{"id":8341,"date":"2009-06-05T12:26:05","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T10:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/how-to-embed-useful-data-on-your-desktop\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T02:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:22:43","slug":"how-to-embed-useful-data-on-your-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-embed-useful-data-on-your-desktop\/","title":{"rendered":"How to: Embed useful data on your desktop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your desktop is the first thing you see when you start your computer, so why not use it for something more useful than just displaying a cute picture? There are some tricks – and software apps as well – for embedding interesting information (calendars, to-do lists, CPU data) on your desktop, so that you always have it at hand. Here’s a list of five elements you may want to have on your desktop, from a simple text file task list to a fully featured system monitoring tool.<\/p>\n

To-do list<\/h3>\n

Embedding a to-do list in your desktop background is easier than it seems. All it requires is a simple text file that contains your list and an old Windows feature: Active Desktop<\/strong>. The trick consists of creating a very simple HTML document in a text editor<\/a> with your list, and then using Active Desktop to show it on top of your wallpaper.<\/p>\n

A sample HTML to-do list would look like this:<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Now, open the Display Properties<\/strong> window by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop and select the Desktop tab. Then click on Customize Desktop and go to the Web tab. Here you’ll be able to select a webpage to display on your desktop, i.e., the HTML file you just created.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

The final result will look more or less like this:<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Calendar<\/h3>\n

Having a calendar always visible on the desktop is also really simple. You can either download a wallpaper that has already a calendar included in its design (like the beautiful collections featured each month in Smashing Magazine<\/strong><\/a>) or add a calendar to any desktop background image with this website<\/strong><\/a>. Simply select the image, tweak the calendar’s options and cilck on “Create”.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

System data<\/h3>\n

If you want to track multiple system values right on your desktop, a tool like GKrellM<\/a><\/strong> would be a good choice. With this utility you can keep track of CPU, temperature, network connections, hard disk, memory and other system elements. It’s quite intuitive and easy to use.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Bandwidth usage<\/h3>\n

For those who prefer to focus on network connections, there are also special software tools like NetMeter<\/a><\/strong>, which displays a customizable, real-time graphic on your desktop. This window enables you to track both upload and download transfer rate, control how much data you download over a certain period of time and receive alerts if you go beyond a predefined threshold in net traffic.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Pretty much anything<\/h3>\n

But if you’re an information freak who likes to have all sorts of data on the desktop, Samurize<\/strong><\/a> is the program you’re looking for. This massive data mining tool can be configured to embed all sorts of counters and meters on your desktop, from CPU usage to a simple to-do list. It can take you a while until you customize it to suit your needs, but it’s a really powerful app and is well worth the effort.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your desktop is the first thing you see when you start your computer, so why not use it for something more useful than just displaying a cute picture? There are some tricks – and software apps as well – for embedding interesting information (calendars, to-do lists, CPU data) on your desktop, so that you always … Continue reading “How to: Embed useful data on your desktop”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2011,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-8341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335527,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions\/335527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=8341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}