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Cleanup - How to use

Before reading this manual, take a look at the Quick Start Guide.

Index

Overview
What does Cleanup do?

How to Use
Quick Clean
Spacemaker
Backups
Signature File

Lists
Files List
Prefs List

List Buttons
List Legend
Details
Search
Ignore
Add to Quick Clean
Backup
Delete

Menu

Overview

Cleanup is a companion product to Uninstall Manager and part of the NeatFreak Pack, NeatFreak Pack Plus and NeatFreak Pack Ultimate bundles.

Basic definitions for terms used throughout the help file:

• Preferences: Relatively small pieces of data applications save, that later can be easily accessed when needed (much like the Windows® registry). Palm OS programs use preferences to quickly store and retrieve their settings at a later time. There are two Preferences Databases on your device used to store these records of data, Saved and Unsaved, but from the user's point of view it is pretty much irrelevant. Cleanup groups preferences (Preferences Group) records from both of the system databases under the preferences record Creator ID (see below). Although the preferences applications create are usually small in size, if you have many preferences records left by old applications (usually remnants from applications that were not completely deleted) it can considerably slow down your device.

• Database Files: Palm OS files. Applications (files that can create other items), documents, pictures, music, alarms, etc.

• Items: Files and Preferences.

• RAM: The Main Memory. When you launch applications, they save items in the RAM (as opposed to the external card, even if the application is stored in it).

• Creator ID: All items that are saved onto your device by installed applications include a reference to the application that created them: A Creator ID. When applications are deleted, all of the items they create SHOULD be deleted based on that Creator ID. Many times applications save items under a Creator ID which is different than their own. These items will not be deleted unless you're using Uninstall Manager, and it was installed prior to installing that particular application. Cleanup will help you get rid of them once and for all.

What does Cleanup do?

• Getting rid of leftovers

Introduction

When you launch applications, from the built-in memory or the Expansion Card, they save data (files and settings) onto your device. This data is used by the application when active, and normally, will be deleted when you delete the application itself.

Each and every application on your device has to have a unique Creator ID which has to be registered with Palm. Applications, in general, use their Creator ID to tag the data they save. When you choose to delete an application via the normal delete function (or using a 3rd party launcher); the system knows which files and preferences it needs to delete by comparing them to the application's Creator ID.
To sum it all up: The Creator ID uniquely identifies each application including its files and settings.

However, some applications save items under a different Creator ID than their own; these items will remain on your device, occupying your precious handheld memory for good (visit this link for an interesting read).

Leftover files and preferences even survive hard-resets. The HotSync Manager restores them one by one to your device.

Cleanup's job:

The main job of Cleanup is to clean your device and your expansion cards from unneeded chunks of data that just take up precious space, might slow it down and cause problems. Cleanup offers a variety of functions to help you locate and safely get rid of unneeded data. Cleanup is the best of its class to help you with deleting leftovers from long forgotten applications, hidden items saved by applications or just temporary items that have no place on your device.

NOTE: Use Uninstall Manager to ensure that newly installed applications will be completely removed when they are no longer needed.

See the Quick Start Guide for more.

• Cleaning your expansion card and internal drive (when available)

Over a period of time, a lot of junk accumulates on your expansion card and it's losing more and more megabytes. The main problem is that you don't even know what's hiding inside the card and where it is. Cleanup includes a few very useful tools that allow you to quickly overview the files on your card, and helps you learn what's hiding in there. Besides the ability to normally browse through the card's directory tree, viewing information about the files that are there and allowing you to delete them, Cleanup can also sort files on the card by name or size, regardless on the file's location so you can simply see all of them in one place. Cleanup also lists all files which are not Palm OS files, but normal files (Windows, etc - for example, Jpeg picture files) that might be irreverent and should be moved out of a certain card to another. The best thing that Cleanup does with the card is listing all Palm OS database files that are not associated with any application in the main memory. This will allow you to clear up some old files created by applications you no longer have installed.

• Quickly get rid of temporary files and private information

Add files and preferences to a fast and automated cleaning mechanism called Quick Clean to make the job of deleting temporary and even private information much easier. If you have applications that save temporary files/preferences or private information, over and over again (such as your installed web browser's cache and cookie files, text messages, emails, etc.). You can add them to the Quick Clean feature and quickly get rid of them just before you need that extra space, or to get rid of private data if you're letting someone borrow your device or giving it away.

• Temporarily clearing up some extra memory space

If you want to try a new game or have to install a huge file to the main memory, Cleanup offers the Spacemaker function which simplifies the process of clearing up enough memory space to get the job done.

