Tagalongs is a wonderful little program that lets you create an unlimited number of pop-up text messages that can also play sound files. A Tagalongs window can attached to and pop-up when

1. a menu item is selected,
2. the mouse passes over a certain area of a screen,
3. a dialog box or application opens,
4. when a file is opened in an application, (e.g. opening a document file in a word processor) or
5. you move the cursor to a button, control or area of the screen

You can add these Tagalongs messages to any Windows application at any time. The Tagalongs message files can be copied and distributed to other computers.

How does it work

Tagalongs is relatively easy to use, but you will need to read the short user guided and spend about a day with the product to fully understand how it works. The Tagalongs application window is a small always-on-top window with a post-it note icon. To add a Tagalongs message, you simply drag a post-it note to the area of the screen where you want the note to appear. You can then type the note and change the notes property settings to have the note appear when the application is opened or when the user moves the mouse or cursor into a defined area.

Assessment

The Tagalongs text display capabilities are very basic. While your can change the font face and background color, these changes apply to all the text in a single note. You won't be able to add bold faced titles.

We had some difficulty displaying a Tagalongs note when the cursor moved to an area of the screen. It worked fine on a text field in Lotus Approach data entry screen but not in a Lotus Notes document. I also experienced some difficulty using Tagalongs with Microsoft Internet Explorer. While I could attach a note to a frame, the note persisted when I moved out of the framed view. I had to first click on the Tagalongs note window and then outside the note to make it disappear. I also had some difficulty creating a note that was activated by a mouse movement in an area of an HTML document displayed in a frame.

Even though Tagalongs doesn't work meticulously with every windows application, it can be a very useful product in the right circumstances. Its easy of use and change on the fly flexibility, can empower software end user to create the kind of pop-up note messages that will improve performance.

You can get more information and an evaluation copy of Tagalongs from the Sideware Systems web site at http://www.sideware.com/