Reset Your Treo

It's a sad truth that Treo devices are like every computer, in that they can get unstable from time to time and require a reboot. The likelihood of your device getting unstable has to do with how many applications you install and how much of a strain you put on its memory, among other things. Even the most conscientious user who is careful not to overload his or her device is still capable of running into a shaky system at some point, which makes a reset a good idea.

You can perform three different kinds of resets on your Treo. Here I've listed them in increasing order of severity:

• Soft reset

• System reset

• Hard reset

The next few sections examine these types of resets in more detail. If you find yourself contemplating a reset, make sure you try them in the same order that I explain them here. Or let me put it more bluntlyresort to a hard reset only when you're desperate and out of options because it blitzes your device's memory!

Perform a Soft Reset

A soft reset is the Treo equivalent of rebooting your desktop or notebook computer, and it's a good idea to do one from time to time if you notice your device behaving strangely. There aren't any risks to performing a soft reset, as it preserves data as long as you aren't in the middle of editing a new piece of data (contact, memo, and so forth). Just make sure you don't have a specific piece of data open in an application when you perform a soft reset. Following are the steps for a soft reset:

1.	Press the battery door release button on the back of your device, and slide the battery door downward to remove the door. Be careful not to remove the battery, just the battery door.
2.	To the left of the battery, you'll see a small recessed hole that contains the device's Reset button. Press the Reset button by gently pushing the stylus down into the recessed hole until you feel a tiny click.
3.	Replace the battery door as your device restarts.

Note

A soft reset is supposed to safely close applications so that you don't lose any data, but it's safer not to leave anything open.

After you perform a soft reset, your device restarts and returns you to the main Phone screen.

Perform a System Reset

A system reset is a step more serious than a soft reset because it immediately restarts your device without necessarily closing applications safely. A system reset is also different from a soft reset in that it restarts your device without loading any system extras, which means you get a bare-bones restart that allows you to potentially uninstall malicious applications. In this way, you can think of a system reset as being similar to rebooting in safe mode on a Windows PC. If you need to perform a system reset, keep in mind that you always want to perform a soft reset following the system reset so that you finish with a normal (full) restart. To perform a system reset, follow these steps:

1.	Press the battery door release button on the back of your device, and slide the battery door downward to remove it.
2.	Press and hold the Up button on the five-way navigator. While holding down the Up button, gently press the Reset button on the back of the device with the stylus.
3.	Continue to hold the Up button until the circular Palm Powered logo appears onscreen, and then release the button.
4.	Replace the battery door as your device restarts.
5.	Solve the problem that required the system reset, and then perform a soft reset.

Understand that the purpose of performing a system reset is to solve a problem that can't be fixed with a soft reset, such as an application that has somehow entered an infinite loop and locked up your device. Whether or not you need to uninstall the offending application, it's important that you perform a soft reset at some point following a system reset. You won't be able to turn on the mobile radio until you do so, not to mention that a host of other important device features are disabled after a system reset.

Perform a Hard Reset

Read on with caution. Seriously, a hard reset is recommended only in the direst of circumstances or when you're getting rid of your device and want to erase all third-party applications and all data from your device, effectively restoring it to its factory state. Even though a hard reset is aggressive, if you've synchronized your device recently, you can restore data by synchronizing after performing a hard reset. A hard reset can be useful if you encounter a problem that can't be solved with a soft or system reset. And as I mentioned already, a hard reset is extremely valuable for wiping your device should you sell it or turn it in to your company at some point. To perform a hard reset, follow these steps:

1.	Press the battery door release button on the back of your device, and slide the battery door downward to remove it.
2.	Press and hold the Power/End button on the five-way navigator. While holding down the Power/End button, gently press the Reset button on the back of the device with the stylus.
3.	Continue to hold the Power/End button until the circular Palm Powered logo appears onscreen, and then release the button.
4.	A prompt appears asking whether you want to erase all the data on the device. Press the Up button to confirm that you want to continue with the hard reset.
5.	A language screen might be displayed next, in which case you must select your language; this language should match the language you selected during the Palm Desktop software installation.
6.	Replace the battery door as your device restarts.

After the hard reset, your device is completely clean, as though you just bought it and took it out of the box. Use the Palm Desktop software to reinstall applications and synchronize any data.