Once your registry is backed up, let's make the fateful change. The registry is arranged in a heirarchy, like folders in Windows Explorer. You'll need to drill down through this heirarchy (by clicking on the plus signs) until you find the path of the Palm desktop.

Navigate through the registry by clicking the plus sign next to the following items (in order):

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• Software
• U.S. Robotics
• Pilot Desktop

Now click on the folder called Core. You'll see a number of Registry entries like those shown in Figure A.

FIGURE A

Change the path from the local hard drive to the shared hard drive by "hacking" your Registry. Click picture for a larger image.

Finally, move to the right pane, click in the editing area for the Path entry and change "C:" to "P:". Most people have their Palm files located at the root level of their volumes. In the illustration included with this article, the Palm desktop files are located in the Program Files directory. Just be sure to adjust your path so that it matches what's on your machine and puts your data on the networked drive.

Alternatives
There are alternatives to this rather Byzantine process. One of these is Eliott R.D. Mitchelmore's Groupsync. This nifty utility will let you sync DateBook records among Palm Desktop users performing HotSync operations to the same desktop machine, by using a replacement conduit for the DateBook. DateBk3 or Action Names users can import others' DateBook information into a category on their own Palm devices. The built-in DateBook doesn't support categories, but you can tag imported records to indicate to whom they belong.

If you have Internet access, it might be possible to use Yahoo Calendar with a single user ID to share calendar information among many Palm device users. Yahoo Calendar is a web-based utility that can be synchronized with your Palm device using TrueSync. You can use the Calendar Sharing feature to allow co-workers, friends, customers or others to see a read-only version of your calendar from the Internet. A published calendar makes it easier for others to schedule meetings with you.

WeSync (at http://www.wesync.com) might be another possibility, but the product won't be available until fall 1999.

Product availability and resources GroupSync can be found at http://www.groupsync.co.uk. DateBk3 is located at http://www.gorilla-haven.org/pimlico. Action Names is at http://www.iambic.com. Yahoo Calendar is at http://www.yahoo.com. For more information about WeSync, visit http://www.wesync.com.

Contributing Editor Bob Draper is a technical writer at Westar Corporation's U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground office. He's also a Green Bay Fan and a certified Mac addict. He can be reached at palmguy@mac.com.