WHAT'S HOT

SETUP

The only thing out of the ordinary is that WisBar Advance actually asks you if you want the default today screen theme to be set (rather than just taking over your unit).

PROGRAM FEATURES

    WisBar Advance 2 also gives you two options for the Start menu. In the default configuration, you tap once on the Start menu to see the standard list (on the left), or tap and hold the Start menu for the Cascading Start Menu (on the right). Using the settings (which we will see shortly), you can change this behavior if desired. With WisBar Advance 2, everything is customizeable (thus giving something to those bored Pocket PC or modders out there).

Moving to the right, we see the clock and volume buttons. Not only are the buttons skinnable, but the pop-ups they show can also be customized.

    Here we have (skipping the button between them) the connectivity (double-arrows), and one of my favorite buttons, Battery/Memory. No more navigating through several menu layers to determine the amount of space free and battery power left.

    Dynamic buttons (such as the close (X) and okay (check)) appear as needed. One of the first things I set in WisBar Advance 2 was to close rather than Smart Minimize. Pocket PCs are fast enough these days that one doesn't really need to Smart Minimize an app in order to return to it quickly. And why waste precious memory with a mess of open applications?

    The task menu sits (at least on my configuration) between the connectivity and battery/memory buttons. This is probably one of the most useful buttons (which we will cover in more detail shortly). But in the mean time, we will cover the settings option.

The main settings menu contains several "Configure" options. At the bottom of this menu is the Apply (green check) and Cancel (red X) buttons.

    Under the "My Settings" option, you can configure how WisBar runs. The list shown is not the default, but rather the options I would recommend when installing WisBar Advance 2 on anybodies Pocket PC (as a matter of personal preference).

The "My Tasks" option allows you to determine what applications are ignored by WisBar Advance 2. While the "My Clock" setting gives you the choice of how the clock looks and what information is displayed.

It is from the "My Buttons..." option, that you can start really getting into some granular customization of WisBar Advance 2.

Choosing from the list of button actions, each has the capability of having a single tap, and a tap and hold capability. These capabilities can range from their default task, to even launching other applications and keyboard shortcuts.

And then, from the Order tab, you can rearrange said buttons to suit your usage patterns or whims.

The "My Theme" option is where you can begin tweaking the look of the buttons and menubars. Either by selecting from preconfigured (or prepackaged) skins...

...or by customizing each individual peice of the layout.

And if you don't care for a prepackaged theme's sounds and/or colors, then you can override them.

Occasionally, you will find an application that doesn't react well to the complete skinning that WisBar Advance 2 provides. In those cases, you can configure WisBar Advance 2 to ignore those applications and not skin them at all.

The last of the settings choices are License and About (which contain the standard info).

    Using the configuration I gave above, as you open applications, they will appear on the taskbar. From this point you can easily switch between applications or close them. You can also see that the Tasks menu has expanded to include Minimize, Close Background Tasks, and Close All Tasks along with the currently running applications. A very useful feature to say the least.

As I mentioned before, WisBar Advance 2, not only skins itself, but also running applications. Above is an example of Pocket Informant default vs Pocket Informant skinned. Talk about giving your Pocket PC a new lease on life.

But not all applications react so smoothly to skinning. Here you can see a small skin error with Mobile Backup. In this case, it doesn't affect the application in any way.

Grown tired of the default WisBar Advance 2 skin? Pop out to the WisBar Advance 2 skin forums and snag something new such as Juni's WMP10. Or even take a look at skin section

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HELP SUPPORT

BUGS AND WISHES

• Clean up the default skin sound files (some sound very distorted and others just become annoying)
• Give the user the ability to customize the sounds (similar to the Windows based setup)
• Include some sort of tooltips or user manual for first time users

PURCHASING

PROS

• Customizeable on multiple levels

• Great looking interface

• Increases productivity through proper application management

• Price

CONS

• Default sounds can be a tad annoying after a while
• No in-application help to help first time users
• Can only be purchased via PayPal (at the time of this review)

OVERALL IMPRESSION

Have you used WisBar Advance 2? See something that isn't quite right? Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.