DocumentsToGo is a popular application suite used by many people, but some, like myself, doesn’t use it at all. So, one day when I got fed up by looking at the only icon I never tapped on, I decided to see if I could remove it from my Tungsten T5.
I opened the Delete window, selected Documents, tapped on Delete, and yes the icon was gone. Great, I thought, so I opened the Info window to see how much RAM I had freed up. To my astonishment, I found out that I had freed up almost nothing.
Then I saw the names of several DocumentsToGo apps. I knew what that meant: The people who made DocumentsToGo never thought anyone would want to delete their app. But that was a mistake. I was now, more than ever, decided to wipe out every little piece of the garbage they had spread in my T5’s RAM. I was going to delete the individual DTG applications one by one. But each one of them had a creator ID of its own, making it impossible to decide whether I should delete it or not. At this point I said some really ugly words. I now understood that the people who made DocumentsToGo didn’t want anyone to delete their app at all. They had done everything they could to stop me, except for one tiny detail: The version number.
Yes, the version number in the Info window displays v 7.005 on all DTG apps in my T5. Luckily, this way of writing the version number is quite unique, but just to be sure: check so that no other app uses the same version number before deleting the DTG apps!
So, there it is. Just identify all the DTG applications using the version number as ID tag, and then delete them one by one. I gained close to 5mb, but that was in my T5. Other models may have the DTG apps in flash memory or even ROM, and then they can’t be deleted. If I one day would miss that icon I never tap on, I just have to make a hard reset on my T5, and all the DTG applications are back in the RAM again.
Is that what is called garbage recycling?
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FYI…. Dataviz actually has an application called DataViz Tech Tool that can be used to move DTG apps to your card from internal memorry, or visa versa…. it also has an option to use it to uninstall DocsToGo…. I think this might easier than the method you’ve described above……
That is good news! Do they distribute that tool with the release?
I went to their site to find out about DataViz Tech Tool mentioned above, but it seems I have to register the DTG that came with my T5 to get access to the support. To be able to register, I need to know my registation code. To find that code, I have to install DTG on my PC from the CD that came with my T5. But to do that, I have to buy a PC since I don’t have one.
Nope, I think my method is both cheaper and faster.
The problem you mention here is actually true for a lot of big apps. You would think those guys developing that stuff have enough knowledge about palmOS and may have read palms manual on good programming. There it is said usaability and a unique creatorID are very important.
I guess, as you stated, that some developers want to do something bad to the users that testdrive software and then want to uninstall it instead of buying it. This kind of revenge from the developers side is not very smart. After having such deletion problems (sometimes parts are even protected from deletion and cause system crashes when tinkered with) I am VERY hesitant to ever try that software again, even if a new version is very promising….I just don´t want to hardreset and reinstall everything anew.
Thank you for putting my thoughts into words. I couldn’t agree more!
You can this file (DataVizTech.prc) Peter without know your registration code in your Documents To Go Directory in your PC.And yes you have to install it first
. or You can download this file from http://discussion.treocentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8660 (its old version v.1.1 but it works)
Thanks a lot for the link. I downloaded the DataVizTech.prc, because as I said before, I have no PC to install DTG on.
The app works fine. I recommend using it, instead of the method I used before since it cleans up better, but if you for some reason can’t get your hands on this cleanup tool, my method still works fairly good.
I still think, however, that DataVis should stick to Palm’s recommendations and make Palm compatible applications. It would make iife a lot easier.
Documents To Go was created with multiple components in mind because they don’t all need to be installed! Would you rather have a monothlithic 5+ Mb (10 Mb?) application, or do you just use WordToGo and don’t need all the other applications. Yes, if it came with your device you get everything loaded. But when you run the installer for the product on the desktop, you’re prompted to choose which parts you’d like installed (just Slideshow? Uncheck the other parts).
Doing the former (monolithic) might be impossible on the Palm, as the code size would be too big. Smaller apps = better resources = good design = faster loading = better user experience. Palm’s recommendations don’t point you to create a huge app. They’d rather you have a small, fast loading app that uses shared libraries that are loaded as needed.
