This feature-rich program places an unobtrusive calendar on your Desktop. You quickly can access your tasks and see details of upcoming events by double-clicking on the day or in the sidebar. Active Desktop Calendar supports multiple users, using layers to store their profiles. You can connect to other people's calendars via LAN to see changes in their schedule, and you also can have the application display your Outlook information. The utility doesn't consume much memory, especially considering all the cool stuff it does.
We noticed a few shortcomings in this overall excellent program. While the window for adding a new note contains a subject line and a body field, only the subject-line text appears on the calendar and the sidebar. You can switch among several desktop images and set the program as the default screensaver, but we weren't impressed by the performance of these features. The images don't stretch or tile, and the screensaver only displays the time and a line of text. Despite this, the functionality and design of Active Desktop Calendar make it useful for home and business users.
This fully customizable calendar displays itself as your desktop wallpaper. You can change calendar icons, fonts, and colors, and choose among the dozens of different included icon sets. You can also create and use your own icons. Active Desktop Calendar also includes a Notes feature that allows you to include reminders and memos. This program runs in the system tray.
Version 2.6 features improved Notes/Tasks bar size and position control, regional settings, and options for marking weekdays, marking dates with notes/alarms, and more. (See screenshot.)
Note: This download expires after 42 days. The full version costs $19.90.
