FIGURE A


Palm Desktop 4.0 has been released. Roll over picture for a larger image.

It's got a number of new features. For starters, it has vCard and vCal support, which allows you to send business cards or appointments electronically as vCard or vCal attachments to email messages. It also has Desktop Alarms, so you can get notification on your desktop for event alarms. Palm Desktop 4.0 will also let you view an entire calendar year in a single window, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B


View an entire calendar year in a single window. Roll over picture for a larger image.

You can also now mask private records so you can see the existence of the record while keeping the data hidden. There's even a new Business Card View, pictured in Figure C, that lets you look at Address Book information in a whole new way.

FIGURE C


View Address Book information as business cards. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Palm Desktop 4.0 also includes a convenient link to Palm's Web site. These are some exciting new changes, and I'm sure all Palm Desktop users will want to get this upgrade. However, if your Palm OS device comes from Handspring, you're going to run into a problem. Though it will no doubt be rectified eventually, at the moment Palm Desktop v4.0 installer only supports handhelds from Palm, Inc., not its licensees. In fact, Palm's Web site quite visibly says "Please note: Palm Desktop v4.0 installer only supports handhelds from Palm, Inc."

What's a Visor user to do?
The problem, basically, is this. If you use a Visor, you can download Palm Desktop 4.0 from Palm's site, but when you run the installer, it will overwrite Handspring's HotSync manager and the Visor's USB interface. The installer doesn't offer any custom installation options, which will nuke your ability to HotSync with a Visor.

Let me tell you, I was a very unhappy camper when I discovered, after installing Palm Desktop 4.0, that my Visor Prism could no longer HotSync with my PC. However, I was able to find a solution, and I'd like to show the rest of you Visor users how to make Palm Desktop 4.0 work with your Handspring devices. Also if you've already tried to make Palm Desktop 4.0 work and have run into this problem, don't worry. If you follow these instructions, the problem will be fixed.

So, to begin, if you haven't already, download Palm Desktop 4.0 from http://www.palm.com/support/downloads/palmdt_4.html. Before you install, make sure you backup your Palm folder. Always do this.