By Heather Wardell
Most Palm software is reasonably inexpensive, but you can't get less expensive than free. Some of my favorite programs are given away by their creators, and this article will list ten of these programs in the hopes they might work for you as well.
#1: Checklist
As the name implies, this is a simple and easy-to-use checklist program. You can create multiple checklists, manually or automatically sort the items, reset the entire list with one click, or import/export items to or from the Memopad application. Figure A shows a short list and Checklist's well-designed interface.
FIGURE A
Item one on the checklist: a free checklist program. (click for larger image)
While using my old Zire 72, I was unable to drag items to a different place in the list even though the documentation said I could. I emailed the software's creator and received a response the same day, which would be an impressive response time for paid software never mind free. A basic program, but very good at what it does.
#2: Count Down
This program allows you to keep track of when a particular event will occur (or, how long it has been since an event occurred). Figure B shows my current Count Down screen, listing the due dates for my upcoming half and full marathons. Inspirational? Terrifying? Either way, it's good to know how much time I have left to prepare.
FIGURE B
Count Down to your destiny. (click for larger image)
Being able to track four events at once is also nice, and the program's tiny size (9.9kb) is an added bonus.
#3: EatWatch
This application was built to support The Hacker's Diet weight loss program. There is a free downloadable book at the site describing the program, which is well worth a read, but even just as a free weight tracker EatWatch is excellent.
While it does keep track of each weight you've entered, it also calculates what your actual weight is, taking into account little fluctuations from day to day. Figure C shows a (sadly) made-up example of a few day's worth of weights, and how the applications smoothes them out to show the true pattern of weight loss.
The left side shows the weight entry screen, and the right side shows a graph of the same numbers and the pattern they create.
FIGURE C
EatWatch watches what you eat. (click for larger image)
#4: Filez
FileZ is a file management system. It lets you look at the attributes of all files in your Palm and on your memory card(s), and allows you to move, copy, delete, or change attributes for them (assuming they're not in the handheld's permanent memory).
The program also provides information on the state of your handheld itself, including its battery status and free memory space. You do need to take care when deleting or moving files the Palm might need, but if you know what you're doing FileZ, shown in Figure D, can be very useful.
