Not a Penny Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

CintaNotes is a "Windows application that will let you easily collect and manage thousands of text-based information pieces. The application sits in the Windows system tray and springs into action on a hotkey. Ergonomic, fast and inobtrusive: you’ll feel it is part of the OS. And all this together with excellent searching and organizing abilites — CintaNotes makes collecting, organizing and finding information a breeze. A must-have for all knowledge workers: a no-nonsense, simple and pleasant way to maximum productivity" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

Desktop Journal is a "basic and straightforward journal software, meant to store your entries safely, without all the confusing and frivolous bells and whistles. All entries are encrypted and access to the interior of your journal can only be accessed by you (front-cover passcode). Entries can be searched by date, you can simply flip through your entries by page (forward and back), or you can set the trackbar thumb to jump to a desired location within your journal pages. The interior of the journal also contains a user friendly, searchable and integrated contact book which can store names, numbers and email or street addresses of family or friends. Complete help-files are also included" (OS: Designer notes "There are no special system requirements. Windows platform (compatibility): XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8RT [RT is the ´light´ version installed on most small tablets])

DoPDF is a "free PDF creator that does what the name suggests, creates PDF files. Once installed it will allow you to convert any type of printable documents to PDF files. doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list and also in the list of All Programs" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

DreamPlan Home Design is a home and landscape planning and design software that allows you to "Visualize and plan your dream home with a realistic 3D home model; create the floor plan of your house, condo or apartment; custom set colors, textures, furniture, decorations and more and plan out exterior landscaping and garden spaces" [PBW notes: if you want a freeware to help you design a particular setting, this one could be quite useful] (OS: Windows 7, XP, Vista and 8 64-bit)

Efficient Calendar is an "elegant and easy-to-use scheduler, planner and reminder. Multiple calendar views, such as Day and Month views as well as list view are available so you can better arrange and track your events. All appointments, meetings, events and tasks can be reminded in time as configured, and you will never miss any important event" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Interactive Calendar is a "fusion of a multi-functional desktop calendar with impressive customization capabilities and a convenient task manager, capable of bringing some order to your business and personal life. This unique software displays a calendar and its cells right on your desktop wallpaper, making it an integral part of your Windows theme. Interactive Calendar renders cells 400%-1000% faster than its closest competitors, which makes it the fastest calendar software of this type on the market. No delays and update lags, no jerky refreshes – the user interface is both smooth and natural looking. Planning your time with Interactive Calendar is a breeze. Its greatest advantage is the degree of visual customization it supports. You can customize everything from the position of the calendar on the screen to its size, color, transparency, font, shadows, cell spacing and much more, to make sure it stays in line with your desktop color scheme. As a bonus, Interactive Calendar includes a built-in wallpaper changer" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Money Manager is a "free, open-source, cross-platform, easy-to-use personal finance software. It primarily helps organize one's finances and keeps track of where, when and how the money goes. It is also a great tool to get a bird's eye view of your financial worth. Money Manager includes all the basic features that 90% of users would want to see in a personal finance application. The design goals are to concentrate on simplicity and user-friendliness - something one can use everyday" (OS: Windows, Linux and Mac OSX)

Task List Guru is a "free task list organizer ideal for personal task management and small project management. You can organize not just tasks, but also task lists, notes and reminders. Task List Guru has a hierarchical task list tree with icons that allows you to organize all your todo lists and notes in a structure with icons. You can choose from 48 different colorful icons for your to-do lists - this makes using this organizer fun" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8)

TodoPlus is a task management program that allows you to "Break down your goals into small and achievable steps; reduce time spend on unimportant tasks; focus on your most important tasks first; stay focused on one task at a time; always know what to do next; achieve more in less time by being more productive and reduce stress caused by having too many tasks in your head, and the fear of forgetting something important" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X)

WowBase is a program that allows you to "create your own database quickly and easily. The main feature of the program — records are not in the form of rows, and in the form of cards. This method of editing the records you have not tried! There is quite a different attitude to the records: now this is not one thin strip of thousands, and a separate independent object that can be manipulated. You can even copy a few records and send them via instant message or e-mail to a colleague that he added them to his table. Very simple interface and minimal facilities needed for editing tables" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])