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Overview of Mindful
MindfulTM was primarily designed to
help you remember important facts
that are often too easy to forget. That is why its two main features
consist of an Event Reminder and a
Password Manager. However, Mindful
also provides many other related tools including a perpetual
mini calendar,
date calculator,
random password generator,
countdown timer and
keyboard string parser.
Mindful starts automatically each time you start your
computer. When minimized, it remains in the notification area
(system tray) ready for you to use at any time. From there you can
restore it by clicking its icon or by pressing its activation global
hot key (default is CTRL+SHIFT+M). When you right-click the
Mindful icon in the notification area, a shortcut menu appears with
commands to access Mindful's main features and tools directly.
Mindful is simple, but loaded with features and tools that can be
used day after day, all year long. It is optimized to consume very few
resources and resides in the notification area when minimized.
Many software companies will charge you more for a software product
that does only one of the two main features found in Mindful. But
Mindful combines these two major features and many other related
tools into one inexpensive software product that will not break your
bank or consume much of your so precious computer resources.
Starting with version 2.1, we have also released a new edition of
Mindful and Mindful Lite for U3. You can now carry Mindful (or Mindfu
Lite) on your U3 smart device with the new Mindful for U3 and Mindful
Lite for U3 editions.
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Mindful as an Event Reminder
The event reminder in Mindful helps you remember appointments,
meetings, anniversaries, statutory holidays, TV shows, payments due
or any other events that occur over time - repeatedly or not - and
that you don't want to miss. In addition to defining your own
events, Mindful allows you to select from a list of 72 pre-defined
events including many Canadian, American and Jewish holidays.
On startup, Mindful reads your event list and then either minimizes
itself to the notification area (system tray) or displays your event
list according to your preferences and the status of your events.
You can choose to have your list of events always displayed at
startup, never displayed at startup, or displayed at startup only if
one or more events are due for notice (require your attention).
If you leave your computer running overnight, Mindful refreshes your
list of events at the beginning of each day so that recurring events
can be automatically rolled forward to their next occurrence as
necessary. Mindful then displays a desktop alert above its icon in
the notification area to notify you of this update.
The Mindful icon in the notification area displays the current day of
the month (1 .. 31). The current day appears in red, yellow or green
depending on the status of your events. If you have one or more
past-due events, the day is displayed in red. If you do not have any
past-due events, but you have some non-cleared events due in the
current day, the day is displayed in yellow. Otherwise, the day is
displayed in green.
You can quickly check your next event due at any time by positioning
the mouse pointer over the Mindful icon in the notification area.
Roll forward clearance
By default, a recurring event is automatically rolled forward to
its next occurrence each time an occurrence of that event passes.
However, since each event must be cleared before it can be rolled
forward, you can prevent this default behavior from happening
on specific events simply by turning off the auto-clear option of
those events.
For example, you may want to confirm that you paid a monthly bill
before the event for that bill is rolled forward to the next month.
In this case, the event will continue to appear in your list of
events due for notice (even if the actual event date has passed)
until you manually clear that event.
Recurring events can also be manually rolled forward to their next
occurrence ahead of time as needed.
For example, you may have created an event for the due date of a
monthly bill but you don't want to see this item at the top of your
event list once you have sent a payment for that bill, even if the
bill due date has not yet passed. By manually rolling the event
forward to its next occurrence, this item is immediately repositioned
further down in your event list according to its next occurrence date.
Event age calculator
The age of a person (or event) can be calculated automatically and
displayed in the description of an event simply by adding the year
of birth (or original event year) in square brackets into the
event name.
For example, if the name of an event is set to "John's [1967]
Birthday", this item will appear as "John's 42nd Birthday" in your
list of events (assuming of course in this case that John's next
birthday will occur in 2009).
One-time events
Mindful also supports one-time events that can be deleted
automatically once passed or kept for future reference, according to
your preferences. Keeping a one-time event for future reference can be
useful to remember when was the last time the event occurred, such as
when was the last time you had an eye exam.
