Reminder/alarm program for windows?

February 12, 2013 1:30 PM

Are there any good programs that I can set up to always run in the background that will allow me to schedule an alarm/alert that will pop up on my niece's computer?

My niece needs to attend online live lessons at certain times during the week, but she has trouble remembering - she can remember that it's in 15 minutes, but then gets absorbed in something else, and forgets to log in to the live lesson. The live lessons are at different times on different days.

They have an actual alarm clock, but keep forgetting to set it. They do not have smartphones.

Anything she needs to log in to will likely not work, i.e. Gmail/google calendar.

Free would be ideal, but if I need to purchase a program so she can make it to her classes, I'm happy to do that.

posted by needlegrrl to computers & internet (6 answers total)

If she's on windows, then the built in task scheduler will do this for her easily. Just choose "create a basic task" on the menu and it'll walk you through the process.
posted by merocet at 1:54 PM on February 12 [3 favorites]

iCal does this if you are on a mac.
posted by Vaike at 1:55 PM on February 12

Sorry, just read you were looking for a windows solution. If they have iCal for windows, it should do it for you.
posted by Vaike at 1:56 PM on February 12

you can use google calendar to send an SMS to her phone.
posted by HuronBob at 3:07 PM on February 12

merocet's suggestion is the best free method. Similar to HuronBob's suggestion you could use http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ for free to send a reminder to most IM programs (e.g. skype or AIM or anything else she uses).
posted by samj at 11:24 PM on February 12

Sadly, Google Calendar doesn't support pre-paid phones, which is what she has. Thanks - I'm going to set up task scheduler!
posted by needlegrrl at 4:33 PM on February 18