Certain characteristics of people are considered defects by others but merits for themselves. I am one who prides himself on not needing reminders, I keep everything in mind and almost always successfully.
The few times, however, that I forget something, I am forced to put up with the reproaches of others who invite me to organize myself with a calendar or agenda to mark my commitments, activities and things to do.
READ ALSO: Calendar to download, print and create in PDF or Excel, compact and pocket-sized
With these assumptions I wrote some time ago on the best online agendas to organize jobs and the best online reminders to organize things to do and online reminders.
In the end I found a good alternative, for me that I spend a lot of time in front of the computer and that I don't need to have complex programs to organize and keep reminders of daily appointments .
So I found a way to keep the calendar always superimposed on the screen and on the desktop, fully customizable, able to keep the commitments on post-it notes, without intrusiveness and in transparency.
In this article we therefore see the best programs for Windows PCs but also Linux that allow you to view a calendar on the desktop and are an excellent but light support for remembering things.
In another article, however, there are websites that allow you to create wallpapers with a monthly calendar.
1) iCalendar Lite is one of the best calendar programs I have found for free.
Its greatest advantage is the possibility to customize it almost completely, both from a graphic and a functional point of view.
After installing it, ICalendar Lite displays a calendar with the days of the month, the weather forecast for the week, the to-do list and the list of events which is obviously empty.
By default, the calendar remains in the background compared to the active Windows windows, those in which you are working.
The goodness of this software is therefore evident when you click with the right button on the icon at the bottom right, near the clock, and the settings or "Setting" screen opens.
Meanwhile, if you like and want to use this type of calendar and reminder, you must set ICalendar with automatic start when the computer is turned on.
Depending on your preferences, you can then choose whether to see, and then use, the events and things to do windows.
Definitely to immediately deactivate the window with the weather forecast because it refers only to the United States.
Also in the general menu, the flag is raised from the option that makes Sunday as the first day of the week.
By clicking on the options concerning the "Appearance" graphic aspect, you can configure the transparency of the calendar on the screen and make the application always in the foreground compared to all the other applications.
Personally, I found the "Glass" graphic setting with 40% or 50% transparency to be non-invasive and readable even if with the glass or Glass effect you could also keep 100% transparency since you see the same under.
With these settings, the calendar looks like a light mist overlaying any program window you are currently working on.
In this way, it does not stand out, does not distract, does not bother and does not weigh down the view but, at the same time, a constant warning remains not to forget the things to do and the commitments.
When you want to add an item to the to-do list or to the list of event warnings, just right click on the corresponding window and write.
The programming of events is rather standard, without particular innovations but functional which also includes the appearance of warning pop-ups and an audible alarm of your choice .
Since the program is American, the calendar includes the holidays of the United States so you have to change it with the Italian one.
To do it is very simple, just press the right button on the calendar, press "Add Calendar", choose the Google public Calendar and choose the country in which you are.
For those who travel a lot there is the possibility to mark the holidays of different countries with different colors at the same time.
Finally, an important function is the ability to synchronize ICalendar with Google Calendar which, for those who use Gmail for work commitments and professional purposes, is a must and an indispensable resource.
The weight of Icalendar on the PC's Ram memory is around 40 Megabytes.
2) Rainlendar (version 2) is a desktop calendar, which remains on the pc screen, easy to use and light for Windows and Linux computers.
It is available for free in the Lite version and for a fee in the pro version which, of course, we do not consider.
The main functions of this excellent calendar and manager of activities, commitments and things to do are:
- Plan reminders with events, activities and alarms;
- Management of multiple calendars;
- Import / export / backup / restore of data stored in the calendar;
- Change the graphic style
- Print the sheet with the events or print the calendar.
Rainlendar2 uses the standard iCalendar format also used by Apple iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar, Sunbird, Facebook, Lotus Notes and many others.
Then you can easily import the data and add the entries stored in the calendar to other sites or programs .
This is important to configure the public holidays of the country or the Talian ones and also the sporting events, the release dates of the films, the TV programs to watch or record and everything you want.
ICalShare is the main website for finding content to import on Rainycalendar.
After installation, a calendar symbol appears in the taskbar at the bottom right and the calendar, event list and To-Do to-do list will be visible on the desktop screen .
The elements can be dragged wherever you want and you can decide whether to keep them always in the foreground or whether to hide them when working on an application window.
If you keep it in the foreground, the transparency function is also very useful here.
Right clicking on one of the items on the desktop or on the calendar symbol in the system tray opens a menu with which you can: add new events / tasks, choose which items are visible on the desktop, activate / deactivate different calendars, change month, manage events (edit / import / export / backup), update the calendar and change the options (define the graphic aspect, transparency, select the desired language (also Italian), define shortcut keys and many other things.
Rainlendar beats ICalendar for the size and consumption of Ram die (just 15 Mega).
It can also be put on the USB stick as an application and portable calendar.
The defect, on the other hand, is the small size of the calendar which compresses the lists and does not allow you to see them all together on the same window.
3) Thin Calendar is a calendar with horizontal graphics that accesses Google Calendar and marks appointments and days of the year on the desktop .
Also this calendar shows itself on the screen, with a variable degree of transparency, without annoying and without distracting from other applications and windows.
For more ambitious users who need a better overview of their respective functions and some more features, we can also recommend Mozilla Sunbird.
In another article the best programs with post-its to put on the computer desktop .
In the appendix, I also report the sites with online clock, alarm alarm and timer or countdown with customizable countdown.