Event alarms
Event alarms go one step further in notifying you of events. By
setting the alarm of an event, you can have an action executed
automatically at a precise time on the day the event occurs. Possible
actions include displaying a popup window with (or without) a
countdown timer for a preset number of minutes, executing a file, or
opening an Internet link or URL. A sound is also played when the alarm
goes off and when the countdown timer (where applicable) reaches zero.
Color-coded events
All events in Mindful are color-coded according to their status and
their point in time. By default, past-due events appear in
bold red, passed (and cleared) events
appear in blue, current day events appear in
red, events due for notice appear in
orange and other future events appear in
green in your list of events. You can
customize the font color and style of each event status according to
your preferences.
Event notes
Each event can have its own notes. These notes can be
useful to remind you of additional information about an event
that is not part of the event name itself. For example,
the notes for the anniversary of a friend can include their
mailing address so you can mail them a birthday card.
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Mindful as a Password Manager
Passwords are sequences of characters that a user must input in order
to gain access to a file, application, private account or computer
system. Because passwords alone have no real meaning, we refer to
passwords together with the information to which they relate as
'user accounts' in Mindful.
A user account includes the information that you need to locate and
logon to a specific web site or password-protected software
application. Mindful protects this information using a 128-bit
Advanced Encryption Standard; the kind of encryption adopted as a
standard by the US Government.
The password manager in Mindful provides a secure central repository
for all your user accounts. Instead of using the same password over
and over again for all your Internet accounts and password-protected
software applications, you can use complex passwords that differ
between user accounts, making it much safer than using the same
password for all your user accounts without the need to remember any
of them except your master password, which gives you access to your
entire user account list.
The password manager also includes an auto-logon feature. Mindful
allows you to quickly open the link to any of your user accounts’
logon page or form, and then complete your logon simply by pressing
a global hot key.
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Other Useful Mindful Tools
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Mini calendar
Mindful includes a mini perpetual calendar that you can consult at
any time while Mindful itself is running (loaded into memory). To
display many months at once, simply resize the mini calendar
window. As the size of the calendar window increases, more months
are added to it. New columns are added as the width of the window
increases and new rows are added as the height increases. Mindful
remembers the height and width of the calendar window as you
resize it, so you don’t have to resize the window again each time
it is displayed, even after closing and re-starting Mindful.
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Date calculator
The date calculator in Mindful has two purposes. It can calculate
the number of days between two dates, or calculate a date by
adding/subtracting a number of days to/from another date. Change
any of the two dates (Date 1 or Date 2) to see the
number of days between them in Days, or change Days
to have this value (positive or negative) added to Date 1
with the result displayed in Date 2.
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Countdown timer
Whether you have something to pick up at the front desk in five
minutes, your favorite show starts in ten minutes or you want to
let your eggs boil for three minutes, you can count on this simple
utility to help you make sure you are on time. Simply set the time
to countdown, click Start, and let the timer do the rest. A
progress bar is filled as the time progresses and a sound is
played when the timer reaches zero.
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Random password generator
The Random Password Generator in Mindful allows you to generate
complex random passwords. See Random Password
Generator for more information.
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What's New in Version 2
Following is a brief description of the new features and enhancements
in Mindful version 2. A full description of these features and
enhancements can be found in the online help installed with the
program.
User Account / Password Manager
The password manager is probably the greatest new feature that you
will find in Mindful version 2. You can now save your logon
information for any online user accounts and password protected
applications, and log on to them with a couple of clicks and a simple
shortcut key.
Instead of having to remember many logon id’s and passwords, you only
have to remember one master password. All your other logon details are
stored in a highly secure file that can only be accessed with the
master password that you have set for it.
See Mindful as a Password Manager for more
information.
Random Password Generator
A password manager would not be complete without a random password
generator. This tool allows you to generate complex random
passwords. You decide the password length and the characters to use to
generate virtually impossible to guess random passwords.
EVENT ENHANCEMENTS
Event Groups
No more browsing through a lengthy list of events just to find a
specific one. With Mindful version 2, you can group your events in a
way that makes sense to you and that makes finding a specific event
easier and faster. For example, you can have a group for
anniversaries, one for appointments, one for statutory holidays, one
for payments due, etc.
