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Introduction
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| Windows comes with a tray clock and, yes, it displays the time. However, many think that it is too basic in its functionality and would wish for more features and display options. There are a few free tray clock replacements out there that might just do the extra bit you're looking for. Here is a review of the ones we favor. |
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Discussion
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 TClock Lite is a vastly improved replacement for the standard Windows tray clock. It provides all the benefits of the original as well as many enhancements and a number of useful additional features. It achieves this with a tiny footprint and doesn't even require installation. Given the tiny size, the power of this program is most impressive. Less impressive is the help file which is brief and not particularly helpful. However the program is so well laid-out and simple to use that it's not really an issue. You might get a warning from your security software that TClock is potential spyware. It's not. It's just picking up the fact that it modifies explorer.exe to display the clock. The 2nd link below is to the Japanese author's site. You'll see some strange characters displayed but the "download" (sic) link is clear enough.
 If you want an alternative, try the classic TClockEx that offers similar functionality to TClock Lite. It hasn't been updated for a while, but appears to run OK on Windows XP systems.
 LClock is my last, but by no means least, recommendation. It pops up its own calendar with a single click on the tray clock, which you can use it for reminders and to-dos. It all works marvelously well and you get a clock display that looks like the one in Vista. LClock is based on TClock lite but doesn't allow a simultaneous time and date display.
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Editor
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This software category is in need of an editor. If you are interested in taking it over, please email Elizabeth, our editorial co-ordinator with a little bit about your background and in particular, whether you have any commercial affiliation with products in this category.
If you are currently logged in, you can contact Elizabeth directly by clicking here, if not then click here.
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TClockEX does have a popup calendar, and also can show physical ram available as well as memory load, and the time display shows seconds. How all this is displayed can be adjusted, and it runs on W/9x-Vista. Here is my Tclock properties for Tue, 9-15\-/08:45:34\-/1,513-26 the latter two figures being the ram available and load: ddd, M-d\-/hh:mm:ss\-/R-L
Under W/9x it also can show system resources and cpu activity. What would be good would be a TClock that shows the latter under recent window versions (and one for Linux also) and also shows disk temperatures. For the latter and more, I found is Active@ Hard Disk Monitor to be the best, showing temps in the sys. tray. May God bless those who make this good stuff.
i wish that guy would wear a watch and give it a rest. hey deselms, thanks for the zip of stoic's clock
michael
AlfaClock is SCAMWARE...the website CLAIMS that it's free, entices you to install it, then tells you that you gotta pay to use it.
Avoid this scumbag developer.
I would not call it scamware, but it appears that the free edition is no longer available as of July, 2009.
For the free version (1.99), the website does indicate
"AlfaClock Free Edition 1.99 build March 31, 2009 expires at July, 2009"
The download available now is called "free edition", but when you go to install it is for version 2.44 and the EULA indicates that it must be registered to remove limitations. Registration is for a fee.
I did not complete the installation.
Apparently it is now shareware only:
http://www.alfasoftweb.com/alfaclock/help/license.asp
Edit Per the information in your post, this software has been removed from the article. Thanks.
Does anyone know of a simple utility that lets me change the timezone? I know how to do it normally, but I use a linux machine that has a great clock that lets you set cities up and when you travel, you select the city and it changes the timezone on the machine... perfect! Before I go grab the source and start trying to dust off my coding skills, I was wondering if such a beast already exists.
I travel for work and I like to change the clock to the timezone that I am in so that everything adjusts accordingly. The delivered mechanism for changing the timezone in the OS really assumes you are selecting it once so it is clunky.
Check posts at http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-time-correction-utility.htm
Zeonalarm thought TLite was a spyware worm: http://smartdefense.zonealarm.com/tmpl/SpywareArticle?action=detail&sid=...
DS Clock is sort of interesting. I stuck it in the top center of my screen with brilliant maroon red background and florescent green letters. Can be set to chime. Use the line break separator to put time on one line and Date on second.
http://www.dualitysoft.com/dsclock/?about?version=2.2r
Not sure if it fits this category however.
Neat! Love the chimes... a definite vote.
Unfortunately alfaclock free expires, March 2009 and an update has not been posted yet. When the nag screen comes up it looks like you can evaluate it for another month before having to register and pay for alfaclock 2.