If you ever needed to install something and realized that you don't have enough memory to do that, Cleanup's Spacemaker is for you. Spacemaker will save you all the time and and trouble so you can quickly install a memory-demanding file/application, and then, when you later decide on what you really need and what you can do without, Spacemaker will easily restore everything back to the way it was.

How to Use

The Wizard Tab

The Wizard tab lets you quickly access some of Cleanup's mostly used functions: Quick Clean, Undo the last Quick Clean operation, Spacemaker, Backups and the Signature File.

Quick Clean - Adding items

Select items for Quick Clean from the files and preferences lists and then select the Quick Clean button at the bottom:

Quick Clean - Cleaning

When you're done adding items, switch back to the Wizard view and select the Quick Clean button to open the Quick Clean dialog:

The Quick Clean dialog displays the list of items selected for Quick Clean.

• Select Clean to start the Quick Clean process.
• Select an item on the list and then Remove to remove it from the Quick Clean list.

Quick Clean will then delete any item from the list that can be found on your device. At the end of the process, you will see the amount of memory that was freed.

Enable Undo: When the Enable Undo checkbox is selected, Northglide Undo will be called in order to create a restore point with all of the items in the list (the ones that currently exist on your device), allowing you to restore them at a later time. Please note that Quick Clean restore points will be overwritten by newer restore points created by Northglide Undo.

• You must have Northglide Undo (v1.02+) installed to enable Quick Clean undo. See Northglide Undo manual for more.

Quick Clean - Undo last cleaning:

When you select the Undo Last Cleaning button, Northglide Undo will be launched allowing you to restore all the items that were previously deleted from your device by the Quick Clean process. You can get back to Cleanup by pressing your device's Home button.

Spacemaker

Select the Spacemaker button to open the Spacemaker dialog:

Press the (increase the amount of memory you want to free) button to add files that can be safely deleted from the main memory and moved to the card; select the button (decrease) to remove the last file, or select a file then the Remove button to remove specific files.

The amount of memory that will be freed is displayed on the left of the buttons. The number of files to move to the card is shown at the top of the list.

Spacemaker will add files that are not protected, are not being currently used and do not belong to the PIM applications (Calendar, Contacts, ...). Files that should be safe to delete from the main memory. If you see something that you suspect shouldn't be there, press the increase button until the desired amount of memory to free is shown, then select that file and press the Remove button.

Cleanup will first add files that belong to a single application and then, when no more applications that can be safely moved to the card are found, it will add files that are not associated with a single application.

• Please note that this is NOT a proper way of deleting applications since the preferences saved by applications on the list will not be removed. This is just a temporary and easy solution to get some memory freed without all the usual hassle. Use Uninstall Manager to completely remove applications, including any hidden items they create.

Press the OK button to move the files shown in the list to the card. The files will be first copied to Palm\Programs\Spacemaker on the card. If the copy process is completed successfully, the files will be deleted from the main memory.

The Wizard Spacemaker button label will now indicate that there are files ready to be restored back to the main memory:

Press the Spacemaker button again in order to restore all the files back to the main memory:

Overwrite: Occasionally, the Spacemaker function will move temporary files that will be recreated by their parent applications. Keep the Overwrite checkbox selected in order to overwrite any recreated temporary file with the one previously moved to the card.

Notes:

• You must have enough free memory in order to restore files back.
• You can use Northglide Undo's 'Undo tab' to delete any new items created during the time after Spacemaker moved files to the card (items that have been monitored by Uninstall Manager).
• The files will first be copied to the main memory and then deleted from the card (from Palm\Programs\Spacemaker).

Backups

Select the Backups button to open the Backups dialog. From this dialog you can restore or delete previously backed-up files and preferences. Select the Prefs or Files buttons above the list to show the relevant backup items.

• Note: Backed-up preferences are backed-up to a special file. For extra safety, the file itself is copied to the card and will be visible under the Files Backups tab ("Cleanup_Prefs_Backup").

Backup dialog buttons:

From left to right: Delete the selected item, restore the selected item, delete ALL items from the list (Prefs OR Files) and restore ALL items back to the main memory.

Signature File

The Signature File is a growing collection of known 'hidden' Creator IDs that certain applications use to save their data and of other system components that are not associated with a single application (for example: The Graffiti Library which is needed by all applications).

Help expanding the Signature File:
When you discover (using Uninstall Manager or a different method) that one of the installed applications saved hidden items on your device, or identified a system file that gets listed by Cleanup; please use the following form to send its details and it will be added to the next Signature File release.

