An alarm can be very handy for computer users, not only to signal the end of the work day but also other events. Say you have an appointment or business meeting in ten minutes, a lunch break or need to wait another five minutes before your coffee is ready. While you could do that by looking at the clock or your watch regularly, an alarm would make it less work intrusive.

Ghacks reader Odio just mentioned the Windows Gadget Alarm Clock which adds alarm functionality to the Windows operating system. When you first install it you will only see a red clock on your desktop. A click opens the configuration menu where you can configure the looks and alarms.

First thing you need to do is to click in the enable alarm check box to enable the functionality. Then you either need to select a time period, e.g. five minutes from now, or a specific time of the day. The alarm clock displays the set alarm above the current time.

A click on the Wrench icon opens the options. Here it is possible to change the color of the clock, the alarm sound, the alarm loop and the appearance of the clock on the desktop. The clock uses a 24-hour style by default which can be changed to a 12-hour time conversion convention (am / pm). The default sound of the alarm is not well suited for that purpose (Windows Balloon on the test system). It is advised to select another audio file for the alarm sound.

The desktop alarm clock is a handy gadget for Windows. It is on the other hand rather limited in functionality. There is for instance no option to configure multiple alarms or recurring alarms. Options to link the alarm functionality to calendar applications provided by Outlook would be handy as well.

Windows users can download the Alarm Clock gadget from the developer website. Check out How To Uninstall Gadgets In Windows 7 for uninstallation instructions.

Good Timing is a computer alarm clock software for the Windows operating system that comes with additional timer functionality. The computer program will display four windows upon program start. These windows display the time till the next alarm, a configuration window to add new timers and alarms, a log detailing all the changes and the main program window listing all alarms and timers that have been created by the user.

All windows except the main window can be closed after the configuration. The main window can be minimized to the system tray. Each configured alarm or timer is made up of required and optional parameters. The required parameters for the computer alarm clock configuration obviously require the type and time while the option parameters include dates, days, sounds, notes, commands and other parameters that finetune the alarm.

Good Timing is a free download that is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

First of all it is an alarm clock program for the PC and it seems as if it was not updated in the near past. It is however working perfectly and could be a great asset for every user who wants to use an alarm clock program on the PC to wake him up every day.

The main feature of the College Alarm clock program (discovered at Donation Coder is to set a different alarm for every day of the week. This means it is possible to vary the alarm on a daily basis which includes the option to not use an alarm at all on some days.

The alarm clock program lets the user define the type of alarm as well. The choice ranges from playing an audio file from the PC, a track from a CD or a beeping sound that uses a specific Hz setting. It is possible to select any audio file on the computer that can be played with the default audio player unlike many other alarm clock programs who restrict the audio files to wav only.

Update: The College Alarm Clock software has been discontinued and the developer website deleted. The program is still available on third party sites, for instance on the Portable Freeware Collection website. The program should work fine on most Windows operating systems, but since it is not updated anymore it is likely that it will eventually stop working.