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The PicoTrak Frequently Asked Questions List

 

Versions and Upgrading

1. I'm a registered user of your TimeTracker program, but I can't find it on your website, have you stopped supporting it?

No we have not stopped supporting it, see question number 3.

2. I'm a registered user of your Projectrak program, but I can't find it on your website, have you stopped supporting it?

No we have not stopped supporting it, see question number 3.

3. TimeTracker, ProjecTrak, PicoTrak, what's with all these names?

TimeTracker, ProjecTrak, and PicoTrak are all the same program. Only the name has changed. The name changes were for trademark reasons, but rest assured that if you purchased TimeTracker or ProjecTrak, we are still supporting the product that you bought, we just had to change the name.

4. I'm currently running TimeTracker version 1.8. If PicoTrak is the same program, can I upgrade to it?

Yes you can, but please read question number 7 BEFORE you try to install PicoTrak!

5. I'm currently running ProjecTrak version 2.0. If PicoTrak is the same program, can I upgrade to it?

Yes you can. See also question number 8.

6. If I want to upgrade from TimeTracker or ProjecTrak to PicoTrak, do I have to pay for the new version?

No, you do not have to pay anything more. Upgrades to this program are free, there is no additional charge to registered users, regardless of which version you are currently using.

7. I'm currently using TimeTracker version 1.8. How do I upgrade to PicoTrak?

Download the latest version of PicoTrak from inertron.com/palm.

When moving from TimeTracker to PicoTrak, there is a one-time special upgrade process that you must follow. It's not complicated, but please read the following through completely and make sure you understand it before you start:

  1. Leave TimeTracker in place on your Palm handheld. Do NOT delete it until instructed to below.
  2. On your PC/Mac, use the Palm install tool and HotSync to install the PicoTrak.prc file onto your Palm handheld.
  3. On your Palm handheld, launch the PicoTrak application.
  4. You should see the main display, looking familiar, with all your TimeTracker projects just as you left them. If you do not see your projects, stop here and contact support@inertron.com for assistance.
  5. Exit PicoTrak by tapping the "Home" button to return to the Palm Launcher.
  6. Use the Palm Launcher's "Delete" menu command to delete the TimeTracker application (if you are not familiar with using the "Delete" command, please refer to the documentation that came with your Palm handheld).
  7. You are done. Use PicoTrak just as you used TimeTracker, and enjoy the new hourly rate feature.

8. I'm currently running ProjecTrak version 2.0. How do I upgrade to PicoTrak?

Download the latest version of PicoTrak from inertron.com/palm.

If you are currently running ProjecTrak, there is NOT a special upgrade process. Leave ProjecTrak in place on your Palm handheld, and use the Palm install tool to install PicoTrak. The installer will replace ProjecTrak with PicoTrak, and that's all you need to do.

Pricing

9. There are some other people in my office who would like to start using PicoTrak, do you offer a site license or a quantity discount price?

We offer a quantity discount price of 20% off for any purchase of 2 or more licenses. Each license is $20, rather than the normal price of $25.

Please contact us to arrange for the quantity discount before purchasing.

Upgrading to a new Palm Handheld

10. I just bought (or I'm going to be buying) a new Palm handheld. Do I need to buy a new license for PicoTrak?

No, assuming that you are not going to sell or give your old Palm handheld -- with TimeTracker/ProjecTrak/PicoTrak still installed -- to someone else. Your PicoTrak license is transferable to a new Palm handheld. If you keep your old handheld for your own use, it's ok to continue to use PicoTrak on both handhelds (although why you would want to do that is unclear). If you remove TimeTracker/ProjecTrak/PicoTrak from your old handheld, you can then freely sell it or give it away. The one thing you cannot do is transfer your PicoTrak license to a new Palm handheld, and then allow another person to use PicoTrak on your old handheld.

11. I just bought (or I'm going to be buying) a new Palm handheld. How do I get my PicoTrak data from my old Palm handheld to my new one?

First, if you are currently using TimeTracker, you should follow the procedure outlined in question number 7 above to upgrade to PicoTrak on your current handheld. Doing this first will make the process of upgrading to a new handheld much easier.

PalmOne has a writeup on upgrading to a new handheld here. To get PicoTrak and your data onto your new handheld, you need to install the picotrak.prc file, and the five files that start with "PoTr-" from the backups folder referred to in the PalmOne writeup.

11a. It's too late for the PalmOne instructions, I've already got all my applications on the new handheld, how can I just copy the PicoTrak data from the old one to the new one?

