I was all thumbs as I reached for my device so I could enter her info. She stood behind me, her hair brushing my shoulder, as I tried to access Contacts. That's when the damn password prompt came up, and I had to hum that little ditty six times as I tried to unlock you.

Okay, I learned something today: a password should be for protecting sensitive data, like a journal, but when it come to day-to-day use, having your Windows CE-based device password protected can be a pain in the ass. I need to password-protect specific files, not the entire Windows CE-based device. Note Taker is a fine application, but it doesn't include a password feature...time to do a little late night surfing.

8:35 AM 8/15/99
Dear Cassiopeia:
I'm going to call her at lunch time...that ought to be just long enough to get her edgy. I've always believed women wait by the phone; men wear their hearts out on their sleeve. It's the way of the world. It keeps balance in the universe. Yeah, lunch time. Ask her to a movie. The Sixth Sense, maybe. I've seen it already, but it's sooo good. I know she's gonna love it.

Last night I looked for an application to replace Note Taker as my Journal. There are quite a few Note Taker replacements out there, and many of them look like they'd do the job, but three caught my attention.

First there was DiaryGizmo, shown in Figure B, a program from a company called PowerGizmo. They have a lot of programs, all of which share code, so once you've bought one, you won't need to take up a lot of space when you purchase another. Neat. But their program, DiaryGizmo, doesn't appear to have been upgraded for the new color Palm-sized PCs. That's too bad, cause I'm a sucker for color. The main screen looked basic and simple. And at $11, it was pretty economical.

FIGURE B

Here's DiaryGizmo's main screen. Click picture for a larger image.

Then there's CLC Journal, shown in Figure C, a program from a company called Crown Logic Corporation.

FIGURE C

Here's CLC Journal. Click picture for a larger image.

CLC Journal looks like it has a lot of cool features and the ability to do the following exciting things:

• Synchronize your data with Outlook 95/98/2000;
• Filter your files based on date/month;
• Create new categories on the fly;
• Timestamp an entry by clicking a watch icon;
• Protect your file with a password.

Crown Logic's Web site is nicely organized, and I really like their use of color and icons in their interface, but it seems that they don't have a trial version available. I'm pretty spoiled by the availability of trial versions of Windows CE-based software, and tend to purchase a lot of the trial programs that I download. Since there isn't a trial, I decided to search a little deeper and came across a program called HPC Notes, shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Here's HPC Notes. I love it! Click picture for a larger image.

I know you think I've become a traitor, but even though it's called HPC Notes, there's a version that's been written with Palm-sized PCs in mind. So I downloaded the trial and within thirty minutes I was back online, offering up my card and making a purchase. Yeah, this program is just that good. I'll probably never go back to using Note Taker. I was able to navigate HPC Notes' clean, well- thought-out interface with barely a nod to the well-written online help guide. The program has built-in support for Calligrapher, my input method of choice, so I think I've found a great solution to my journal problem.