Newbie with complicated questions!!! Device password and sync for those who hate MS

Hi everyone, just got my 8330 Curve last week. And I've got troubles already!

First, somehow it wanted me to enter a "device password" which was different than the keypad lock code. It gave me ten tries (this was after I installed Blackberry Media Sync) and then WIPED EVERYTHING! :mad: Arghghgghh! Now I have to go back to Verizon to reinstall my old phone's contacts. And it played havoc with getting everything else working again. I think Verizon helped me get about 70% of my functionality back. Running Activation (*228) brought back my email boxes.

What is a device password, where was it set, and how do I change it to something I actually know? It was NOT the password store keylock either (from the Sync program). I am afraid to re-enable the password because this burned me so badly. :eek:

For a while my email would not display hyperlinks either, but that problem seems to have gone away (this was after the wiping, until a while after the activation). The wipe clobbered my email boxes and they didn't come back until the activation, then when they did only email links were enabled, web links were "dead" and I couldn't even highlight them manually. They seem to be working again. :confused:

Next, what do those of you who HATE OUTLOOK use to sync with? I am a former Palm user, but Palm did one thing right, their desktop app has all the apps that are on the Palm so you can easily type in calendar entries, memos, contacts, etc, then sync to the PDA. You cannot do this for Crackberry unless you use Outlook! Has anyone written an app for us Mozilla Thunderbird users? I have tons of emails in Thunderbird I want to move to the Crackberry, plus I have Palm info and calendar entries I'd want to move over too. Is everything going to have to be export to ASCII and reload, every time? What a flipping pain in the ****! Hasn't someone written an app to solve this? :(

If you want to know why I don't use Outlook, it's because it's a security hole. And I hate how Outlook is always trying to wrest control, so I never use it at ALL.

I am running WinXP SP3 now. The 8330 has 4.3 software on it, I've seen releases as new as 4.6 on the Blackberry website. Do I gain anything by installing the new stuff? Oh yeah I am on Verizon.

thanks in advance for any questions answered.

If you are using the built-in software, the device password is the same as the keypad lock code. It is case sensitive. There've been a few cases where someone thought their password was "wert" and due to numlock being on when they entered it, it was "123(".

After a wipe, it's typically necessary to re-register your browser to get links to be active. Options / Advanced Options / Host Routing Table / Menu / Register Now will fix that problem.

I synch with Outlook and haven't had any security issues with it.

I don't recommend you upgrade your OS until you are more familiar with your device. Performing the Memory Optimization Procedure that's linked in my sig is a good way to get familiar with your phone and OS.

For good, general information, be sure to check out the Getting Started Guide and the BlackBerry 101 Lecture Series under the Newbies tab at the top of the page.

Concur on most of JeffH's comments but I agree with your views on Outlook. Its a collection of security holes held together with bloatware, and TB runs rings around it for email processing.

Just one other point. Think twice before migrating the complete TB mail archive to BB, because every mail message takes valuable memory. Your BB stores messages in File memory, so the more you have stored the less space there is for apps and working memory. My suggestion is to retrieve to both your BB and PC. Set the BB to purge old messages so you don't clog the memory, and use the PC as the long term store. You'll probably need to handle some of te mail attachments on the PC anyway.

branta, sorry I wasn't clearer, I have no intention of copying my old email to the BB, just the contacts list.

Jeff, thanks for the reply but the device password was NOT the same as the keypad lock because I tried every variant of it and I am of what I set it to (numbers) in the first place, but I did try letters and capital letters too, NONE of them worked.

I will not use Outlook, not only is it a security disaster, it is also always trying to grab control of my email from Tbird even though I don't want to use it for email at all.

Thank you for the suggestion of trying the memory optimization.

Do either of you have any ideas on an app that fills the role of Palm desktop? I guess that is my Holy Grail.

You should be safe setting a new password.
How to Set A Password:
Options / Security Options / General Settings /
Password: Enabled
Number of Password Attempts: 10
Security Timeout: your choice
Prompt on Application Install: No
Lock Handheld Upon Holstering: your choice
Allow Outgoing Calls While Locked: No
Content Compression: Enabled
Content Protection: Enabled
Strength: Strong
Include Address Book: No

With these settings, your caller ID will still work, but if you lose your BlackBerry, no one can make calls on it and your friends' and family's personal information in your address book is protected.

Press the Escape key. You'll be prompted to enter a password and verify it. BE SURE YOU REMEMBER IT. There is no way to bypass the password on a BlackBerry. If you forget it, you will have no choice but to wipe the BlackBerry back to its factory-out-of-the-box configuration, which deletes all user data and resets the password. You can then use the phone.

It's also a good idea to put a number to call in case the BlackBerry is found in your owner info field. That way, if somebody finds your locked BlackBerry, they can call you to return it. I lost mine in the Washington DC Metro. Because it was locked with a number to call if found, I had it back in four hours.

I haven't used any other email client in 15 years, so I can't comment on Outlook's security. Of course, I am using it in a BES environment, so the security is already tighter.

As far as replicating the Palm desktop PIM, I'm unaware of anything. Pocket Informant has just released v 1.0 for the BlackBerry. It has a limited free trial. You might look at that.

Jeff your the man what don't you know about blackberry

Thanks, Jeff! But I did exactly what you said with the password and I still have no idea why I was foreably wiped. I vaguely recall something about password having to be 6 or more characters, cannot remember where I saw that. Well, I set my original password to 4 characters. Could that be the reason I got nailed on the application install?

I figure setting Prompt on Application Install to No should avoid the same problem I had before... but when else does it ask for a password other than when you want to use the BB? (that is, does it ever ask for it from the desktop app?)

Thank you for your suggestion of looking into Pocket Informant.