Gizmo, download.com does not have the free version anymore, it says 1.90 but the one you get is 1.91 (1.91 or something, it's been a while).
This is the only site still hosting the REAL free version:
AlfaClock Free 1.90 1.75 MB
http://drn.digitalriver.com/category.php%5Baction%5Dbrowse&i=100&id=46&f...
Unfortunately the download does not work any more from the above link. Have just tried it with both Firefox and IE.
I remember downloading and installing the very first version of TClock on a Windows 95 machine (if I recall, it was the one by a guy who called himself Kazubon) back in '95 or '96. I've been a user of one form or another of TClock ever since... through Win9x, NT, 2K, XP and now Vista (though only the one I used on Win9x was Kazubon's). It has since been in the public domain; and one of the reasons there are so many versions out there is that from Kazubon's very first version, his source code has always been available to anyone who wanted to take a shot at trying to improve it. Kazubon's is the "TClock Lite" version discussed in this story; and his older versions may also be found on the site earlier-linked-to in the article on this web page.
Unfortunately, as someone pointed-out in these comments, Kazubon's versions don't work properly (at least not completely properly) on Vista.
In 2003 a guy who called himself "Two_toNe" (his real name was -- and hopefully still is -- Tom Crouson) took a whack at it and wrote a very nice and feature-rich version which not-insignificantly outpaced Kazubon's version (and even out-paces Kazubon's newer TClock Lite); and which ran on versions of Windows from Win9x through ME through NT through 2K and up to XP (but specifically not Vista). It was very slick... but required elevated privileges to run, and had some other persnickety issues. Though Crouson has disappeared from the TClock world (hopefully only that, and not the actual world, as well), his version (and even its source code) is still available here
Then, in 2006 the hands-down best version ever written (in my opinion) was created by a guy who called (and still calls) himself "Stoic Joker." His "T-Clock 32" product remains best-of-breed for 32-bit XP and Vista users; and will run on 2K machines... and, who knows, maybe even earlier Windows versions as well. And that's the version to which the poster here who calls himself "spookcentral" was referring. Though Stoic Joker's version is ever-so-slightly less feature-rich than Crouson's version (upon which Stoic Joker's version was based), it retained all of the most salient things. What Stoic Joker was shooting for, mostly, was no requirement of administrator elevation, increased stability, a few little additional nice touches as long as he was at it, and Vista compatibility.
Sadly, of late (at least as of this writing), Stoic Joker's web site has been dysfunctional, and so no one has been able to download from it his superior version of T-Clock. And I haven't been able to find it anywhere... er... well... actually, NoNags appears to have a copy, but you have to pay to join in order to download it. NoNags's link to download it from the author's site is, of course, broken.
I even tried to send Stoic Joker an email about it some time ago... but it bounced back.
So, then, for all of my clients' machines, and even my wife's new notebook, I've had to go into the "installed" folder of my "download" folder on my machine to find the old .ZIP file version of the product that I downloaded from Stoic Joker's then-working web site back in 2006 or 2007 (T-Clock 32 version 1.0.1). For now, that seems to be working just fine in 32-bit Vista... but I've sure wished I could find more recent versions (I had heard that he was up to version 3-something, but I never verified that).
Then, not too awfully long ago, I happened to find a forum populated largely by programmers; and in which Stoic Joker had made some postings where he explained that he had had a monster motherboard problem and somehow lost a bunch of his original code libraries for his most recent 32- and 64-bit versions of T-Clock (yes, we'll all be chastising him about not making backups the first chance we get). He stated in the posting that he still had a copy of the pre-release build of his latest version, and was starting from there trying to get back to where he was before the motherboard problem... and then, of course, continue beyond...
...but he wrote that the new trouble he's having is that when he upgraded to the 64-bit version of Vista SP1, and upgraded his copy of Microsoft Visual Studio to its most recent service pack, suddenly the 64-bit version of his T-Clock code started crashing the shell. And he's apparently not been able, thus far, to figure out why and make it stop doing it (though I have every confidence that he eventually will).
That forum thread was recent enough (early 2009) that, as of this writing, I would guess that that probably explains why his site's down and no one's heard from him for a while. He's apparently right in the middle of trying to figure it all out... which is fine...
