Update: This article has been updated to remove all references to “Post-It” notes which is a trademark of 3M Company.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 ship with a handy Sticky Notes gadget that you may use to quickly jot down notes, shopping lists, to-do lists or anything else. Just start the Sticky Notes app and you can place those yellow stickers anyone on the desktop. Similarly, there’s a Scratch Pad gadget in Google Desktop for capturing text notes without opening external applications like Outlook or Notepad.

Both are fairly decent solutions but if you are running an older version of Windows or are looking for a standalone version of the sticky notes, try Hott Notes. This is a free application for creating yellow sticky notes and offers some unique features - you can either write normal text notes or compose a TO DO list or switch to the scribble mode and draw on the sticky note instead of writing any text.

Hott Notes has a portable version so you can easily download the program on a USB Flash drive and carry your notes wherever you go. Your sticky notes stay in the background but once you invoke the Note Desktop mode - all other windows get dimmed except the notes - that makes managing notes very easy.