Google Desktop Application Helps Arranging Your Activities

It’s a pity many friends and associates of mine still underestimate advantages of numerous desktop tools application offered by Google, Yahoo and similar services. I first tried Google Desktop a year ago or so. I immediately felt that information I’m interested in became more accessible. This is an everyday application for active people, especially businessmen.
A Windows XP laptop in my possession now runs Google Desktop version 3.0. The application introduces clarified neat interface similar to other Vista applications. Its great functionality can be easily extended even more by adding gadgets. For my personal needs I picked the following five gadgets:

1. Web Clips gadget is responsible for receiving ATOM and RSS newsfeeds from the sites I visit. It pop-ups up-to-the-minute news so I can’t miss anything important. The list of watched feeds is fully customizable ­ you can add or delete feed of your choice. Google Desktop’s Web Clips gadget works better than any similar tool I’ve ever used.

 

2. Email gadget collects my mail from Gmail and MS Outlook accounts. I also use other email-reminders (for example, the one built in Outlook), but since the Google Desktop constantly resides my screen, I prefer to check for new emails with just one quick glance.

3. The gadget named “Scratch Pad” provides functionality of regular sticky notes. This desktop management gadget makes sure any idea I come up with never gets lost or forgotten! Be it the title of document I need to work on tomorrow, a phone number to call later, or just a reminder on any occasion, this gadget is always at my hands ready to store many and many notes.

4. System Monitor gadget is an irreplaceable tool for hearing the pulse of my PC. It reports the current load of CPU and memory, as well as inbound and outbound network traffic intensity. In other words, I can always know when any parameter has critical value and react accordingly. Any of you can get Google Desktop at desktop.google.com for free, and then customize to meet your own requests. I hope you’ll find it very useful!

5. To Do desktop enhancement gadget is somewhat similar to Scratch Pad, but it has an important difference. Here I can not only to write down stuff, but also tick (or untick) checkboxes next to each line written. Such list is great for planning and watching the progress of short-term tasks I need “to do”.