...but it's too bad that he doesn't (or at least apparently doesn't) see the value of keeping his site up and simply explaining the problem there; and then having copies of at least the last good working versions up on the site for download for those willing to use whatever version works for them while he regroups.
Absent that, I have at least my trusty .ZIP file copy of T-Clock ver 1.0.1 which I'm only too happy to share with Gizmo's site visitors and readers (and with anyone else whom they might happen to refer). I've uploaded it to my web server so that it can be downloaded by anyone who'd like it.
Again, it's his 2006 version, but that's the one that positively works (and I mean every single feature) on not only 32- and 64-bit XP, but on 32- and 64-bit Vista, as well!
Hope that helps. Enjoy!
Thank you very much for exchanging all this information.
Have you thought of applying to become a Site Editor <?
I've no idea if your dl link will survive, but I can confirm that I've downed the file, and it's certainly safe (BUT REMEMBER) I'm just a near-anonymous voice on the net just like you, so it's at your OWN risk.
peter wrote:
"I have no idea if your dl link will survive..."
DesElms's reply:
Hmm. Well... hmmm... um... I don't see why not. I mean... I'm not promoting anything which benefits me; it's not a virus or anything harmful; it's not a direct downloadable file link (which I've noticed around here tends to be the thing that gets deleted most often)... and people link to software around here all the time. I trust (or maybe more accurately, I'm now asking) that one of the moderators or editors or whatever will tell me here if I shouldn't have done that. In fact, frankly, the biggest reason I bothered to make a web page that explains it, and from which the file can be downloaded, is so that my link here would not be a direct link to a downloadable file. In that sense, then, it's no different than when anyone around here links to a web page somewhere which explains a piece of software, and from which said software can then be downloaded. I was hoping that that would make it so that my link here would not be deleted. But, again, if someone who works for this site would just provide some guidance on this matter, that would be helpful. Thanks for your concern, though.
peter wrote:
"...I can confirm that ... it's certainly safe (BUT REMEMBER) I'm just a near-anonymous voice on the net just like you, so it's at your OWN risk."
DesElms's reply:
Well, you're not that anonymmous... I mean, we at least know your first name is Peter, right? [grin] But seriously... part of the magic and marvel of the Internet is the ease and effectiveness with which pretty much anyone -- even the "near anonymous" -- can have a voice. It's a double-edged sword, of course, since it can be used for both good things and bad things (hence your "OWN RISK" warning to the readers), but it's a truly amazing thing, no matter how it's sliced... something I'm old enough to recognize perhaps more easily than young folks who have grown-up with the Internet. Anyway, thanks for downloading it and verifying here that it is what I claim, and that it's virus-free and whatnot. I'm curious if you found my instructions on the web page adequate, and if it's working correctly on your machine.... stuff like that. Let us know.
peter wrote:
"Have you thought of applying to become a Site Editor?"
DesElms's reply:
Thanks for the suggestion. Actually, I mentioned it to Gizmo, kind of in passing, along with sending him a few suggestions for a few categories, back a few months ago when the old version of this site was up and running; and he was right in the middle of trying to get this new one up and running... so the whole thing kinda' got tabled... which was perfectly fine with me. I've since had communication with Elizabeth here about it and... well... we'll see what happens, I guess.
This site could clearly use some section editors. I recognize some of the copy in some of the sections from the old site; and other sections seem to have overlooked some of the newer products that I personally think worthy of review. I'm sure it's difficult to get people to work here... what with it being volunteer and all. That said, I know there are many people who, like me, I think, just want to help others get the straight skinny on things... and many of them are editors here... and do a fine job. This site definitely needs more work to keep it up to date, though. The software world moves so fast, though, that that's a tall order regardless. Again, we'll see what happens.
One of the things that has always attracted me to this place is that it clearly has no commercial ulterior motives. Gizmo obviously just wants to get the information out there... which is a motive after my own heart. The only thing that concerns me about it is the ease with which readers can be misled by the very part of this site in which you and I are now engaging: The comments area. That said, there is a self-policing/self-correcting sort of aspect to it. When someone comes in here and posts something misleading, others tend to point it out...
...yet another feature of the Internet which contributes to its being truly amazing. The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington talked about this interesting self-leveling aspect (and many other interesting things about the Internet, and herself) in what I consider to be one of her best interviews with Charlie Rose last December 4th, viewable here. Worth a watch.
