Best Free Software

Simple Sticky Notes 4.0

www.snipca.com/26530 What you need: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 or 10

The built-in Sticky Notes app that comes with Windows 10 is – well – ‘bare-bones’ would be the polite way of putting it. In terms of options, it lets you select from six colours and, if you’re running the Windows 10 Creators Update, you can enable a feature called ‘insights’, which connects your notes to Cortana.

If you’re not interested in Cortana and you just want a better sticky-note tool with lots of practical features, you should definitely give Simple Sticky Notes a try. The new version has been completely redesigned to fit in with Windows 10’s look and feel. A number of new options have also been added, including the ability to define the default size of your virtual post-its, the font style and its opacity. Or, for a different look, you could download one of the many free note themes available from the Simple Sticky Notes Store ( www.simplestickynotes.com/store).

You can also customise the look of Simple Sticky Notes Explorer, which is the control centre for all your notes. It lets you browse all saved notes, create separate Notebooks (one for work notes and one for private notes, for example) and change the tool’s settings. You can choose a dark or light theme for the Explorer’s interface (or sync it with Windows’ own theme), and select from a range of new highlight colours.

Simple Sticky Notes offers genuinely useful options. You can add alarms to your notes, for example, either to remind you at a specific date and time or on a recurring basis. The latest version now lets you set daily alarms. New alarm sounds can be downloaded free from the Simple Sticky Notes Store. Keyboard shortcuts make it easy to create a new note (Alt+n), and show (Alt+s) or hide (Alt+h) all your notes. A new shortcut – Alt+x – provides a quick way to launch Simple Sticky Notes Explorer, and you can also use keyboard shortcuts to launch the program’s new Find and Replace tools (see 3 below) to search for and edit text within your notes.

4 2 1 3 2 Click ‘+’ next to Notebooks to create a new Notebook. Give it a name then click OK. Right-click any note, click Move To, then choose the Notebook you want to keep it in. 4 Click the three dots in the top-right corner of a note for several options – you can change the note’s colour, for example. Click Alarm here to schedule a reminder. 3 Pressing Ctrl+h launches Simple Sticky Notes’ new Replace box, which works like the one in Word and other office programs. Ctrl+f lets you find a specific word or phrase. 1 Press Alt+x to launch Simple Sticky Notes Explorer, click Settings, then Default to customise the appearance of your notes (you can change font, colour and opacity). Use the slider to change the size.