fundamentally it has not changed much - by design, there is no need to change something that works! To use the FTP client, tap on My FTP Locations on the root of your device (tap the Up soft key to get to the root). Next, tap Menu>New FTP Location and name the session (I usually name it the site or server name), the FTP server address, your log in information and if you want to use Secure FTP. Tap Done and you will see the session in the My FTP Locations listing. Tap-and-hold it to connect! If you have a file you want to download, tap-and-hold the file on the server and download it to the location you wish on your device.
One of the things that Windows XP and Vista users have enjoyed for many years is the Recycle Bin. Instead of deleting a file on your PC, the file was moved to the Recycle Bin allowing you a chance to recover the file should you need to do so. Sadly, to this point, Windows Mobile users have not had this opportunity. Once you delete a file on your device it is gone. Thankfully Explorer 2008 has corrected this with the addition of a Recycle Bin to the application. Now instead of deleting a file it is removed to the Recycle Bin. Like the desktop counterpart, the Recycle Bin in Explorer 2008 can be adjusted to use as much of your device's memory as you desire or can be turned off completely. If you need to access the Recycle Bin itself, you can do so by going to the virtual folders in Explorer 2008 or by tapping the Favorites icon.
Speaking of Virtual Folders, this is one of the nicer functions of Explorer 2008. There are several folders pre-built for you including Images, music and videos. What these virtual folders do is search your device, including storage cards, for files that fit the criteria of the folder. For example, if you are using the image folder, it will show you all of the files on your device that end in common file extensions for images such as JPG, BMP, PNG and so forth. The same would hold true for video files or encrypted files. You can also create your own virtual folder by tapping Menu>New Folder while in the Virtual Folders directory. Once you name the folder, you have to indicate the extensions of those files you want to be "stored" in this virtual file. For example, if you want to create a virtual folder Executables, you would need to put exe, cab and bat in the File Extensions dialog box.
The last major feature I will cover on Explorer 2008 is the Registry Editor. The registry editor allows you to edit registry entries to change or enhance your devices performance. All information about your device and its configuration is stored in the registry so, as you can imagine, you need to tread lightly if you decide to use the editor. It is designed for advanced users and deleting or altering an entry can render your device useless causing you to have to do a hard reset (backups are you friend!) You can open the registry editor by using either the Registry Editor icon in your Programs menu or within Explorer 2008 by tapping Menu>options>Add-Ins>My Registry. Once open, can edit any of the keys available by tapping-and-holding them.
The last major component of Explorer 2008 is the Today screen plug-in. The plug-in first made its appearance back in the 2005 version and has been polished up a bit in this new version. You can display a variety of system information indicators such as battery life, memory available, storage card memory and so forth. In addition, you can add icons to launch your favorite applications with a single tap (think a simple Pocket Plus), can manage running applications with the Task Manager, browse your storage cards with a single tap and get detailed storage information such as the amount of space left on a memory card. You can customize the plug-in to display only that information you want and behave certain ways based on your taps. For example, you can configure it to only change the information displayed (percentages, amount of free memory, etc) or you can have it open the storage card when you tap on its respective icon. Further, Resco has several skins available to better suit your style. The default skin is included but other skins can be downloaded from within the application.
Beyond what I have discussed here, Explorer 2008 is a highly customizable application. There are many aspects of the application you can change such as the colors used for folders, files, compressed or encrypted files, how TouchFLO works, shortcut buttons and what attributes are shown in a file listing. I highly recommend downloading the Resco Explorer 2008 User Guide to get a full description of all of the ways that the application can be adjusted to fit your needs and preferences.
As you can see, Resco Explorer 2008 is a full-bodied application, providing excellent file management along with strong add-in applications. It is one of the more complete packages out there and excels at each of the functions included. Equally as important, this version of Explorer 2008 runs well and efficiently on all of the devices I tested with during this review - VGA and QVGA alike. The only slow down in the application was when it would be searching for servers that I was attempting to map drives too. Even in this however, it never crashed or completely locked up my devices. Eventually it would respond. Beyond this it is hard to find anything to pick on about Explorer 2008. Resco has done a great job with this release and given their regular "dot" updates to the application, I'm confident they will continue to improve and tweak it. Resco Explorer 2008 sells for $29.95 (US) and is available at the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! software store. You can also get more information on the application by visiting the Resco website. What I Like: What I Don't Like:
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