But now I'm digressing... sorry.
We welcome digression & are certainly in sympathy with self-leveling community ideals, some sort of democracy (whoops ... I forgot/no politics.)
Permitting your link to remain was some sort of tribute to your time, trouble and helpfulness.
I do "work for the site", incidentally ... but you can't be sure that's true.
"Will survive"
I meant that although I think your link and expression is fine, others (& other mods) may disagree. One small problem is that if it does get cut, there's very little chance it'll re-appear.
Hey, What about Analog Clock in system tray? Isn't it interesting?
http://www.analogclock.info
it has become free. and it's very cool. calendar on hover, cool skins, and continuous second movement. Check it out.
Rgds,
Aris Adrianto
StartClock replaces the word "Start" in the start menu button with the time, and optionally date. XP only. To minimize screen space used, do Ctrl-Alt-C and select "24 hour clock" only. Go to http://startclock.osnn.net
Is there any tools that shows the full year calender like this http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/Calendar.php ?
Try ereminder at giveawaytheday - TODAY ONLY
I set my format to ddd, mmm d, h:nn
However, I still like to have an actual calendar appear when I hover over the date/time. that is why I like QuickMonth Calendar.
You might also try "TopMost Clock." Lots of customization available and it is FREE. I have mine set to show an analog clock without seconds, sized to just over 1 inch diameter, with full digital read-out of time and date just below. All of this is in the lower right corner of my screen. The website is
www.softdemon.com/freeclock/. Wade Keever
I like Clocx referred to by Bob earlier. There are alarm and calendar features, the date can be shown on the clock face and the analogue display's transparency can be adjusted. http://clocx.zde.cz
Please check out Timekeeper:
http://www.12noon.com/index.htm
Freeware, has been updated to work with Vista and has features most people need.
As Clive previously stated:
Today’s date & time can be displayed simultaneously if you:
• go to LC properties
• click on the Clock tab
• change “show” to Day of Month
• choose 12 hour time
• Apply
The hour is shown full size & minutes & date shown about half size.
Just for grins, I tried TClock Lite on Vista. Amazingly, it works. I don't think every function works, but the tray clock and synchronizer do.
Steve
Steve, I'm a new vista user and I created a directory under programs (x86) and put the Tclock lite files in it. But when I click on the application nothing happens, what did you do to get it to work?
Thanks for any help
Kevin
I like AlfaClock Free V 1.90 using the ddd~ ~MMM ~dd ~yyyy %time~ format for full day, date and time display and it also has calendaring but not alarms, reminders and todo's. So I want to try LC with Clive's suggestions for date and time display. X'nBeep whilst not a taskbar clock looks good on the desktop too and with a soon to be 2.00 release will provide the calendaring to go with the clock and alarm functions.
Hi
I tried TClock Lite, but it does not seem to start when Windows starts up.
Is this normal?
Thanks
Hi,
Go to the folder you have TClock Lite downloaded to, and right Click on the TClock Lite.exe.
On the context menu, click create short-cut. Now leave the TClock Lite file opened.
Next go to your Start ---- All Programs ---- and scroll to your Start folder. Double click on it to open it to your desktop.
Now go back to your TClock Lite folder, and drag your newly made TClock short-cut to your Start folder.
If everything went right, TClock Lite will take the place of your Windows clock, and start when Windows starts.
You can modify TClocks settings and fonts. as well as the colors for the fonts, and the toolbar colors where the clock sits. It's a two color selection, and I have mine set to black for one color and hot pink for the other one. I have my fonts set to light blue.
Also, you can change the words on the Start button in Windows to anything you want. You can change the colors of the fonts, as well as the fonts themselves. I have mine set to my name, and the color is hot pink.
I hope this answers your question.
Jeannaford
Hi
Thanks very much for the information!
Dear gizmo, is there a software with an analog clock display on the desktop which is freeware? Thank you.
How about this one - http://ixite.ru/exe/chronodesk/ ;)
Unfortunately the page and the program are in Russian. But the idea! :)
Could I hazard a possible answer?
I don't know your exact needs, but to help keep a closer eye on the time I use TicTocTitle, one of Skrommel's "1 hour software" creations available from Donation Coder:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#TicTocTitle
TicTocTitle puts a simple little digital text display of the time (and date if you want) either at the top of your desktop or in the taskbar of your currently active window. It's easy enough to configure the display format (eg Title string: "H:mm") and exact placement. I'd happily recommend TicTocTitle as a sort of "tray clock supplement" to anyone trying not to lose track of time while at the computer.
