SMT5800 Custom Home Screen

Customize your Home Screen on Verizon Wireless SMT5800


For those of you that have a Verizon Wireless SMT5800 Windows Mobile phone and hate the home screen (like I do), here are some instructions to customize it.


You can change your home screen to get quick access to popular contacts as well as weather updates. Additionally, you can now see the amount of new email and text messages including a quick link to both. (The default Verizon screen only shows the link if you have new messages)


The process is a bit lengthy written out, but really will only take a few minutes to do. As always, I take no responsibility if you screw something up on your phone.


Steps for customizing home screen on SMT5800:

1.) First Download this so you can unlock your smt5800 : regedit

a. Unzip the file on your computer

b. Copy the exe file to your device and launch it from the smt5800 phone

c. Follow the following steps to unlock your Verizon phone (this lets you install third-party software in the future) for a detailed tutorial with screenshots go here: otherwise follow my instructions below:

2.) Unlock your Phone with Regedit
i. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Policies\Policies

ii. Change value 00001001 from 2 to 1

iii. Change value 00001005 from 16 to 40

iv. Change value 00001017 to 144 (leave alone if it is already 144)

v. Reboot the phone

vi. You can now install third-party software on your SMT5800

2.) Go here: http://www.modaco.com/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=2444#

a. Register for a free account on modaco, don’t worry, they do not spam you.

b. Dowload the file on that page (http://www.modaco.com/index.php?automodule=downloads&req=download&code=confirm_download&id=2444) You need to be logged in to get it

c. Save the file on your desktop or somewhere

d. Unzip the file. It is a rar, so if you need free software to unzip it, download http://www.7-zip.org/ Unzip it all into a folder somewhere

e. Connect your SMT5800 to your computer using activesynch

f. Copy the two .CAB files to your storage card or somewhere on the phone.

i. Install each cab file from the phone (navigate to it on the phone and click it) You are safe installing them to a storage card. After you install the first one, ignore (cancel) the reboot option and install the second. Then reboot your phone

ii. Move all of the rest of the files/folders from the rar zip file on your pc to the home directory of the phone. If you use activesynch, navigate to My Windows Mobile-Based Device\Application Data\Home - put the four folders and everything else in here.

g. Go into the settings on your phone – option 4 – home screen – and select HTC as your layout type. – There are also 3 others to choose from with some cool advanced features, but too much clutter for me.

h. You are done

You have now successfully hacked and customized your Verizon SMT5800

By the way, on my screen shot you can see that I have the quick launch bar - which is in fact called MRU (most recently used) You will not see that on your screen if you follow these instructions, that required some XML editing on my part.

If you want the MRU toolbar you simply need to add the xml function call for it in the HTC xml file. I am not going to write a tutorial for that unless someone requests it via the comments here.

TV Stand for Mitsubishi 60735

Cheap TV Stand For Mistusbishi 60" DLP
I recently purchased a Mitsubishi 60" DLP TV, model 60735 and needed a tv stand for it. Here is a quick review of an inexpensive, yet functional tv stand I found at Walmart for $109.

I did not want to spend $400 for the matching stand to the Mitsubishi 60735 (which was half the cost of the tv) and decided to take a chance on this one I found from Walmart.

The product was fairly easy to assemble, I did it with no assistance in about 40 minutes. There was one confusing part in the instructions, but other than that, very easy. If you can use a hammer and screwdriver and know how to read, you will have no problems.

I have a Mitsubishi 60" DLP TV on it, a full-sized 5.1 channel receiver, dvd player, ps3, roku box, and a cable box all under the unit, and still could probably fit another couple of DVD players if I for some reason needed to. On top of that, you then get storage on each side for discs, etc.
Of course, this is a finished partical board, so it is not the highest quality furniture, but it looks decent, even up close. If you get a nick in it (or scratch) unfortunately you will see white lines, but they can be covered with a marker.

The stand is very sturdy, and I have complete confidence in it supporting my tv and possibly even one that weighs more. (This tv was 60lbs.)

I would definitely recommend this as a cheap alternative to name brand tv stands.

Here it is Walmart TV stand for Mitsubishi 60735 60"

Cheap HDMI Cables

I recently purchased a Mitsubishi 60" DLP 1080p tv to replace an older 720p Toshiba I had. In order to get the best possible picture quality, I of course switched to HDMI cables.

As most of you probably know, HDMI cables are stupidly expensive. Especially if you buy the cables from a store like BestBuy or Circuit City, expect to pay $30-$50 bucks for a 6' cable. I had heard about a company, www.MonoPrice.com last year, but have not had the need to buy anything until now. So I figured I would give them a shot.

If you want hands down the most inexpensive HDMI cables (or any A/V cable for that matter) this is absolutely the place to buy them! I wound up getting several 6 ft HDMI cables (rated HDMI 1.3a) for $4.49 each.

I placed the order on a Sunday, and had the cables (to Philadelphia) by Wed afternoon of the same week. Last night I hooked them up. They appear to be solid and well manufactured, even the packaging they come in is very professionally done. I was half expecting to see cheaply made chinese crap, but this was not the case at all. I would say there is absolutely no difference in quality compared to the ridiculously expensive Monster Cables, and the picture/sound quality is perfect. FYI: Unless you have a $20,000 home theater set up in your home, NEVER NEVER NEVER waste your money on Monster HDMI cables. Keep in mind, HDMI is digital, there is relatively no intereference or signal loss like there is with older cables (rca, component, etc.), so if it works, it works, there is no grey area.

So, overall my review of MonoPrice.com is a 10 out of 10. I am very happy I purchased my HDMI cables from them.

Here is the link: Cheap HDMI Cable Note, for some reason, green cables are cheaper than black, but they have ever color you can imagine available at slightly different prices.