Laptop GPS World

I just bought MS ST 2008 a month ago and like it. But i had some general questions and concerns that i would just like to get feed back on
and by-the-way i am in a 64 bit vista environment

1First,
The first time i ran ST08 (with GPS) i got an error message saying the vioce files were corrupt please re-install. So i re-installed and i have never got the message back, but i have also never got to her spoken directions even once. I know that you have to select "provide driving guidance" in the GPS task bar and i do that, but no voice. and its a little hard to trouble shot while driving.
So is there any suggestions from you guys? and also can you get spoken directions wihtout a GPS, like right now just sitting at my desk can i test to see if the vioce will work?

2also
i have had ST08 crash on me twice. by crash i mean screen goes all sorts of colors and i have to take the battery out of my laptop to fix. it has never done this while not running ST08. i think it might be a 64-bit driver issue with my GPS locator, is there a new/special driver for 64 bit( i am using the provided GPS) also it has only happened while using Gps trials, so i just dont do that and i dont worry.

3also
Is there a way to not have any stops on your route? like i leave my house and drive to a friends house with ST08 running with my GPS creating trails. when i am ready to leave my friends house, i dont know how to get back home. Can i just reverse my GPS trial?
A "take me back home" feature would be cool that get you from where ever your GPS location is to your "home" in a single click

4also
The provided POI suck. i live in southern virginia and there is no good points of interest. i end up having to google map it to find (example "nearest walmart") and then copy and paste the address into ST08 and put a pushpin and all in there. is there a way to update POI or add your own in? or is pushpins the way to go?

5also
can you set it where all your pushpins appear on the opening map?

6also
Can you save a route. Like if i go to three houses every monday, can i save that and just open a file called "monday" and have all the destinations in place?

I think that is about it for now thanks to this awesome community

7o and ya
Personal opinion, is there something better than ST for this stuff ( i mostly use it to get around new areas) the POI is probably my least favorite thing about ST

Yes - here is a technique to test the voice feature while at your desk.

1. Create a route and get directions
2. Open the "Driving Guidance Pane" (now called the Navigation Pane) which is the bottom horizontal pane that displays the turn instructions.
3. Click to select a line in your itinerary in the directions pane.

You should be able to hear Anna speak each instruction you click.
This is a known issue in earlier versions of Streets & Trips. It has been finally fixed in Streets & Trips 2009.

If you have a route (single or multipoint) you can click the "reverse route" button in the Route planner pane. There is not a "take me home" button but you can add a home pushpin and save it to your default map template and it can be easy to find when you need it. Ask if you need details on how to do this.
Streets & Trips 2008 has 1.6 million built in POI but if you have an internet connection you can do an online search without leaving the application. This is a great way to find POI for categories not included in the built-in POI. Another option is to import a POI collection using the data import wizard. I posted about this option here: Looking for a POI collection? Try These.
Either save your map with the pushpins appearing as you want them and launch Streets by double-clicking this *.est file or edit your default template file.
Yes, you can. File --> Save As...
No Ok, maybe I'm biased but I love using Streets.

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi pr1mal0ne,

to Laptop GPS World.

1. If you hear no sound while testing the method Larry described above, press F7-key on your keyboard. F7 is a keyboard shortcut to mute/unmute Streets & Trips.

3. If you are still using S&T 2008, you can add a "Home" shortcut by using S&T Keys (free to download). However, I would rather recommend upgrading your Streets & Trips version to v2009 because of all the fixes and improvements. There is not yet S&T Keys version compatible with Streets & Trips 2009.

5. Tips & Tricks for Streets & Trips (tip # 015)

7. Try Live Search (Ctrl+K) in Streets & Trips. It is an excellent way to search for POIs (if you have Internet access).

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Marvin Hlavac

Laptop GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

thanks much for that professionally organized response, i will take that advice and post back in a day or two on how learning ST08 is going thanks