CNET Editors' review
While we appreciate this program's unobtrusive approach to reminding us of important task and appointments, its second-rate interface design left very little to be desired.
MiniMinder appears as a tiny window on your desktop. Important reminders are presented on top of a green background, which is a little hard to read. Clicking on the Edit button introduces the second interface, which lacks any effort at design. The Options menu is the place for scheduling daily reminders, but it offered very few scheduling options. It mostly contained options for changing the interface's appearance. Adding a new task involved entering the event name, and selecting an occurrence option from an awkward drop-down list. We were able to add a specific date, but not a specific time. The program includes a Help feature, but it's just as awkward, clutter, and difficult to navigate as the program itself. Eventually, we were able to add a task, and receive the reminder, but getting to that point was a pain.
If you're looking for an easy to use program to keep you on task, this probably isn't the one for you, even with the free price tag. We recommend that you keep looking for a calendar program that sports a more professionally designed, easy to navigate interface.
Publisher's Description
From Vellosoft:
When you reach the desktop, MiniMinder greets you with a slick, daily countdown to all the upcoming dates and alarms you wish to track. You can set yearly, quarterly, monthly or daily events, events such as the 4th Thursday of the month, events in increments such as every 28 days and MiniMinder can also calculate the dates for floating holidays such as Easter and Passover. Each event can be set with its own unique advance notice and when an event is taken care of (birthday card sent, credit card payment made) you can right-click it from the Reminders Window and chose to hide it until its next occurrence. Setting alarms is as simple as adding a time inside your event title and you can watch the countdown to your alarm times from the Reminders Window. To top it all off, an impressive collection of Daily Quotes files have been submitted by fans of the MiniMinder. These Daily Quotes can optionally be served along with your daily reminders.
Version 8.3 is a bug fixing release
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All versions:
4.5 starsout of 102 votes
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Current version:
4.3 starsout of 23 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Can't get sound working, but reminder works well."
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Works ok for me.
Cons
sound notification problem.
Summary
There may be better ones out there, but this is easy to use and free.
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"does what I wanted"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
easy to use
Cons
none come to mind
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"Useful little memoriser"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Quick and easy to use
Light on resourcesCons
Ideally should store the data (dates.txt) in "my docs" by default so that it can be more found and easily backed up
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"Simple and Efficient!"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Useful, easy to use.
Cons
Nothing that I can think of.
Summary
Really useful. Have been using it for at least 5 years, I think!
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"Simple and powerful"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
- Clear and highly customizable list of alarms.
- Easy on the memory. Doesn't slow down anything.
- Does what it says.Cons
Nothing disturbing.
Summary
Impossible to understand why CNET rating is so unfair with this. It is the best program of its kind these days.
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"easy to set up and even easier to use a grat reminder"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
works well
Cons
none so far
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"Simple to use, does the job"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Easy to use, tiny program, shows my appointments, dates, reminders, etc when I boot up the computer, then I close it.
Cons
Nothing...
Summary
Simple to use, does the job, low on resources...
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"Simple and reliable to use - what more do we need?"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Easy to use, reliable, uncomplicated, customisable, unobtrusive and works with windows 7
Cons
Perhaps a new skin, but that's all. I wouldn't change anything else.
Summary
The name of this program says it all. I agree with some of the other reviewers on here that the CNET editors have been overly critical of this program and I'm sure that the smart editors at CNET should be more than capable of navigating the simple Help feature.
Miniminder is a neat little program that does what it says. If your PC is left on overnight and Miniminder has been closed, it will automatically pop up again on the new day with that day's reminders. It doesn't need to be anything more than it is. Not everyone wants or needs a program to have bells and whistles and make toast. I have used this program for a few years on Windows XP and was so glad to find a newer version to work with Windows 7. -
"Does more than it promises and the price -great value!"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
All the cons listed so far would have been found to have been addressed if the users issuing them would have taken a few moments to learn the capabilities of the program. I have been using this for a long time and it has never disappointed me.
Cons
THERE ARE NONE!
Even those wanting more skin flexibility would have found it if they had just searched through the capabilities of the program.Summary
All the cons I have seen posted so far would have been found to have been addressed if the users issuing them would have taken time to learn the capabilities of the program, how to set it up and how to personalize and use it. I have been using this program for a long time and it has never, ever disappointed me.
Even when the drive on which I had my Win XP Pro op system crashed and burned and all my programs had to be reloaded on a new main drive, all my MiniMinder entries (which I had directed the program to use and save data to a different drive than the "C" drive which held the program itself) returned to the screen when I re-downloaded the program and adjusted its use to the correct "save" drive.
This is as good if not better than any program you would have had to pay for. If you want more capability or interoperability with email then you need to buy something like Microsoft Outlook which will do more but it is way more complex to use and of course, costs $$$$. -
"Wonderful little single line reminder"
Version: MiniMinder 8.3
Pros
Does what I want it to do
Cons
none that I have ever run across
Summary
If you want a simple little pop-up reminder of important dates then this is for you. I have used it for years. All you get is a single line reminder. It has a number of features you can set or use. It does not send email reminders ... just a simple little line reminding you of birthdates, meetings with the boss, etc. The warning can be set to pop up before the date. You really can not do much to mess it up. it is simple.
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