The word hack has some negative connotations associated with it, bringing up mental images of illegally accessing bank data or breaking into the CIA computer systems. Palm hacks are merely small applications that extend or bypass the OS, adding some desired functionality or removing undesired built-in features.
HackMaster manages any hacks you install, minimizing conflicts and handling turning hacks on and off on the fly. Using Hackmaster, you do not need to reset your Palm when you turn hacks on and off. You can also turn them on and off in any order without fear of interdependence between hacks. HackMaster also remembers which hacks are active and provides an option after a reset to automatically restart any hacks that were active at the time of the reset.
There are a lot of hacks available for download. Hacks can launch menus when you tap on the top of the screen, provide additional fonts, enhance alarm capabilities, extend the built-in find feature, add a new onscreen keyboard, and provide many other extensions to the Palm OS. Many of them are free. I wrote an article on freeware hacks in my earlier series Spotlight on Freeware briefly describing ten free hacks. You can also do a search for Hacks at PalmGear or use the specialized category search there to list all available hacks.
For those of you who are curious about how HackMaster works, here is a simple explanation: HackMaster provides a single programming interface for application developers to override system behaviors when certain events occur. When you perform a standard action like tapping on a silkscreen button, HackMaster passes that information to any hacks you have installed. If no installed hack wants to process that event, it then allows the system to process the event. For example, if FindHack is installed and active when I tap the Find silkscreen button, HackMaster informs FindHack that the button was tapped and the FindHack search form is launched. If FindHack is not active, HackMaster allows the system to handle the Find button tap and launch the built-in find dialogue.
HackMaster is sharware and costs $5.
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