Hi folks,
a couple of weeks ago, I posted that I just could not connect my Desktop Manager to my 8700c via the belkin bluetooth adapter (FT8001).

Well, I proceeded to reset my laptop to factory install and finally figured out what was the problem. Once I got back to factory state, I started incrementally adding each new application and checking BT status with Desktop Manager.

I don't know if this problem arose only given my specific hardware or not, but this is just for future reference:

My equipment:
a) Thinkpad T43 laptop (Pentium M, 1.73GHz, 1G-Ram)
b) Bluetooth Belkin USB adaptor (FT8001) using MS Bluetooth Drivers

The problem: Even though BB Device Manager saw my BT phone, Desktop Manager would show disconnected

The solution: It seemed that Mcafee 9.0 after an upgrade was causing the problem. I bought Macaffe 9.0 from a store and installed it - worked fine. Then, Mcaffee downloaded some large updates and right after that Desktop Manager stopped working (I just use Mcafee virus scan - not firewalls etc).

So I uninstalled Mcafee, and the BT connector to desktop manager worked. I now use AVG Antivirus.

Like I said, it may be just for me, or some combination of hardware + s/w - just that I finally got it down to Mcaffee 9.0

This is just incase someone else out there is as hapless as I was a few weeks ago. If you already have done all the stuff mentioned in this form (using MS BT stack and not WIDCOM), try killing your firewall and virus checker (uninstall, not just kill the process -some services are still active) and see if it helps.

regds
arjun