Replace the Windows System Tray Clock

Martin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:56:22 +0000

The Windows System Tray clock does not provide many ways to customize its appearance and format. The only two options that are available are to display the clock – or not – and to change the time. The position of the taskbar changes the information that the clock is displaying. The clock will only display the time on a horizontal Taskbar and provide date information when the user moves the mouse over the clock.

A vertical taskbar on the other hand displays the time, date and the weekday in the system tray. The best way to create a custom solution would be to use a third party tool like Timekeeper which can fully replace the Windows clock. Timekeeper adds itself to the available Toolbars of the Taskbar which can be selected by right-clicking the taskbar.

The Windows clock can be disabled in the same right-click menu as well. Timekeeper basically can display date and time information in multiple ways to suite the needs of the user. It comes with predefined time and date formats that can be added with just a click and custom ones where the user can pick the information that he wants to see.

Data can be placed separately in various formats. It is for example possible to display the time in 24 or 12 hour format with or without leading zeros. Several information are unique to the application and not provided by the Windows system clock. This includes displaying the timezone as well as day and week of year.

The software adds also visual elements that can be changed. The user can select an alignment for the clock, a text color, background color or choose a transparent background and even the font. That’s great if a custom theme is being used or if the user wants a larger font for the time so that he can see it better.

Tags: clock, system-tray, timekeeper, Windows, windows clock

Change the Windows System Tray Clock

Martin — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:41:58 +0000

The default clock that is shown on every Windows operating system in the lower left corner was always a thorn in my eyes. It displayed the time but the current date was always a click away. I always wanted to change this and customize the way the clock was displayed in the system tray leaving the boundaries of the Microsoft clock.

Tclock 2 is a freeware that offers a simple way to customize the system tray clock the way you want. The main feature is the ability to select the exact format of the data and time in the system tray by either choosing a locale like English (United States) or using a fully customized form like hh:nn:ss mm/dd/yy for it.

It is furthermore possible to use AM/PM, 12H instead of 24H and write the months and days instead of using digits for them. That is however not all that can be achieved. You are free to select the font, the font size, the position and height plus width of the clock.

Still not convinced ? The software does not need to be installed and can be run from any location. It adds functions to synchronize the clock with Internet servers, alarm functions, a calendar and ways to customize the taskbar and start button as well.

This is really a nice software that I’m going to use from now on.

Tags: add date windows, customize windows clock, tclock2, windows clock

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Replace the Windows System Tray Clock

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Change the Windows System Tray Clock

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