Keep Track of Your Precious Time

Where time is concerned, we all feel the same: it's never enough. We work 14 hours a day, barely sleep, go out twice a year and forget even our own birthday. Time flies when you're having fun, they say…well, I don't know whether that's true, but time surely flies and it would be nice to sometimes be able to catch up and do all the things we wish to do, not just keep up with deadlines.

As I got to think about time and remembered (too late) about things that I have missed because of lack of time, I thought about searching for a piece of software that could help me track time and, perhaps, stop it in its path. Like I don't have enough programs installed on my PC, I browsed the web for calendars, time managers or things like that. It was like I had wrote SEX on Google…thousands of possibilities emerged, and sadly, I got bored before I found the "perfect" time management tool. My final stop was on a program called Cool Calendar so that's what I'm going to talk to you about.

What drawn me towards Cool Calendar was its interface. It's probably its best feature, not because it's not well featured, but because it does pretty much the same things as most calendars slash organizers slash time managers slash...whatever - setting events, reminders, alarms, time, date and so on - also do. As I was saying, I found Cool Calendar's interface interesting for one thing and one thing only: it did not bother me. Funny thing about computer calendars and planners, they're particularly annoying, in my opinion, always popping when they're not needed. And still, you get to forget the very things it was supposed to remind you of.

Cool Calendar permanently displays a really nicely made transparent window which can contain a monthly calendar, the weather forecast and the event list. Nothing out of the ordinary, I know, but I really like how it looks and it doesn't bother me at all now as it stands on my desktop. I also liked that it's skinable, and it has various colorful and tastefully designed skins to choose from.

Apart from this aspect, Cool Calendar is quite an usual calendar. It can be customed by choosing workdays and it supports three languages: English, Chinese and Korean.
It can be placed in start-up (and removed!) and you can choose to see the date in your system tray. You can choose not to see the calendar, weather or the event list and you can custom the location for each of these components. You can enable a double-click option that allows you to attach an event to a day by simply double clicking its date in the desktop calendar.

When setting an event, you can name it, write a description, set reminders and alarms for it, place it in a category and set beginning and ending time. The event list can be permanently previewed on the desktop. The program can manage events in different manners, so set your preferences. Cool Calendar can even help you with recurrent events, so less work for you to do. Attach files to an event and custom an icon for it. Choose to see event icons on your desktop, if you prefer.

Oddly for a calendar, Cool Calendar has a wallpaper changer. Browse for images and let it set your wallpaper by rotation or randomly. Various image types are supported. I guess this is nice as it breaks a little the routine. Match you calendar with the selected wallpaper by simply choosing one of the great skins available. The producer says there are more to come and you can even design your own skin online.

Weather is brought to you by the Yahoo! Plug in, so it's trust worthy.

The Good

Nice, clean, easy to use, custom it as you please. I specially appreciated the look, not the features. It's skinable and well designed; it shouldn't bother you in your work. Its transparent look helps Cool Calendar integrate with your wallpaper and desktop, and you'll soon forget it's there. You'll surely appreciate it helping you keep in touch with time.

The Bad

Nothing is perfect and Cool Calendar is no exception. At 20 dollars, it's a little expensive. It's quite ordinary, no special features to justify the cost. Could have been a little more complex, we'll see what it will be up to next, as the producer announces improvements.

The Truth

It's a good calendar and event organizer, easy to use and with a very nice, skinable interface. It's helpful if you need such a tool, but you'll probably not pay $20 for it.

Here are some snapshots of Cool Calendar in action: