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Freeware Menu >> Office Applications.


Flashnote.

Flashnote provides a simple method to save text notes, web links, etc.
You can create named notes and sub-notes and each note allows basic editing, including copy and paste and a simple search function.
The background and text colours can be altered (I chose a fetching blue on yellow colour scheme) and you can use the font of your choice.

Under the options you can choose to start Flashnote with Windows, where it will run in the system tray until clicked on. I also set the close button to minimise, rather than close the program.
I usually use QuickPad for my notes, but I quite like Flashnote, as it's easier to organise snippets of text, by using a note for each section, which should save scrolling through my usual mess of text clippings, web links etc. The only downsides to Flashnote, are that you can't search the entire database, just individual notes and there is no help file.
But if like me, you are a compulsive note taker, it should prove useful.

Freeware -- 395K -- Win 2000/2003/XP/Vista -- note that an older Win 98se version is available.

http://softvoile.com/flashnote/?s=fn

Post-it-note software -- PicoStik.

PicoStick is a very simple post-it-note utility. When run, it displays an icon in the system tray, allowing you to create, hide, or show your notes, clicking on the border of a note will also give a menu.
Double clicking the system tray icon will show/hide the notes.

Notes are loaded and saved automatically when the program is started, or shut down and the screen position of the notes is remembered.

PicoStick is about as simple as a post-it program can get, but it is easy to use and does not require installing.

Freeware -- Download size 6k.

http://www.picofactory.com/download/free/software/sticky_note/picostick

Foxit PDF Reader.

A thing I have always found annoying about using the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files is the amount of time it takes to start, you can remove some of the program plugins, to speed it up, but perhaps a more elegant solution is to use a faster reader.

The Foxit PDF Reader is a small 1.3Mb application, it starts in a couple of seconds and renders text more clearly than Acrobat, which I have always found a little fuzzy. With pictures it is a little hit and miss, most display fine, but the occasional one does not.

The Foxit interface is clearer than Acrobats, with nice large buttons and the small advertising banner in the corner can be turned off.

Overall Foxit Reader is fast, the text is clearer and it won't nag for updates. But Acrobat displays everything and integrates with Internet Explorer to open PDF's as you surf. (Although I always save them to disc in the background and read them later rather than sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for them to load. )

So it is really down to personal choice, its only a small download, with a choice of installer or zip, so why not try it and see if you like it.

Freeware -- Download size 1.3Mb -- Win 95/98/NT/2000/XP/2003

http://www.foxitsoftware.com

Quickpad.

As I surf around the internet I often come across site addresses, snippets of text, bits of GML in the forum etc, that I would like to save for a while, at first I used to write them on a pad but that is not very high tec in this age of computers, so I started looking around for a better solution.

Naturally the simplest way to save things from web pages is to copy them to the clipboard, but you are limited to one item, so I tried numerous programs that extended the abilities of the clipboard, so that it could save multiple notes, index them etc.
But all these programs had drawbacks, they were often quite complex to use, needing multiple mouse clicks to save, store and name each saved item and then multiple clicks to reopen the note, plus it was yet another program running in the system tray, consuming resources.

So then I tried various post it, yellow note and to do list type programs, but they all had the same drawbacks as the clipboard extensions, too complex for their own good.

Then I had a thought why not create a Notepad text file in the programs files folder and just put a short cut to it on the task bar.
This worked better, clicking on the taskbar icon opened the text file instantly and I could copy and paste to my hearts content, but it still had one major annoyance, when I wanted to close it, I first had to save it and then exit, which gets a bit annoying after a while.

This is where Quickpad comes in, it is basically just a text pad, with all the features of Microsofts Notepad and many more, although I just use it as a notepad. ( Check out the readme for a full explanation of its advanced features.)
The beauty of the program is that although it has a great many features, it can be used in a very simple way.
The 26k zip file can be unzipped to a suitable location and then just place a shortcut to the file Quickpad.exe on the taskbar. ( There is a setup file, but this can be ignored, it just creates start menu items.)
Now when you click the icon, Quickpad will start as quickly as Notepad and you can use it in the same way, but when you close the program it will automatically save your text with no action on your part.

So there you have it, a simple, easy to use program for storing notes, that doesn't need to be left running all the while and has no annoying title screens, or start up delays.

You can download it here: Quickpad. 26k

Tiny Spell v1.3.

If you don't have any office software installed, you will not have a spell checker, this is where Tiny Spell comes in, it sits in your system tray and monitors what you type, if you make an error it will give a list of correct spellings and you just click on one to have the wrong word replaced, you can also add words to its dictionary so that it does not keep alerting you to words or names it does not know.

It seems to work no matter what program you are using, in fact I'm using it now as I type this, it is very configurable and has a very good help file.

Freeware -- Download size 548K.

http://www.tinyspell.m6.net/

Jarte v2.6 Word Processor.

An unusually styled word processor, with a unique, but intuitive interface, surprisingly easy to use, with an excellent help file. Works with .rtf, Word and text files and has a built in spell check and clip board viewer.

Freeware -- Download size 1.4Mb -- Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP

http://www.jarte.com/

Clipdiary.

One of the most useful Windows tools, is the clipboard, but it does have one major limitation, only one item is saved at a time. Clipdiary helps, by saving everything that is copied (or cut), to the clipboard.
Clipdiary starts with Windows (can be altered in options) and runs in the system tray.
Clipboard entries are saved in a list, in the Clipdiary window and show the first few words of the text. The full text is displayed if you click on an item. The selected clipping can be copied back to the clipboard, or pasted directly into a document, using the interface buttons.

Images can also be saved, however there are a few limitations, the image is saved as a bmp file, no matter what the original format was and the Clipdiary window displays saved images simply as "image", with no thumbnail preview, or other clue as to the content. So finding one image amongst many could be a long process, copying them into MS Paint (or another editor), one at a time.
There is no help file, which is a serious omission, as a few settings aren't immediately obvious. But Clipdiary could prove quite useful and is easy to use once you figure out what everything does.

Freeware -- 289K -- Requirements not given, tested on XP.

http://softvoile.com/clipdiary/

Rob Goldfish Web Site