I Want My Recent Programs!

What happened to my "Recent Programs" listing in Windows Mobile 6.5? If you're a veteran Windows Mobile user, you probably have a heavy reliance on the recent programs listing in the Start menu. This feature kept a handful of your must recently used programs right there at all times so that they were only two taps away no matter what program you were in. This feature was ESSENTIAL for multitasking. Unfortunately, the feature was removed from Windows Mobile 6.5 when Microsoft implemented this new "finger friendly" Start menu. You probably found out how annoying this was the first time you tried to quickly switch back to a program you were just using and found yourself endlessly scrolling and searching for it.

Well guess what? You can actually get your recently used programs on your Home screen if you're using the default "Titanium" Windows Mobile 6.5 Today screen interface. First you have to download the free "Home Screen Customizer" from the Windows Mobile Marketplace. This program from Chien-Wen Danny Su lets you rearrange, remove, and edit panels on the default Titanium interface. It also lets you add a few nice ones. Add the Apps panel. This panel lets you add a number of favorite applications and their icons will show up on your home screen for easy access.

But here's the cool thing. When you have the Apps panel selected, the right softkey button in the bottom right turns to a "Recent" command. Press that and your Apps panel now shows icons for your 8 most recently used applications. It only shows 4 at a time, but you can swipe horizontally to see the other 4.



You can even set the Apps panel to be the primary/default panel for your home screen and then your most recent programs will again be only two steps away (Home key + tap program).