Over time, that trackball on your BlackBerry smartphone can attract a lot of dirt, grime and other substances that may cause it to not work so well anymore. The trackball can become unrsponsive at times or not work at all

To try to fix it yourself, use something flat to pop the ball out. Blow out anything that has accumulated in it. You may also use a slightly damp cloth to clean it out. Some people say to use alcohol, but I believe that is too abrasive.

If cleaning doesn’t work, you may want to try replacing the trackball assembly yourself. It’s a lot cheaper than sending your BlackBerry in for repair or buying a new phone.  You can find the parts at Fonlogix. I have found that users in the BlackBerry forums recommend them. You can also find some parts on Ebay or Amazon.

See also: BlackBerry Trackballs Get Big Thumbs Down

Bedside Clock Mode turns your BlackBerry Bold into a clock that won’t interrupt you with calls or messages while you sleep.

Enable this mode by selecting Menu > Enable Bedside Mode in the Clock application.

To turn off bedside clock mode, press Escape.

You can access the settings for Bedside mode by selecting Menu > Options and changing settings under the Bedside Mode section.

Keep your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device clean of old email messages. From time to time you may need to delete more than one email message at a time. Here’s how:

1. Highlight a message.

2. Hold down the Shift key.

3. Roll the trackball up or down to highlight multiple messages.

4. Release the Shift key.

5. Press Menu.

6. Click Delete Messages.

You can also purge messages that are prior to a certain date.

1. Highlight a date field.

2. Press Menu.

3. Click Delete Prior.

4. Click Delete.

On your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series smartphone, a Bcc or blind carbon copy field is kind of hidden. To add a Bcc to any email, PIN, or MMS message, follow the steps below:

1. While writing the message, press Menu.

2. Click Add Bcc.

‘Airplane mode’ on certain devices refers to the ability to turn off anything that transmits a signal. You can put your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device in this mode with the following steps:

1. On the Home Menu click Manage Connections.

2. Click Turn All Connections Off.

Now all communication on the device is disabled.

How to manually forward a call on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series smartphone.

1. Press Menu on your phone.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Call Forwarding.

4. Press Menu.

5. Select a call forwarding number.

6. Press the Menu key.

7. Click Save.

Are you annoyed by the Confirm delete prompt that appears when you delete messages, tasks and almost anything on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device? Here’s how to disable it.

1. In an application, press Menu.

2. Click Options.

3. Click General Options (may not be an option in some apps).

4. Change the Confirm Delete to No.

5. Press Menu.

6. Click Save.

Now when you delete an item in that application, you will no longer be prompted to delete the item.

How to change the display name on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 device.

1. In BlackBerry Messenger, on the Contact list screen, press the Menu key.

2. Click Edit My Info.

3. Type the name you wish to change the display name to. Select OK when finished.

When somebody pings you, your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device will vibrate. You can enable or disable this feature with the following steps.

1. In BlackBerry Messenger go to the Contact list screen.

2. Press the Menu key.

3. Click Options.

4. Change the Vibrate When Receiving a Ping field to Yes or No.

5. Press the Menu key.

6. Click Save.

If you don’t want one of your contacts to know you are calling them, you can hide your identity when making calls on your BlackBerry Pearl 8100, 8110, 8120 or 8130.

1. Presse Menu.

2. Select Options.

3. Select General Options.

4. Set Restrict My Identity to Yes.

5. Press the Menu key.

6. Click Save.

You can invite multiple callers in on a call to make a conference call on your BlackBerry Pearl 8100, 8110, 8120 or 8130.

1. During a call, press Send.

2. Enter a phone number or highlight a contact.

3. Press Send.

4. While in the second call, press Menu.

5. Select Join.

If you need to add more participants to your meeting, place the call on hold before placing the next call.

If you are making a phone call with your Blackberry and a Bluetooth headset, the sound can be echoed because of a certain setting. The Echo Control setting can cause problems for some people when it’s enabled. Others have had trouble when it’s off. Either way, try playing with the setting to see if you get better results.

1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key.

2. Select Options.

3. Click Echo Control.

4. Change the setting to On or Off.

5. Press Menu.

6. Click Save.

You can turn on or off the vibration alert on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device. The thing that controls whether or not your device vibrates is called the Notification Profile. You can switch between Notification Profiles by pressing and holding the Mute button.

How to enable Javascript on the BlackBerry Bold 9000 series browser.

1. While you are in the browser, click the trackwheel.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Browser Configuration.

4. Check the Support JavaScript box.

5. Click the trackwheel.

6. Click Save Options.

Set your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device with a custom email signature with these steps.

1. While on a message list, press Menu.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Email Settings.

4. Set the Use Auto Signature field to Yes.

5. Type in your custom signature.

6. Press the Menu key.

7. Click Save.

Set the amount of time that elapses before the BlackBerry Bold 9000 series backlight times out and automatically shuts off.

1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key.

2. Select Options.

3. Click Screen/Keyboard.

4. Enter the number of seconds for the Backlight Timeout field.

5. Press Menu.

6. Click Save.

How to enable or disable the backlight timeout on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device.

1. From the Home screen press Menu.

2. Select Options.

3. Select Screen/Keyboard.

4. Set Automatic Backlight to On or Off.

5. Press the Menu key.

6. Select Save.

How to enable Call Forwarding on your BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device.

First verify that call forwarding is enabled on the plan with your provider.

Add a phone number for forwarding.

1. From Home, press Menu.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Call Forwarding.

4. Press the Menu key.

5. Click New Number.

6. Enter in a phone number and press the Enter.

7. Press Menu.

8. Click Close.

Now you can setup Call Forwarding to forward to this number.

Read more… »

How to hard reset the BlackBerry Bold 9000 series device.

There is no setting or button that resets the device. You will have to:

1. Remove the battery from the unit for more than 5 seconds.

2. Replace the battery.

If you wish, you can also delete all data off of the Bold.

How to enable or disable Call Waiting on your RIM BlackBerry Bold: 9000 series device.

1. From the Home screen press Menu.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Call Waiting.

4. Change the Call Waiting Enabled field to Yes or No.

5. Press the Menu key.

6. Click Save.