I agree with the Brian Cris….. it would be a pain if you were required to always inatall all components if all you needed was WordToGo…. Myself, I prefer MobiSystems Office Suite….. granted it has a 10MB footprint (which isn’t that big a deal on my TX), but it is jam packed with features you’ll not find anywhere else….
Who said I wanted big apps? I just wanted a decent way of removing 5mb of unidentified multiple components belonging to DTG. Thanks to lhandra, I now have a tool that works.
I think you are missing Brian’s point here, Peter.
He never said you wanted one big app, he just tried to explain that, in order to be able to choose which ‘parts’ of the DocumentsToGo ‘office-suite’ you want and don’t want on your PDA, each part has to have it’s own creator-ID.
Ofcourse, I am sure there are other ways to do this, but this is the way Dataviz chose to do it.
I do agree that it should not be such a hassle to remove things from your own PDA, it’s yours, so you should be able to control what’s on it….
however, I think in this case it’s more PalmOs’s fault, than Dataviz’s.
The standard Delete-function is just very inadequate.
If you use UninstallHack (yes, it’s usable on OS5, the ‘hack’ part in the name is still there from the old days) or another app that I forgot the name of, you’ll see that it’s NO problem to simply delete EVERYTHING that belongs to an app you want to delete. No need for their own uninstaller-app.
I think the real problem is this; they try to make things easy to work with for the average user, so installing it with a PC-program and and deleting it with a simple in-built app is logical from there point of view.
However, for ‘powerusers’ like us this also brings problems.
For eample, I have a very simple PC, and I hate to install programs unless they are absolutely needed.
So I hate it when app can only be installed via a PC program. I want to download something in a zip/rar-file, chose what I want to install, and I use CardReader to get them to my PDA. That way I am in control of what gets installed, and what not.
Therefor, there will always be a downside to the way the manufacturer choses to deliver their apps, be it for the average user, or for the advanced user.
Though not perfect, I even think we should give credit to Dataviz for trying to cater to both groups by making DataVizTech.
Oops, that was my post, I forgot to fill in a name.
Didn’t want to post anonymous…sorry.
The reason why I wrote this piece was to have this discussion., to hear what you out there really think, so that I, and maybe others can learn from it. After all, learning is what life is all about. Thank you all!
Hi,
first of all-wow, what a fulminant first article! Thanks to all the commentators for making this thread a wealth of information.
Anyways, on to sth more substantial aka my oppinion
. Basically, we are in a difficult situation here, as on the one side, you wish to have as much RAM available as possible. On the other hand however, you need to keep one thing in mind: the famous outofbox wow effect. Every app burnt into the ROM of a handheld increases the effect, which leads to higher sales in stores, etc..
Best regards
Tam Hanna
P.s. I also like OfficeSuite, but to be honest, I use tejpWriter most for reviewing nowadays…
DataVizTech.prc can’t remove the app documents and five more for languages that DataViz installs on ROM, the prc ONLY remove DocumentsToGo from RAM, anyone knows another way to remove DocumentsToGo and extras from ROM?
Hi Luis,
what do you mean with removing from ROM?
Getting DocsToGo off for good is impossible imho, it will always come back to your Palm OS handheld after a hard reset…
Best regards
Tam Hanna
Try JackSprat and JackFlash
The first app lets you delete apps from ROM (no more unwanted app after hard reset), the second is a complement to the first, it lets you use the now free ROM space as you wish…
hope this info helps…
Hi Morris,
but does JackSprat work with NVFS handhelds?
Best regards
Tam Hanna
THe Jacksprat/jackflash is no longer available through their store. Are there any other apps like this?
Three years later, and the same problem on my Palm Tx. DocsToGo was not delivered with with the device but I bought it and installed it myself. Now since I don’t need it any longer, after uninstalling it (and manually removing lots of files left over by the uninstall), still the files Documents and DocToGo remain in ROM (how did they get there?) and I can’t get rid of them. I used their tool dataviztech.prc, too, which didn’t help either. Crap!
Hi,
the TX has a basic version of DXTG in ROM!
All the best
Tam Hanna