InWatch Tutorial
Welcome to InWatch
PURPOSE: Whenever you install shareware and other programs on your palm, they often leave many files and settings behind after uninstalling the program. These left behind files can take up memory, cause conflicts, or just make your palm untidy. The purpose of InWatch is to monitor these installations so that you can ensure that they are completely uninstalled at a later date.
Here is the main screen that appears when you start InWatch. The Snapshot button serves to take a snapshot of your system's environment BEFORE installing a new program. The Compare button notes any changes to you palm AFTER you have installed a new application. Un-Install does just what it says, it will uninstall an application that has been monitored by InWatch. Remove just removes a compare list from the Select File list.
Let's walk through an example usage. First, press the Snapshot button and you will temporarily see the following. A snapshot image of your current palm has been done.
Now, go back to your Desktop computer and install the IW_Example.prc file to your palm in the usual way using the Palm Install tool. Go back to your Palm Pilot and run IW Example. The following screen will be shown. Press the Create button to create sample databases and preferences, and the program will exit.
Re-run InWatch again, and this time press the Compare button. You will see the following:
Changes have been found, so InWatch will ask you for a name for the Compare list. Usually you will just enter the name of the application you have just installed. In this case, we type 'IW Example' on the line and press OK.
Following is the display you should now have on your Palm. In the list you will see 5 items. 'IW Example' is the original file we installed, but look what else has appeared since we ran the IW Example program. 'IWTest02DB' and 'IWTest01DB' are just sample databases that were created by the IW Example program. Unfortunately, these will not be uninstalled when we use the standard Palm Delete application utility to Delete the IW Example program. Don't worry, though, InWatch will take care of it. '·S IW01 0' is a Saved Preference (designated by the prefix ·S), with a Creator name of IW01 and an ID of 0. Preferences are data that store settings for their respective application. Both Saved & Unsaved Preferences can accumulate on your Palm. '·U IW02 3' is an Unsaved Preference with a Creator name of IW02 and an ID of 3. Don't worry, the creator name and ID aren't really important, they are just there for your info.
Normally, we would then be done with our monitoring. You could then exit InWatch and then go about your business. When you wanted to completely uninstall the IW Example program, you would then restart InWatch, select the file from the list, and press the Un-Install button. Go ahead and do that now. It will ask you to confirm what you are doing as shown below.
Note: If you see a warning message that your current Preference settings do not allow Un-Installations, this is because you need to change your Preferences setting. Press Menu and then Preferences on the drop down menu. Check the box as shown below.
After pressing Yes, it will tell you that the Un-Install has successfully completed. It will then ask you if you want to remove the compare list for IW Example from the list. Normally you would say yes, but it gives you the option. Go ahead and press Yes now.
You will then be taken back to the main screen, and will see the following:
When you go to exit the InWatch program or switch to another application, it will tell you that it needs to reset your device if you have uninstalled any Preferences. Go ahead and press OK, it won't cause any harm. Your Palm will then reboot after a few seconds. Be patient. The reason this needs to be done is because some applications work VERY hard to ensure that their Preferences stay on your palm FOREVER. A reset needs to be done after an uninstall to ensure they are completely gone.
That essentially takes you through the basic usage of InWatch. Another feature of InWatch is the Pre-Clean feature. This can be accessed by pressing Menu, and then Pre-Clean within the drop down menu as shown below:
Pre-Clean will remove all pre-existing Orphaned Preferences that pre-existed on your system prior to using InWatch. Orphaned Preferences are data left on your Palm that are no longer associated with any applications (i.e. probably have been removed). Note that this is not as effective as using InWatch's Snapshot & Compare function. In addition, while this should generally be regarded as safe, POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES could include you having to re-enter registration codes for other actual registered shareware on your Palm. If you have registered software on your Palm, make sure you have the registration codes handy for those applications. It will ask you to press Yes to continue with the search for Orphaned Preferences.
As InWatch finds Orphaned Preferences, it will ask you to confirm deletion of each one. The following example is asking you if you want to delete the Saved Preference (denoted by ·S), with a Creator name of IW01 and an ID of 0. I happen to know that this belongs to the IW Example program, but normally you will not be able to figure out what application it belonged to. This is because the application that created it intentionally tried to hide it from you and doesn't want you to know what program it is associated with (hence the benefit of using Snapshot and Compare). You can go through them and hit Yes to all of them, but if you happen to recognize one, it gives you the option to say no if you want.
That's essentially it. I hope that this tutorial makes it easier for you to use, and I hope that you find it useful! You could probably think of many different things to try with the IW Example if you were wanting to experiment more (such as running it once and pressing the Create button, and then deleting it from your Palm in the usual fashion using the Palm Delete application feature, only to verify with InWatch that it did indeed leave behind all those files that didn't get uninstalled) Have Fun!