diff --git a/core/prelude-core.el b/core/prelude-core.el
index 802cc2d..bfb98a8 100644
--- a/core/prelude-core.el
+++ b/core/prelude-core.el
@@ -63,19 +63,6 @@ PROMPT sets the `read-string prompt."
 (prelude-install-search-engine "github"     "https://github.com/search?q="                 "Search GitHub: ")
 (prelude-install-search-engine "duckduckgo" "https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q="              "Search DuckDuckGo: ")
 
-(defun prelude-todo-ov-evaporate (_ov _after _beg _end &optional _length)
-  (let ((inhibit-modification-hooks t))
-    (if _after (ov-reset _ov))))
-
-(defun prelude-annotate-todo ()
-  "Put fringe marker on TODO: lines in the current buffer."
-  (interactive)
-  (ov-set (format "[[:space:]]*%s+[[:space:]]*TODO:" comment-start)
-          'before-string
-          (propertize (format "A")
-                      'display '(left-fringe right-triangle))
-          'modification-hooks '(prelude-todo-ov-evaporate)))
-
 (defun prelude-recompile-init ()
   "Byte-compile all your dotfiles again."
   (interactive)
diff --git a/core/prelude-packages.el b/core/prelude-packages.el
index b1a9d97..e9ce53a 100644
--- a/core/prelude-packages.el
+++ b/core/prelude-packages.el
@@ -75,8 +75,8 @@
     god-mode
     grizzl
     guru-mode
+    hl-todo
     imenu-anywhere
-    ov
     projectile
     magit
     move-text
diff --git a/modules/prelude-programming.el b/modules/prelude-programming.el
index 3fc8d63..a3f3d1b 100644
--- a/modules/prelude-programming.el
+++ b/modules/prelude-programming.el
@@ -35,18 +35,14 @@
 (defun prelude-local-comment-auto-fill ()
   (set (make-local-variable 'comment-auto-fill-only-comments) t))
 
-(defun prelude-font-lock-comment-annotations ()
-  "Highlight a bunch of well known comment annotations.
-
-This functions should be added to the hooks of major modes for programming."
-  (font-lock-add-keywords
-   nil '(("\\<\\(\\(FIX\\(ME\\)?\\|TODO\\|OPTIMIZE\\|HACK\\|REFACTOR\\):\\)"
-          1 font-lock-warning-face t))))
-
 ;; show the name of the current function definition in the modeline
 (require 'which-func)
 (which-function-mode 1)
 
+;; font-lock annotations like TODO in source code
+(require 'hl-todo)
+(global-hl-todo-mode 1)
+
 ;; in Emacs 24 programming major modes generally derive from a common
 ;; mode named prog-mode; for others, we'll arrange for our mode
 ;; defaults function to run prelude-prog-mode-hook directly.  To
@@ -74,8 +70,7 @@ This functions should be added to the hooks of major modes for programming."
     (guru-mode +1))
   (smartparens-mode +1)
   (prelude-enable-whitespace)
-  (prelude-local-comment-auto-fill)
-  (prelude-font-lock-comment-annotations))
+  (prelude-local-comment-auto-fill))
 
 (setq prelude-prog-mode-hook 'prelude-prog-mode-defaults)