Event group maintenance is completely transparent; when you assign an
event to a non-existing group, the group is automatically created. In
the same way, when all events of a group are removed, the group is
automatically removed also. You never have to worry about creating or
deleting event groups; Mindful automatically takes care of it for you.
Groups appear in the Event Filter Selection list (see preceding
picture). To see all the events of a specific group, simply select
that group in the Event Filter Selection list.
Improved Edit Options
With Mindful version 2, you are no longer required to go through each
page of the event details wizard just to apply a simple change to an
event. Each major characteristic of an event can now be modified
separately.
Timed Events
In Mindful version 2, user-defined events have a time characteristic
that allows you to set the exact time of an event where applicable
(e.g. appointments, coffee breaks, TV shows, etc.). Events of a same
day are further sorted by time in your list of events. By default,
the time of an event is 12:00am (midnight), which represents a
non-timed event (e.g. anniversaries, statutory holidays, etc.).
Refresh Option
After clearing one or more events, you can refresh your event list
with the click of a button. All passed recurring events that have
been cleared will be rolled forward to their next
occurrence immediately.
Duplicate Option
This option allows you to use an event as a template to
create a new one.
Export Option
You can now export your list of events (partial or complete) to a
comma separated value (CSV) file.
Weekend day and week day options in formulated events
You can now create formulated events using the weekend day and
week day options. For example, you can set an event to occur on the
first week day of each month.
Startup Mode
Since different users have different preferences on what should happen
when Mindful starts, we have created a new option that allows you to
select your own startup mode. The three possible startup modes are
- Start normal if some events are due for notice, otherwise start
minimized
- Always start minimized
- Always start normal (default)
Icon Status
In addition to displaying the current day of the month (introduced in
Mindful version 1.2.5), Mindful version 2 also selects a different
font color to display that day depending on the status of your events.
If one or more events are past-due (passed but not
cleared), the current day is displayed in red. In other words, red
means that one or more events need your immediate attention.
If no events are past-due, but you have one or more events not cleared
in the current day, then the day is displayed in yellow; some
kind of a warning to let you know that an event will become past-due
very soon.
If neither of these conditions is met, the day is displayed in
green.
GLOBAL HOT KEYS
Global hot keys are key combinations (e.g. CTRL+SHIFT+M) that
when pressed together perform a specific action regardless of the
application currently having the focus in Windows.
Mindful version 2 allows you to define and use a number of global hot
keys that will perform specific actions when pressed as follows:
Mindful activation hot key (default is CTRL+SHIFT+M)
Allows you to restore Mindful (bring it to front) when minimized to
the notification area or hidden behind other windows.
Auto-logon hot key (default is CTRL+SHIFT+L)
Allows you to log on to a user account selected in your user account
list without having to type any logon information (i.e the action of
the auto-logon hot key is to type the logon details for you).
This hot key works conjointly with the password manager.
Account password hot key (default is CTRL+SHIFT+P)
Similar to the auto-logon global hot key, this global hot key enters
only the password part of your logon details. Also works conjointly
with the password manager.
Keyboard string shortcuts
Allows you to define any number of hot keys associated to unique
strings that are entered automatically into the current entry box of
a form or window. For example, if you have to type your name often in
web forms or software applications, you can set CTRL+SHIFT+N as
a global hot key to type your name automatically each time this key
combination is pressed.
Mindful remembers your global hot key settings between sessions, so
you don’t have to reset them each time you start the program.
NEW FILE MENU OPTIONS
New
Allows you to create a new Mindful file.
Open
Allows you to re-open a previously saved Mindful file.
Save Copy as
Allows you to save a copy of the current Mindful file under a
different name and/or location.
Information (version 2.1 and up)
Provides specific information about the Mindful data file currently
in use.
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Notes for Version 1 Users
If you are upgrading your copy of Mindful from version 1 to version 2,
please be aware of the following:
New Edition Names
In Mindful version 1, the free edition of Mindful was simply called
'Mindful' and the paid edition was called 'Mindful SE'. In version 2,
the free edition is called 'Mindful Lite' and the paid edition is
called 'Mindful'.
Mindful Lite Limitations
In version 2, the free edition (Mindful Lite) provides all the
features that are included in the paid edition. However, the number
of events and user accounts that can be created with the free edition
is limited to 12 (12 events and 12 user accounts).