The Signature File will expand every update, adding more hidden Creator IDs that can be easily identified.
Download the latest Signature File.

The information inside the Signature File will help you learn more about mysterious items that inhabit your device.

Select the Signature File button to open the Signature File dialog:

This Signature File dialog shows the last update date of the installed Signature File and the number of records it contains. If you're using a Palm Powered Smartphone (Treo 650, 680, 700p, etc), you can select the Update button in order to launch the installed web browser to check and download a newer Signature File.

Files and Prefs. Lists

Please see the Quick Start Guide for the basics.

Cleanup differentiates between items with or without (associated and unassociated) a matching parent application. To show only items without a matching parent application, select the 'Unassociated…' top-level items from the appropriate tab. Cleanup knows if a certain item has an associated application in the main memory by checking the item's Creator ID: This is a system tag that all items have that in theory, should be unique and associated with a specific installed application. A Palm OS application is a regular file that can create other items.

Items without a parent application divide into 3 groups:

• Items that by definition do not have a parent application (such as system files and settings).
• Items intentionally saved by installed applications under a different Creator ID than their own (hidden items).
• Orphaned items saved by previously installed applications that were not completely deleted.

Some of Cleanup functions work on several items in bulk, and in order to select items you need to tap (using your device's stylus) the bullet on the left of each item: , or . The item's background changes to yellow to indicate selection:

Going back

In both Files and Prefs lists you can go back to either the top level menu/list or the previous directory (when browsing the expansion card) by selecting the first item on the list, the "Go up one level" icon:

• TIP: Switch back to the top level in both lists by reselecting the tab buttons: or

Files List

Top level:

1/6 All in the main memory (RAM): List all database files in the main memory. Files with and without a matching parent application. Items under the Ignore List will be shown here as well.

2/6 Unassociated RAM files: List all files in the main memory without a matching parent application (in the main memory or the default PRC directory on the expansion card). These can be system items, application supporting items or old leftovers from previously installed applications. Items that appear in the Ignore List will not be displayed.

3/6 (Card name): Browse the expansion card:

4/6 All files on the expansion card:  List all files on the expansion card (Palm OS database files and any other file). When you select a file from the list, its exact location on the card will be displayed.

5/6 Unassociated card databases: List all Palm OS database files on the expansion card without a matching application in the RAM. Items that appear in this list can be items from uninstalled applications or items needed but are not associated with one specific applications, such as E-books that are kept on the card, etc.

6/6 Non-Palm files on the card: List all non-Palm OS database files (Jpeg pictures, etc) on the expansion card.

Prefs. List

Top level:

1/2 All Preferences: List all preferences records, with and without a matching parent app, from both system preferences databases.

2/2 Unassociated Preferences: List preferences records from both system preferences databases that do not share a Creator ID with any of the installed applications in the main memory (or the default PRC directory on the expansion card):

List Buttons

7 buttons from left to right:

1/7 List Legend

The List Legend dialog allows you to quickly overview what each and every icon in the list represents.

Tap the (i) icon at the top right of the dialog to read more.

The item was monitored by Uninstall Manager and is listed underneath one of the applications in its monitored items database file. Monitored items will be deleted when you uninstall their parent application.

The item was not monitored, but is listed in the Signature File. When items are listed in the Signature File, it's possible to tell which application previously created them. In addition to specific application items, the Signature File contains system items that do not belong to any single application (generally, you should not delete system items).

Items not monitored by Uninstall Manager and are not listed in the Signature File. Check for Signature File updates for new additions. Information about unknown items will be added to the next release.

IMPORTANT: 'Blue items' are not the only ones you need to note, they are just the ones Cleanup knows the least about.

The item has an associated/parent application.

The item does not have an associated/parent application (please note that it may be a system item that doesn't have a single parent app).

Preferences record found in the system's Saved Preferences database.

Preferences record found in the system's Unsaved Preferences database.

Preferences Group - Several preferences records saved under a specific Creator ID were found in one or both of the system preferences databases (you must have the Group Preferences checkbox selected in the Settings dialog).

Items shown in red are items selected for Quick Clean.

2/7 Details

Select an item from the list and then the Details button to display more information.

At the top of the Details dialog, the amount of memory occupied by the item and its name are displayed. The item's Creator ID value and Type value are shown as well.

The Signature field displays the information about the selected item from the installed Signature File. The Monitored field displays information from Uninstall Manager's log file. The Associated field shows the name of the item's parent application. If the text to display is longer than the field, tapping on one of the fields will display all of it inside an information alert-dialog.

