Enhancing Your Desktop
If you spend a fair amount of time staring at your computer, it's nice to have
your desktop organized and useful. It should also be easy on the eyes. To that
end, developers around the world have written literally hundreds of program
applications, some free and some not, that accomplish a range of productiv-
ity and organizational tasks and look good, too.
If you search around the Internet, you can find clocks, alarms, newsreaders,
icon-makers, calendars, and personal information managers. You can even
find several programs that create multiple virtual desktops. Because I don't
like to clutter my desktop (or my hard drive) with a bunch of doodads, I don't
grab every gadget that comes down the pike, but there are a couple I've
found useful. (The fact that they're free doesn't hurt, either.)
Stickies
I've noticed a lot of people frame their computer monitors with colorful little
sticky notes. These little reminders are really handy because, besides making
one look very busy and efficient, they serve as a kind of external storage
device for the brain. Because, however, I don't work in a traditional office and
I don't use a desktop computer, I've always felt somewhat left out.
Now, I'm not really all that interested in looking busy or efficient, but the
value of a deferred external memory system isn't lost on me at all -- espe-
cially because I've been told I'm a fountain of useless information. Whether
that's true or not, I know that given the choice between remembering the
name of King Henry VIII's third wife or my wife's dental appointment, it seems
I can instantly remember Jane Seymour (not Dr. Quinn), while the dental
appointment takes me by surprise every time.
Enter a tiny little desktop utility called Stickies. This free program, created by
Zhorn Software, allows you to put digital sticky notes all over your desktop.
You can remind yourself of anything and everything. You can jot down phone
numbers, addresses, names, appointments; you name it, and you can put it
on a Stickies digital note. In addition to that, you can tell the note to go to
sleep for a while and wake up whenever you want it to. You could even have
it wake up month after month or year after year, reminding you to pay a bill
or send a card. And, if you don't want the notes plastered all over the place,
you can choose to hide them all.
If this sounds like a little gem you'd like to add to your arsenal of desktop
tools, you can find it freely available at www.zhornsoftware.co.uk. To
keep your Stickies looking fresh and interesting, you can also download your
choice of several different skins.
Part VII: The Part of Tens
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