Follow this procedure (the steps here assume that you have PicoTrak, rather than TimeTracker, on your old handheld):

  1. On your desktop computer, locate your Palm desktop folder. On Windows, this is usually either "C:\Palm" or "C:\Program Files\Palm". On Mac OSX, it's usually "Documents/Palm".
  2. Open that folder. On Windows, you should see a folder named for the user name of your old Palm handheld. On a Mac, you'll see a folder called "Users"; open that and then you should see the user name folder.
  3. Open that folder. You should see a folder called "Backups".
  4. Open that folder.
  5. Inside the "Backups" folder you should see many files.
  6. Find the five files that start with "PoTr-".
  7. If you used the same user name on your new handheld that you had on the old handheld, copy or drag those five files to some other folder. It doesn't matter where, just somewhere other than the "Backups" folder. This is a precaution to make sure that they don't get overwritten by new backups (possibly of an empty database) the next time you perform a HotSync.
  8. Run the Palm install tool (or use the Quick Install on Windows or the Send to Handheld program on the Mac). Make sure that the user name is set to the user name of your new handheld.
  9. Drag those five files to the installer window.
  10. Perform a HotSync operation.
  11. Launch thePicoTrak application on your new Palm handheld, and you should now see your data from the old handheld.

12. I got PicoTrak and my data moved to my new handheld, but PicoTrak has reverted to the trial version and my registration code doesn't work. What do I do?

This is because you gave your new Palm handheld a different user name (also known as the HotSync ID). The PicoTrak registration code is based on the user name. Send an email to support@inertron.com and give us the user name of your new handheld. We'll send you a new registration code.

Recovering from a Hard Crash

13. HELP! my Palm handheld just crashed and I had to do a hard reset! I've lost everything, how do I recover my TimeTracker/ProjecTrak/PicoTrak data?

If you are running at least TimeTracker version 1.3 (i.e. TimeTracker 1.3 or higher, or any version of ProjecTrak, or any version of PicoTrak), then your data is backed up to your PC every time you perform a HotSync operation (assuming that you have left the settings for the HotSync Backup conduit to the default setting).

PalmOne has instructions for restoring your data after a hard reset here. Those instructions don't specifically mention the backup conduit; the setting for the backup conduit should be changed to "Restore from backup", and you should make sure that you do NOT set that as the default setting.

To recover from a hard reset, the easiest and best way is to run the HotSync Manager program on your PC, open the "conduit settings" dialog, and change the setting of the Backup conduit to "Restore from backup". Now perform a HotSync operation. This will take everything that was backed up to your PC -- applications and data -- and put it back on your Palm handheld. For more information, please refer to the documentation that came with your Palm handheld.

14. Ok, but what if I've already gotten some things restored to my Palm handheld, like the PicoTrak application, but my data is missing? I don't want to do that "restore everything" stuff, I just want my PicoTrak data.

You can probably get your data back, but it's a little more complicated.

First, BEFORE you do another HotSync, do the following:

  1. On your desktop computer, locate your Palm desktop folder. On Windows, this is usually either "C:\Palm" or "C:\Program Files\Palm". On Mac OSX, it's usually "Documents/Palm".
  2. Open that folder. On Windows, you should see a folder named for the user name of your Palm handheld. On a Mac, you'll see a folder called "Users"; open that and then you should see the user name folder.
  3. Open that folder. You should see a folder called "Backups".
  4. Open that folder.
  5. Inside the "Backups" folder you should see a lot of files.
  6. Now then, if the Palm application that you've been using (and want to recover the data for) is TimeTracker, find the five files that start with "TmTr-". If the Palm application that you've been using is ProjecTrak or PicoTrak, find the five files that start with "PoTr-".
  7. Copy or drag those five files to some other folder. It doesn't matter where, just somewhere other than the "Backups" folder. This is a precaution to make sure that they don't get overwritten by new backups (possibly of an empty database) the next time you perform a HotSync.
  8. Run the Palm install tool (or use the Quick Install on Windows or the Send to Handheld program on the Mac).
  9. Drag those five files from their safe location to the installer window.
  10. Perform a HotSync operation.
  11. Launch the TimeTracker or ProjecTrak or PicoTrak application (whichever you have) on your Palm, and you should now see your restored data.

15. I found the Backups folder, but it's empty!

Oops. Well, that probably means that somehow the setting of the HotSync Backup conduit got changed to "do nothing", and so nothing was ever backed up. We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that most likely means that your data is lost forever. However, just to make sure, you should do a search of your entire PC hard disk for "TmTr-", or "PoTr-", whichever is appropriate for you. It's always possible (though unlikely) that your backups are ending up in some other folder. If you find the files, follow the steps outlined in question 10. If you find no files like that, all we can say is that we're sorry, but there's nothing that can be done. To prevent a repeat of the tragedy, check the settings of your Backup conduit and make sure it's set to "Backup". Perform a HotSync and see if anything now shows up in the "Backups" folder. If not, you should contact PalmSource support for help.