3/7 Search

The Search function is intended for advanced users only.

By using the Search function you can locate applications that saved a certain item on your device, even if the item is not associated with that application (they do not share the same Creator ID).

Cleanup will try to find if the application that saved the file or preferences is still on your device (RAM and ROM) or the expansion card(s). Cleanup opens each and every application, then, it looks for the selected item's Creator ID in the app's code. Cleanup reads the application code 'byte by byte' to find the Creator ID. When the Creator ID is found within an application it will be added to the results page. In the results page, Cleanup lists the number of times the Creator ID was found next to the application. The greater the number is, the more likely the item (any item saved under the Creator ID that was searched for) belongs to that application.

Select an item and then the Search button to open the Search dialog:

Select Search card to search inside applications across the expansion card and the internal drive (when available).  Select Search ROM to search inside applications on the Read Only Memory (built-in applications).

When you select the Search button, Cleanup will start looking inside applications for the item's Creator ID:

You can abort the search process at any time by tapping on the Abort button.

When the Search process is complete, you will be taken to the Results Page:

The results page shows the number of times the Creator ID was found next to the name of the application it was found in. The application's Creator ID is shown following its name. Occasionally, when applications save hidden items they use a Creator ID which is similar to their real Creator ID (although not always!) so it's a good practice to check whether the Creator IDs are similar or not. If the application is located on the expansion card, a Card icon will be drawn, if it's in the main memory (RAM) the regular Palm icon will be drawn instead. If the searched Creator ID was found 4 or more times inside an application's code resources, it will be shown in bold font since the greater the number is, the more likely the app created the item.

• NOTE: Sometimes applications save hidden items and the Creator ID will only be found a couple of times, or not at all. This is NOT a foolproof method of identifying hidden Creator IDs.

Press the Export Memo button to save the results to a memo record (Memos application).

4/7 Ignore

Add the selected item's Creator ID to the Ignore List. Cleanup hides files and preferences saved under a Creator ID that appear in the Ignore List from the Unassociated RAM files and Unassociated Preferences lists.

After selecting OK, the following dialog will be displayed:

Enter the description of the Creator ID, or the reason you've added it to the Ignore List and select OK. If this field is left empty, the Creator ID description from the Signature File will be used (if existent).

To remove Creator IDs from the Ignore List, open it via the menu:

The Ignore List displays all of the previously added Creator IDs and the reason for ignoring a certain Creator ID is shown next to each one of them. Select a Creator ID from the list and then Remove to remove it from the Ignore List, making any item saved under that Creator ID visible in the Unassociated items lists again.

5/7 Add to Quick Clean

Add selected items to the Quick Clean function. Items added to Quick Clean will be displayed in red:

• See the Wizard tab Quick Clean button for more.

6/7 Backup

Select the Backup button to copy the selected file to the card, or create a copy of the selected preferences record and then copy the preferences backup file to the card.

7/7 Delete

Select the Delete button to show the Delete dialog allowing you to delete selected items:

Make sure the Backup checkbox ALWAYS remains selected. After you worked with your device for a while and made sure that everything works as good as it should, you can delete the backup copy via the Backups dialog.

Menu

Menu >> Settings

Open the Settings dialog allowing you to change the program's settings:

• Quickly adjust the settings profile to Basic or Advanced by using the menu commands.

Group Preferences: List preferences records that have the same Creator ID together.

Check items with:

Uninstall Manager: Look within UM's log file for the item and see if it was monitored ( when found).

Signature File: Check the Signature File for information about the item ( when found).

Press the Details button to see the specific information from both locations, UM's log file and the Signature File.

Sort Files: Name, Size (self explanatory) or Found in: Sort items according to the location they were found in: UM's log file, the Signature File or neither ("sort by color").

Sort Preferences: When unchecked, the preferences records are sorted according to their location in the preferences databases (first the Unsaved Preferences database and then the Saved Prefs DB); when this option is selected, the preferences will be sorted based on the chosen sorting criteria. When preferences are left unsorted, records saved by newer applications can be found at the bottom of the list.

Menu >> Ignore List

Open the Ignore List dialog (see above for more).

Menu >> Backups

Open the Backups dialog (see above for more).

Menu >> Choose destination

Open the Destination dialog allowing you to choose a different card or the internal drive (available on selected models) for keeping backups and for moving files when using the Spacemaker function.

ALWAYS backup files and preferences before deleting them.
If one of your applications loses its settings, you can always restore it back to the way it was.