Top 5 Information Managers

1. Remind-Me: You'll slumber like an innocent babe knowing that this program will always remind you of important events and anniversaries in plenty of time for you to send that special card or gift that says, "I remember, even if I'd prefer to forget." The program will display holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, or any regularly scheduled event, either in a list or on a traditional calendar. It can alert you of events when your computer starts, or at any specified time. It includes built-in support for sending e-mail when an event comes up; you can have the e-mail sent automatically, or send it yourself. Best of all, you can even attach a personal audio greeting, recorded through your computer's sound card and microphone, or you can have any .wav file play. Elvis's first recording was singing "Happy Birthday" to his mother. And yours?

2. RedBox Organizer v4.0: Organization is the key to success, or so the pundits say. This well-muscled planner will help you organize with ease. Good for home or business use, it has all the tools you need to organize your daily activities in a customizable interface. It contains the usual calendar, reminders, to-do lists, and sticky notes, plus easy-to-make reports. You also get an expenses tracker, a phone dialer, and e-mail/Web-browsing capabilities. If you need to share any of your plans with others, the Web Publishing Wizard will let you quickly transform your calendar, to-do items, planner, and address book into professional-looking Web pages for the Internet or an intranet. The address book even lets you attach an image to each entry.

3. GoldenSection Organizer: Experience the calming wisdom that comes from having your every bit of data organized in a coherent tree-outline form. This full-scale personal information manager is a planner, notebook, and address book in one. Its intuitive interface combines all your notes, bookmark lists, holidays, reminders, appointments, task lists, and contacts into an outline that you can customize. You get notifications about upcoming birthdays, holidays, appointments, meetings, and jobs, and you can track your everyday tasks. You can even earn a free registration by contributing your own data files to the author's Web site: Create a reference or knowledge base that you want to share with others, and submit it. If your file contains more than 100 records and if Golden Section Labs finds it interesting, the author will publish it on the Web site and then send you a free GoldenSection Organizer registration.

4. Electronic Assistant Lite 3.1.1c: This free program offers a contact manager and organizer, a to-do list, a journal, and an alarm module. But it also allows you to keep track of the finer things in life, such as your tape, CD, book, and CD-R/CD-RW collections. And you'll never have to worry about losing items you loan out, as it even tracks who's borrowed what from your collection. No more false accusations flung at friends or relatives suspected of losing your treasured copy of the soundtrack from Plan 9 From Outer Space, and no more tears shed over bidding fabulous sums on EBay for that Leonard Nimoy autobiography that you forgot you already own.

5. Above & Beyond 2000: Planning enables, and pervasive planning enables pervasively, to paraphrase a phrase. This powerful personal information manager offers features for planning, managing, and tracking both your active business life and your personal life. Dynamic schedules help you manage workflow, enter recurring activities, and print day-, week-, or month-at-a-glance schedules. You also get a pop-up calendar, alarms, task and event timers, and a contact database. You can balance your tasks and projects with the time you have available and focus on items that bring high results and move you closer to your goals. What really sets this program apart from others is the built-in LAN support, which helps managers balance workloads, assign new tasks, prioritize work, and arrange group meetings.