Palm has released an update to address many of the problems I mentioned previously as well as other issues. While this update is to address problems with the Treo 700w, the update itself had several problems.

The first problem I encountered and likely many others will is that when you run setup.exe per instructions you might see a dialog like the one below.

I’ll get to the details about that shortly.

The installation instructions also tell you to disable any anti-virus software and I highly recommend doing so. However, with some firewall software like Windows OneCare you should disable the firewall, too, since any outgoing connections are blocked and an error returned to unrecognized applications. Some other users as well as I also had problems where the association for the .hta file extension was lost so a prompt for an application to open the file is displayed. If this happens to you, select “Internet Explorer”. Ultimately it will open under mshta.exe. If you’re familiar with the file extension registry, just find “.hta” under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and change the default value back to “htafile”.

Frankly, I’m wondering what ever happened to the simplicity of an executable and a binary data file like my Linksys router and many others use, or even my old Compaq iPAQ 3835. This updater will be only ever used once, hopefully.

The issue that causes the error dialog above is actually an interesting one. If you unzip the download that contains the .msi file and other content using the ZIP support in Windows XP via %WINDIR%system32zipfldr.dll the file name of the .msi file is Palm« TreoÖ 700w Updater.msi as you can see below.

If you extract the contents of the ZIP archive with WinZip you’ll find Palm® Treo™ 700w Updater.msi as you can see below.

Palm named the file the same thing as the ProductName property in the .msi file.

The problem is that zipfldr.dll interpreted the file names in OEM code page 437 and translated the file names to ANSI code page 1252. The ® character in Windows-1252 is 0xAE and the ™ character in Windows-1252 is 0x99. In OEM code page 437 those code points are the characters « and Ö characters, respectively. Zipfldr.dll translated the latter characters into Windows-1252 where those characters exist as code points 0xAB and 0xD6 respectively. That’s why in Windows Explorer you see the file name as Palm« TreoÖ 700w Updater.msi. When you type “dir” in a command-prompt you’ll see the right file name in Windows translated into the wrong file name as you see it in Windows, while the wrong file name is translated into Palm½ Treo╓ 700w Updater.msi.

So, while the misinterpretation of the file names isn’t caused by Palm it’s important to note that Windows does not ship with WinZip, but does ship with zipfldr.dll so for those without WinZip or another decompression utility that interprets the file names in the ANSI code page the file name will be incorrect and you’ll see the above. Feel free to copy the correct file name, Palm® Treo™ 700w Updater, and rename the .msi file in Windows Explorer, pasting the correct file name into the edit box.

Once everything is installed all seems to work fine. Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) is great. I’m not charged for SMS text messaging if I choose to use automatic delivery (AUTD) and IT administrators can remotely wipe your device in case it is lost or stolen. You can also search the corporate Global Address List (GAL). My protected music will now also copy to my device so I can listen anywhere.

Note: Palm has temporarily pulled the Treo 700w Updater for Verizon customers.