Picks: Reviews of Desktop Calendar and Personal Planner, Active Task Manager, Active Desktop Calendar, and Einstime.

In the past month I've received quite a few emails asking me to review some calendar-type programs. So, here you go with a roundup of some software that deals with calendars and tasks. --- Doc

Desktop Calendar and Personal Planner, by Eshasoft is a nicely done package that includes a personal planner and calendar. The program is intuitive and easy-to-use, perfect for users with all levels of experience. In testing it out I can see where this product could be used both at home and at work to manage your day. I like the fact that I could drag and drop items from one place to another. That makes it really nice when you need to adjust your schedule. If you can't get a task done today you can just drag it into next week. Desktop Calendar and Personal Planner makes it really easy to handle appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, and lots more. You can also create recurring events so you can put in meetings that occur every Friday, for example. I also like the fact that you can assign different colors to your tasks and appointments based on your criteria so you can tell at a glance what's going on. In addition, Desktop Calendar and Personal Planner has some other nice touches. One that I thought was cool was the ability to customize each month with your own pictures. While testing it out I made an entire calendar with pictures of my grandchildren each month. Slick. You can view all of your upcoming tasks in a variety of "views" including weekly, daily, and monthly. On top of everything else you can also browse the Web and launch your email program right from within the program. So, if you're looking for a full-featured calendar and planner program, this just may be your solution. See for yourself.

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista

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For a different approach to managing your time Alive Task Manager , by Vitolab Software is worth a look. The product has kind of a Windows Explorer feel to it. The neat thing about it is that you can divide various tasks into folders which helps you to get a better grasp on each project. So, for example, you can keep things you need to do at home in one folder and keep things you need to do at work in another. If you like you can also break things down even finer and have multiple folders for household projects. Alive Task Manager cam remind you when things are due, when you have an appointment, and so on. In addition, you can also view all of your tasks in one list so you can get a complete overview of all the things you need to do. I like the way the program lets you break things down. For example, you can highlight the calendar on the left side of the screen and then see what you need to do that day on the right side of the screen. You can do this with projects as well. The program also supports recurring tasks and I like the fact that you can change the task over time. So, for example, say you start out with a meeting every Wednesday for an hour, but after a month you need to increase the time to two hours. No sweat. In many programs you'd have to create a whole new task, but not in Alive Task Manager. Slick. You can even use the program to create a schedule for the day which you can print. The program is easy-to-use and intuitive, perfect for both new and experienced users. There are lots of configurable options and the program really gives you a lot of flexibility. If you're really into details you can view percentage of work completed, assign priorities, set completion dates, and lots more. So, if you'd like something that will help you to be more organized Alive Task Manager may be just what you need. Check it out for yourself.

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/2003/XP

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Active Desktop Calendar, by XemiComputers, LLC. is a "calendar", but it's also a whole lot more. You can use it to make notes, alarms, and tasks. And what's really cool about it is that it can display these things on your desktop in a way that's pleasing and useful. It overlays your existing Windows wallpaper, kind of like a clear plastic film, if you know what I mean. The screen shot shows just a part of the 'film' that runs down the right side of my screen. I can see holidays, articles that are done, articles that are coming up, and lots more. Active Desktop Calendar lets you have what they call layers and each layer can contain different information. What's really cool is that you can also share layers with other computers that are also running Active Desktop Calendar. If you like you can share layers with other computers across a network. So, for example, I can share my primary layer with my office manager so she knows what's on the editorial schedule too. Very slick! Active Desktop Calendar has the ability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook so Outlook users can bring their tasks and so on right into Active Desktop Calendar. Cool. Another great feature is the alarms. With just a few mouse clicks I can set up an alarm that will pop up and play a sound. So, if you need to keep on schedule, at home or at work, and you want to make it easy on yourself, you have to try this program. Very well thought out and beautifully done -- it gets my highest recommendation.

System Requirements: Windows 98/NT/2000/XP/Vista

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Einstime, by Eclipsit, Inc. is a neat program for managing your time. Yes, it's a calendar, but it's also much more. You can use it to keep track of birthdays, appointments, anniversaries, and lots more. In testing it out I found that it does a few things that most calendars don't do. You can, for example, tell the program where you are located and it will use that information in a variety of ways. It can tell you the local time at any spot on earth and even gives you the daylight savings time information. On top of that it gives you the times for sunrise and sunset. If you're a star gazer Einstime will also give you information about the moon and it's movements in the sky. Another cool feature is incorporation of holidays. It will also display in several modes including Gregorian, Jewish, or hybrid. You can use the program to manage your to do items, keep notes, and even maintain contact information. Einstime will remind with audible alarms if you like at any time of the day or night. This is really a complete package and much more than just a calendar. So, if you'd like to keep track of your time in a better fashion, check out Einstime. I recommend it.

System Requirements: Windows ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista

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Here are a few other calendar programs you can check out or you can search here on Tucows on the word "calendar".

• 3D Calendar
• CoffeeCup Web Calendar
• Bryht Task Manager
• Connect Daily Web Calendar

If you have a question on how to do something on the computer you can ask me and I'll review some software that will give you a solution to your problem. You can email me by clicking HERE You may not receive a reply, but all requests will be considered.