Personal Organizers

Using organizer software is one of the great advantages of a computer, but before choosing a suitable one it is a good idea to think carefully about what you really need...

One of the most popular organizers world-wide is EssentialPIM.  It is very easy and simple yet contains a diary, address list, and notes section.  The downside is it takes quite a lot of system resources, which can be unnecessary unless you actually need all its facilities.  It may be better for you if you use smaller utilities just for the facilities you need.
http://www.ezoutlooksync.com/

Some alternatives are...

Chaos Manager.  Same facilities as EssentialPIM but much smaller.  Alas, not as user friendly, especially in the diary.
http://www.chaosmanager.net/

Calendar.  Just a simple calendar program, but does its job very well, and very low on resources.  Does not include alarms though.
http://www.geocities.com/calendarprogram/

ShirusuPad.  Very low resources, sits  in tray.  A sort of cross between a notepad and post-it notes, and includes reminders alarms and to-do lists.  Has been known to crash occasionally if an alarm is shut off too quickly, but aside from that its an excellent product.
http://www.shirusupad.tk/

ATNotes.  Been around a long time - one of the better post-it notes programs.  Just simple yellow notes, but does include facility to send them as messages around a local network.
http://atnotes.free.fr/

WireNote.  In some ways similar to Shirusupad yet this one is more resource-hungry.  But its worth trying out because of its immense power.  Aswell as notes and to-do lists, it includes various messaging systems for Lan and can receive your emails too.  For multi-users there is also a bulletin board.
http://www.wiredplane.com/en/commons/download.php

Miscellaneous Utilities that can be very useful...

The Clock.  Although there are many graphic desktop clocks around, they tend to use much system resources.  This one doesn't.  The clock is re-sizeable and includes alarms and timer.  It also can be set to chime on the hour and every 15 minutes.  The display can be semi-transparent (on 2000 and XP) but also can allow you to "click-through" as if it wasn't actually there.  You have the option to keep it above other programs too.
http://go.to/thexagon

PowerMenu.  A utility that adds menu items to all windows when you right-click on a title bar.  Includes the most useful facility of all - to keep any window on top of others.
http://www.veridicus.com/tummy/programming/powermenu/

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