LCM’s Recommended
Desktop Weather Applications
Walter Robinson II, LCM
Copyrighted © All Rights Reserved ® 2003
Document may be used only with permission.
A Note About My
Recommendations
Obviously, we cannot and will not be liable for any problems that can be
incurred by those using the software applications we recommend here. I do not
have enough computers or time to try every application on every type of computer
with every type of operating system available today. Make sure that you check
the system requirements, and take a look at the Frequently
Asked Questions
(FAQs) on the suppliers’ websites. Lastly,
I also suggest that you look for any problem issues that are often mentioned on
the best websites that offer software applications to the public.
I recommend the following applications because I have used them and found
them to be easy to setup, effective, and trouble free.
Weather Watcher
For Desktop and Pocket PC
First reviewed around July of 2004. Updated August 7, 2007
Weather Watcher Main
Application Window
Click here or the image above
to go to the site to download.
Weather Watcher,
by
Singer's
Creations, is an excellent desktop weather application. It installed with no
problems and is easy to setup. The
main application display (screenshot above) is loaded with all you need, and is clearly
readable and understandable. I have been using weather watcher for several years
and have had no problems. The author is constantly updating and squashing any
minor bugs that have popped up over the last few years.
If you click on the
link in the main application’s window, your browser will launch and display the
detailed extended forecast for your selected city as presented by
The
Weather Channel.
Weather Watcher has a
customizable icon that resides in
your Windows task tray that reflects the current temperature. If you pass your mouse
cursor over it, you get a neat little Tooltip popup (see screenshot below) that
will show as much information as you want.
Weather Watcher Tray Tooltip
In my opinion,
Weather Watcher is top of the line and a first choice product! Even better,
Weather Watcher is truly FREE, including free from ads and
pop-ups!
Lastly, there is also a
Weather Watcher Pocket PC version! I use it extensively while I am
traveling or if I am away from my laptop. It does not have all the features like
its bigger brother desktop version because of the Windows Mobile PPC platform, but it is also
top of the line. It is also completely FREE! (See screenshot below.)
Click
here on the above image to go to that section
and download Weather Watcher for Pocket PC.
The author of these
excellent products also has other free software applications that you can try
out. A list is found at
http://www.singerscreations.com/Software.asp Download and enjoy!
Many thanks and kudos
to Mark Singer!
The Weather Channel's Desktop Weather®
First reviewed around July 2004
http://www.weather.com
(Click on the 'Weather Tools' Link in the
top right section of their navigational bar.)
Living here in the southern
Caribbean, it is wise to keep abreast on the tropical Atlantic during the rainy
season, which is also hurricane season (June thru November). Since
we live in 'hurricane alley,' there are several sites that I usually
check everyday to view radar images and read weather statements about any
weather than could be coming our way.
September of 2003, it suddenly
dawned on me that there was likely some neat little software application that
would sit quietly in my task tray while running in the background to keep me
posted on the weather. Several months back or so I had tried one such
application from ‘The Weather Channel (TWC),’ but it was
limited to the United States in scope, so I uninstalled it and forgot about it
for the time being.
Among others, I faithfully check the Weather Channel’s
website at least a couple of times a day for reports and images. I even placed a
constantly undated image from them on a page on my website that provides up-to-date weather information for Grenada and its possessions. (Click here to see)
One day late in August or early September 2003 when I visited their site, I
saw a really neat little animated graphic floating across my screen
promoting their ‘Desktop Weather®’
application. On the
page that described the application, I read the following;
“Desktop Weather gives you
FREE instant access to The Weather Channel with the current temperature
and severe weather alerts always on your desktop!”
I hoped that they had enhanced their software more and
expanded its coverage to include my region of the world, so I downloaded the
software and installed it. In a word, I loved it right off the bat.
However, the next day when I
turned my computer on, a couple of ‘pop-up’ ads suddenly appeared on my desktop
out of nowhere. I had not even accessed the web yet, though I was connected to
the net. Sure enough, it was the TWC’s Desktop Weather®
application that was generating the pop-ups. Grrrrrr! I thought this
application was supposed to be ‘FREE,’ not ‘adware’ supported by ‘pop-ups!
Interestingly, on another
page that promotes both the free and ‘premium’ pay version of Desktop
Weather, the Weather Channel’s website states; “The Weather Channel
is committed to the safety and privacy of our customers and certifies that these
products DO NOT include spyware" or "parasite" files.” Notice that they
did not mention ‘adware.’
Granted, I saw nothing offensive
in their pop-up advertisements. But that is all I remember about them because I
focused only on killing them as soon as they appeared without invitation on my
desktop.
Notwithstanding, Desktop
Weather® is top notch. It installed without any problems and it
is specifically informative for any area you choose. But I do not like getting
caught by surprise with adware, particularly coming from a top notch weather
reporting agency like The Weather Channel. They also use pop-up
ads on their website, but I use tools to kill those before they get before my
eyes. I do not mind the ads they embed on their website. Nor do I mind the ads
they regularly change and embed in their Desktop Weather
application’s right display window. But pop-ups on my desktop? That is
going too far for me.
I wrote them a letter of complaint
stating that they should have warned people about their adware pop-ups before
people go through the trouble of downloading and installing their software. I am
waiting to see what they say. In the mean time, if you don’t mind the pop-ups,
TWC’s Desktop Weather® is top
notch and worked flawlessly for me—before I uninstalled it.
NOTE: As of
August 7, 2007, I still have not gotten any response from them. Thus, I have not
updated my opinion on any updates of their product.
Revised:
March 09, 2009.
|