If you are upgrading from Mindful version 1 (paid or free) to Mindful
2 Lite, and already have more than 12 events created, you
will not be able to edit those events or create new ones until you
either delete enough events to bring your event count down to 12 or
less, or upgrade to the standard (paid) edition.
Coexistence of 2 versions on the same computer
Mindful version 1 (free or paid) and Mindful version 2 (free or paid)
can coexist on the same computer. However, only one instance of
Mindful can run on your computer at any given time; while Mindful
version 1 is running, you won't be able to start Mindful 2.
If Mindful or Mindful SE version 1 is installed on your computer,
you don't have to uninstall it prior to installing Mindful
or Mindful Lite version 2. However, please make sure that you do not
install version 2 in the same folder as version 1.
Once Mindful 2 is installed on your computer, Mindful 1 will no
longer load automatically on system startup, but Mindful 2 will. If
you later uninstall Mindful 2 from your computer, Mindful 1 should
resume loading automatically again on system startup.
Event File Backward Compatibility
Please keep in mind that although Mindful version 2 can read event
files created with Mindful version 1, the reverse is not possible;
Mindful version 1 can NOT read files created (or updated) with
Mindful version 2.
Close Button Behavior Change
In version 1 (Mindful and Mindful SE), we had to deal with
conflicting user preferences for the Close button
 on Mindful
main window. While Windows standards indicate that the purpose of the
Close button on the caption bar of an application main window
is to close that application, some users expressed their preference
for this button to minimize the application to the notification area
instead of closing it.
By default, Mindful (as well as Mindful Lite) version 2 follows
Windows standards as explained above, but if you prefer to have the
application minimized to the notification area when you click the
Close button, you can change this behavior with a new
application preference that we have created for this purpose.
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Mindful Lite versus Mindful
There are two differences between Mindful Lite and Mindful (standard
edition).
- The number of events and user accounts that you can create with
Mindful Lite is limited to 12 (12 events and 12 user accounts).
- Mindful Lite is free for anyone to use indefinitely. Mindful
(standard edition) on the other hand is free to try for 30 days, but
requires the purchase a license to continue using it beyond
the 30-day evaluation period.
In terms of functionality, the two editions of Mindful are identical.
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Mindful and Mindful Lite for U3
A USB flash drive is a small, portable flash memory card that plugs
into the USB port of a computer and acts as a portable storage device
(hard drive). USB flash drives are known as being easy-to-use as they
are small enough to be carried in a pocket and can plug into any
computer with a USB port. A U3 smart device is a USB flash drive with
additional functionality. Software applications can be installed on
U3 smart devices and run directly from them while the device is
plugged into the USB port of any computer that supports the U3
technology (e.g. Windows XP and Vista).
Starting with version 2.1, Mindful and Mindful Lite are now available
in their respective U3 edition. The U3 edition of Mindful (or Mindful
Lite) can be installed on a U3 smart device and run directly from it.
Please note that the installation file is different between
the PC (Personal Computer) and U3 editions of Mindful and Mindful
Lite. Also, each permanent installation of Mindful requires its own
single-user license.
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System Requirements
PC Edition (Mindful or Mindful Lite):
- 486DX, 66MHz or higher processor
- Windows® 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, Vista
- 7MB available RAM recommended
- 3MB available hard disk space
U3 Edition (Mindful or Mindful Lite):
- Personal Computer running Windows® XP or Vista
- 7MB available RAM recommended
- U3 smart device with 3MB available disk space
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Upgrade Information
The latest version of Mindful (and Mindful Lite) is 2.2.
For a list of changes in this version and a complete
history of prior versions, please see
mfhistory.txt.
There are 2 kinds of upgrades for Mindful 2 Lite and Mindful 2
(standard edition); minor and major.
Minor Upgrade
A minor upgrade (also called 'update') consists of updating the
current version of a specific edition of Mindful already installed on
your computer to include its most recent modifications. For example,
upgrading from Mindful version 2.1 to Mindful version 2.2 (or from
Mindful Lite 2.1 to Mindful Lite 2.2). Minor upgrades are always free.
