Rainlendar and Rainmeter
Windows may be the most used operating system, but main fun in windows come from the vast array of free third-party software that makes life blissful in its environment. One wonderful calendar application that people easily fall in love with is Rainlendar. Rainlendar is a very simple skinable calendar that (with the right skins) can blend into any desktop settings you have. Simple, lightweight and resource unhungry solution. Since calendars, events and todos goes hand in hand, Rainlendar supports various events that you can mark off on the calendar along with a short todo list you can keep on your desktop. It allows you to import your events from Outlook, and of course, it reminds you when an event is due.
If you wanted to see more on your desktop that just a calendar and todo list, you can try out Rainmeter by the same author. My personal Rainmeter favourite is MoonShine; a neat integation of the current moon status and analog clock. Though, I did dig into the widget and added a second hand to the clock. Rainmeter’s skins are just a very wrong way of labeling widgets, as the skins define what you would have on your desktop. Though creating a widget may not be the easiest thing since notepad, you can create one using the templates and a simple text editor. This simple application looks powerful enough and lightweight enough to rival Konfabulator, provided that there were more people working on Rainmeter “skins”.
Now go ahead, spice up your desktop.