P.S. "ClocX" is a genuine desktop clock with mouse-over configurability and plenty of skins to choose from. But unfortunately it doesn't go digital.
Sorry - I‘ve just realised I completely misread the original question!
As TClock versions tested seemed good products then the TClock as suggested by Paul R certainly seems to be an improvement on those which must be pretty impressive. Although I didn't actually install and test it, if it lives up to its promises and works as well as the other versions it certainly seems a great product.
Beta Clock has very few functions and appearances that worked on my system (XP Pro SP2). It had only one visualisation alarms and wasn't impressive at all. Then when I just stopped it, it crashed Windows Explorer.
Thanks to the other guys also for their suggestions and comments.
Jim.
Beta Clock is very manageable and works fine with Vista. Don't you all think?
You list TClock, but don't list a new program built upon it:
T-Clock by Stoic Joker
http://www.stoicjoker.com/TClock/
Unlike TClock and TClockEx (which I currently use), this works in 32-bit & 64-bit versions of Windows.
--
Yours Truly,
Paul R.
* Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion
Actually, Stoic Joker's version (or, more accurately, at least the one that's been most widely available out there) isn't really all that new. But it is considered by many to be the best... and maybe it is the newest of the ones out there. Stoic Joker actually stripped-out a lot of features from his version, leaving in only the most useful. By so doing, he made it leaner and meaner, I think. And his is the one version which is well-known to absolutely work on both 32-bit and 64-bit Vista (as well as older Windows versions, too). I don't know if anyone has tested it yet on Windows 7, but I have a hunch it'll work on that, too.
Apparently Stoic Joker's web site (to which you link, spookcentral) is down a lot. So, there's a guy (who I think posts here now and then) who put up an unofficial "T-Clock by Stoic Joker" page (with no advertising or anything bad on it) from which people can download Stoic Joker's version of T-Clock whenever his own site is down. The unofficial site also has some useful configuration information on it which I've never seen anywhere else.
The Unofficial Stoic Joker T-Clock page:
http://www.greggdeselms.com/tclock.html
There's also a note on that page from which I learned something about a new feature in Windows 7 that will allow T-Clock-like changes to the appearance of the Win7 System Tray clock, even without using T-Clock. I found that kind of interesting, for whatever it's worth.
Removed "things for sale" advertising.
Dear Gizmo,
In your review of LClock you said:
LClock doesn't allow a simultaneous time and date display. Ah, perfection is so elusive ;>)
I have discovered that you can get today’s date & time displayed simultaneously if you:
• go to LC properties
• click on the Clock tab
• change “show” to Day of Month
• choose 12 hour time
• Apply
You should now have hour shown full size & minutes & date shown about half size. I have italicized my date to differentiate it from the minutes.
Regards,
Clive
I like "TClock Lite" but it does not have a calendar. So I added "QuickMonth Calendar" which works quite well with "TClock Lite". Get "QuickMonth Calendar" here:
http://www.codedawn.com/home/quickmonth-calendar/
I tried LClock but prefer the combination of "TClock Lite" and "QuickMonth Calendar". If you use it this way, you will want to turn off the "Tooltip" option in TClock.
TClock Lite has a calendar, and you can format it anyway you like. I have mine set to display the day, month and date. This I have modified to display on the first line, and for the second line, I have the time.
Go to TClock Lite's download page and go to the scanty help file, or right click on your TClock Lite on your toolbar, and go to TClock properties. Go to clock and expand the file. Go to format, and here's where you'll find the calendar. I have mine set to 12H --- AM/PM ( you set this in the Details button) and --- customize format. This is how my customized format looks in the window: ddd, mmm dd\nh:nn tt and it shows up on the toolbar as Tues, Jun 24
10:32 AM
If you play around with the settings you'll be able to set them how you want.
I hope this helps.
Jeannaford
I set the tray clock format to ddd, mmm d, h:nn
Tclock doesn't actually display a calendar, only the date and time in the system tray. If you have QuickMonth Calendar installed, the combination of the 2 programs works as well as any of the alternates suggested.
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