“I am so lazy about making hard-copy to-do lists. I make them, and then misplace them. I often wish my computer could hold a ‘master’ to-do list that could pop a reminder screen in front of my face on occasion….any suggestions on software or programs that might do this?”

Try Outlook and schedule tasks to get done as pop ups! You can add Birthdays, meetings, special dates too. If you have an email with important info in it you can simply drag it to your calendar and schedule a time to have it pop up for you to deal with! There is also Remember The Milk app for your SmartPhone that will do the same!
-Sarah