To apply a minor upgrade, all you have to do is install the most
current version of Mindful 2 (or Mindful 2 Lite) over the one already
installed on your computer. Simply follow the
installation instructions below to do so.
NOTE: Upgrading from Mindful Lite 2.x to Mindful 2.x (standard
edition) is a major upgrade; not a minor upgrade.
Major Upgrade
A major upgrade consists of upgrading from any other version and/or
edition of Mindful to Mindful 2 (standard edition). You need to
pay a small one-time fee to purchase a license for this kind of
upgrade. If you own a registered copy of Mindful SE (version 1), you
should be eligible for a discount when you upgrade to Mindful
version 2.x (standard edition). See
Order Information for more information.
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Installation on a PC (desktop or laptop)
IMPORTANT
The following instructions will only work for the installation of
Mindful or Mindful Lite on a personal computer (desktop or laptop). To
install Mindful or Mindful Lite on a U3 smart device, please see the
Installation instructions for U3 smart devices.
If Mindful or Mindful SE version 1 is installed on your
computer, please read the section entitled
Notes for Version 1 Users above prior to installing Mindful or
Mindful Lite version 2 on your computer.
To install Mindful or Mindful Lite version 2 on your computer:
- If Mindful (any version or edition) is currently running on your
computer, close it. To close Mindful, click
Exit on the Application menu.
- Click one of the following links to download the installation
file for the edition of Mindful that you want to install:
Depending on your web browser, you may be prompted to either open,
run or save the installation file. Click Save to save the
installation file on your computer in a folder of your choice.
- Once the download is complete, if there is an Open or
Run button displayed on the download dialog then click it to
open (run) the installation file. Otherwise take note of the
location where the installation file was saved and then run it from
that location either through Windows Explorer (locate and
double-click the installation file name) or through the Windows'
Run command (click the Windows Start button and then
click Run, provide the complete path of the installation
file, and click OK).
- Follow the installation file instructions to complete the
installation.
- Share the excitement.
Tell your friends and relatives about Mindful.
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Installation on a U3 smart device
IMPORTANT
The following instructions will only work for the installation of
Mindful or Mindful Lite on a U3 smart device. To install
Mindful (or Mindful Lite) directly on your computer (desktop or
laptop), please see the
Installation instruction for personal computers.
To install Mindful or Mindful Lite version 2 on your U3 smart device:
- Insert your U3 smart device into a USB port on your computer.
- If the U3 Launchpad is not set to start automatically, then
start it manually (run LaunchU3.exe on the first of the two drives
created when the U3 smart device was inserted into the USB port on
your computer).
- If Mindful (any version or edition) is currently running on your
computer, close it. To close Mindful, click
Exit on the Application menu.
- Click one of the following links to download the installation
file for the edition of Mindful that you want to install on your
U3 smart device:
Depending on your web browser, you may be prompted to either open,
run or save the installation file. Click Save to save the
installation file on your computer in a folder of your choice and
take note of the location where the file is being saved. You will
need to navigate to that file in step 7 below.
- Click the U3 icon in the notification area (system tray) to
display the U3 Launchpad menu.
- Select Add Programs and then click Install from My
Computer.
- Navigate to the location where the installation file for Mindful
(or Mindful Lite) was downloaded in step 4 above, select it and
click Open.
- Follow the installation file instructions to complete the
installation.
- Share the excitement.
Tell your friends and relatives about Mindful.
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Order Information
Mindful Lite (PC or U3 edition) is free to use
indefinitely and does not require any
user license. Simply follow the
installation instructions above to install
(or update) Mindful 2 Lite.
Mindful (standard edition) is free to try for 30 days, but requires
the payment of a low one-time license fee to continue using it
beyond its 30-day evaluation period.
If you purchased a
license for Midnful SE version 1 in the past, you may be
eligible for a discount to upgrade to Mindful version 2 (standard
edition). You can check your discount eligibility at
http://www.felitec.com/mfup.php. Please note that the upgrade
discount is for a limited time only.
To purchase a single-user license for Mindful 2 PC or
U3 edition, please
click here. Within one business day from
receiving your order, we will send you an email with your license
details and the instructions to unlock your copy of Mindful 2
permanently.
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