Is there anyone else out there who prefers Thunderbird as an email client who also has a BB? I can't be the only one here who hates Outlook!

Again, thanks for the great answer, Jeff. I just wish I knew why my password wasn't "right" when I entered it 3 different ways (numbers, small letters, and capitals). Tomorrow I go to the Verizon store to re-install my contacts from my old phone.

The Blackberry itself only requires a 4-digit password, I believe. Mine is presently four. You get prompted for the password anytime you connect to Desktop Manager, or use Mass Storage Mode, or use a program that reads the device, such as JL_Cmder or CrackPic.

You also get asked for the password any time you change a security setting on your phone.

As frustrating and unsatisfactory as it is, the most likely explanation for your problem is that you mis-typed the password when you created it. There's just no other plausible explanation. The positive side of that is, it won't happen again. I've used passwords for years. They're required by my IT Policy. I've never had the BlackBerry mix up a password.

I hope it goes well with your contact restore.

Originally Posted by JeffH

The Blackberry itself only requires a 4-digit password, I believe. Mine is presently four. You get prompted for the password anytime you connect to Desktop Manager, or use Mass Storage Mode, or use a program that reads the device, such as JL_Cmder or CrackPic.

You also get asked for the password any time you change a security setting on your phone.

As frustrating and unsatisfactory as it is, the most likely explanation for your problem is that you mis-typed the password when you created it. There's just no other plausible explanation. The positive side of that is, it won't happen again. I've used passwords for years. They're required by my IT Policy. I've never had the BlackBerry mix up a password.

I hope it goes well with your contact restore.

Thanks again, Jeff -- but there is no way I could have misttyped it at creation, because I had to enter it every time I used the BB and always got in just fine. It would require the password after I set it down for a little bit and I must have entered it about 30 times without incident.

The problem started when I installed the BB Music Sync app on the desktop, then plugged in my BB on the USB cable, and the desktop asked for the "device password." It would not accept numbers, letters, or capital letters. That's why I wondered if I was getting nailed by a need for 6 characters when I only used 4. I also tried entering it on the BB itself, same problem, and then my 10 tries were up and wipey-wipey-bye-bye.

The contact restore is all done thanks to the friendly folks at the Verizon store, that was the easiest part! I am going to back up my BB right now so I am not caught by this again.

Funny you mentioned putting in a phone number in the owner field. That's the first thing I did (long before reading your post). It's excellent advice for all BB owners.

I still cannot figure out how this happened, though. :mad:

Originally Posted by JeffH

As far as replicating the Palm desktop PIM, I'm unaware of anything. Pocket Informant has just released v 1.0 for the BlackBerry. It has a limited free trial. You might look at that.

I just checked out their website, and I cannot see how this would do what I need. It doesn't even sync to Outlook at this point, let alone does it provide an integrated desktop application with built-in contacts, calendar, memos etc as Palm desktop does. Instead it looks like a crunchier contacts management program for the BB. It looks like it syncs to the existing BB apps. My issue was the ease of entering contacts and calendar entries on the desktop and then pushing to BB.

Am I missing something here? Am I asking the wrong questions? Am I missing what the BB can do by concentrating on what it can't? I really don't want to have to fetch my BB every time I get an email on my desktop with calendar info I need to input. Right now I am still entering data onto the Palm desktop because that's my best place to do it.

Originally Posted by madhaus

...The problem started when I installed the BB Music Sync app on the desktop, then plugged in my BB on the USB cable, and the desktop asked for the "device password." It would not accept numbers, letters, or capital letters. ...

Originally Posted by madhaus

...I cannot see how this would do what I need. It doesn't even sync to Outlook at this point, let alone does it provide an integrated desktop application with built-in contacts, calendar, memos etc as Palm desktop does. ... Am I asking the wrong questions? Am I missing what the BB can do by concentrating on what it can't? ...I really don't want to have to fetch my BB every time I get an email on my desktop with calendar info I need to input. ...

Re the password problem: I've never used Music Sync, so if it somehow garbles passwords I wouldn't know it. If it does, we should see more posts like yours as more people experience it.

Re PI: you are correct. It does not replace the underlying apps. It provides additional UI capability. That's pretty much it. It is v1.0 for the BB, so there's a lot of room for development, but I don't see it ever replacing the calendar, for example, because the BB Calendar is part of the core OS and cannot be deleted.

Re what you're missing: Outlook. You're missing Outlook. You have your reasons for not using it, I'm not arguing with those, but with that choice comes consequences. The BlackBerry is designed to be used with Outlook as its PC interface. Outlook is far from perfect, and the way its calendar handles time zones in appointments has induced screaming fits in more than one user, (you must not have tripped across that yet) but it is the interface the BlackBerry was primarily designed for. Yes it supports others. I haven't used them, so I can't comment on them. But without using Outlook, you're always working around the edges of what the BlackBerry can do.

NOTE: I use the BlackBerry and Outlook in a BES environment. That handles a lot of the security concerns. I don't use consumer apps on my BlackBerry, like Facebook or MySpace or any of the streaming chat or social networking apps. I'm pretty much the typical business user, maybe more technical than most. So what works great for me and appears perfectly logical and "as it should be" may seem horribly restrictive and backward to a consumer BIS user. That's the problem RIM has to solve as they go more mass-market.

In what way is Outlook a "Security Disaster"? Curious minds would LOVE to know!

Thank you Jeff for the detailed instructions on changing the key pad lock code. I had switched to a case mate and started locking my keys to prevent accidental usage. Then I read how locking prevented your berry from being stolen so I added contact information on the lock screen. But the screen told you how to unlock - that wasn't good. So I searched to forums and found you! This has been very educational.