DayMate for Windows

DayMate is a powerful and easy-to-use day planner that's full of great features. Overall we were pleased with it, but certain features weren't as functional as they should have been.

The interface will look familiar to users of Outlook and could not be more intuitive. Basic functions are represented with large, obvious buttons, and menus are well organized. We were able to dive right in and start scheduling things. The bulk of the program's functionality is contained within its appointment scheduler, but it goes far beyond reminding you of your 2 p.m. dental appointment. Users can schedule DayMate to perform a variety of actions, including launching programs, checking e-mail, opening Web pages, and shutting down the computer. We scheduled DayMate to open iTunes at 10 a.m. and launch cnn.com at 10:04 a.m.; both went off without a hitch. Sadly, we didn't fare as well when it came to checking or sending e-mail; repeated attempts yielded no success, and the built-in Help file, while generally well done, did not offer much in the way of troubleshooting this issue. (We're not sure how useful the e-mail checking feature would have been anyway, as its maximum frequency is once a day, and we all know that's not nearly often enough.) E-mail problems aside, we were pleased with the program's features, all of which were potentially useful and functioned well.

DayMate has a 30-day trial period. It installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this program to any user looking for a multifeatured day planner; just don't bank on getting the e-mail features to work.