Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware
1st Clock Light - Free file of the day
by Marc Perton Sep 1st 2005 at 3:06PM
Today's free file is an oldie but a goodie: 1st Clock Light
from Green Parrots Software. This is one of the first programs I
install when setting up a new Windows box. Why? Quite simply because
one of the number one annoyances in Windows (at least for me) is the
fact that the tray clock only lists the time, not the date, day of the
week, month or year. You'd think after so many generations of Windows,
Microsoft would have added those options, right? Nope. And, yes, there
are a handful of low-priced utilities that add clocks with more
features than 1st Clock Light, including, natch, the full version of
1st Clock. But I just can't bring myself to pay anything for
this; it seems like a feature that should be available in the OS. (Oh,
and Mac users, here's one where you can't gloat: the Mac menu clock is
just as useless. Your best bet is PTH Clock, which was free, but is now part of the commercial You Control package. However, the old, free version is still available here.)
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They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brett Fisher said 3:29PM on 9-01-2005
This is only somewhat true. The clock in WindowsXP WILL display the date and current day name if you drag the height to double size...which I use by default. I tend to run alot of programs at once and access them too frequently to open and close them constantly.
I can understand and see the annoyance in single height mode, but I personally think single height mode is pointless in itself and double height should be standard. When you first try double height its incredibly annoying, but 2-3 days into using it and you wont wanna go back. Give it a shot!
I should also mention that hovering over the clock in single height will display the date details in tooltip.
Hope this helps someone!
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ADM said 3:45PM on 9-01-2005
IN OS X you can actually go into the Date & Time pref pane and add all that info so the date, year, time can show up any way you want it to. By deafault it doesn't show the date. macosxhints has the walkthrough.
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Stephen M?r said 4:09PM on 9-01-2005
Ok... Why not go for the ultimate deskbar clock!!!
http://www.dqsd.net/
THIS is the first software I install on a computer and it IS free!
It has a calendar, calculater, quickserch, converter, alarm, plus thousands of other "quickies" right at your fingertip.
And to add to that, it is very configurable, it really deserves its own post here...
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Marc Perton said 1:28PM on 9-30-2005
Yes, I know about setting the taskbar to double-height. But I prefer to keep it as small as possible; I like to reserve most of my screen real estate for apps! And, unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't make it easy to add the date and other info in single-height mode.
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Marc Perton said 1:28PM on 9-30-2005
Thanks for the Mac tip, ADM. For reference, here's the Macosxhints link.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050508000838365&query=menu+clock
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Steve said 5:33PM on 9-01-2005
The best clock replacement is TClockEX. It's also free and will display the clock in any format you prefer and will display a pop-up calendar and many other features.
Download it at: http://www.rcis.co.za/dale/tclockex/
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Zelidar said 3:38AM on 9-02-2005
I consider my screen surface to be too valuable for such primitive information thus, many years ago, I took the time and date display away from it and bought me a $20 battery powered digital Funkuhr instead.
It seats right next to my LCD, showing me the date and automatically switching between winter and summer.
The right technology at the right place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_clock
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d|g|ta| said 5:25AM on 9-02-2005
Or you could try Samurize Clock Client which will give you the ability to load configs into the clock.
Nice if you want a custom look designed by yourself.
http://www.samurize.com/modules/news/
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Brian Pipa said 9:27AM on 9-02-2005
I second the vote for TClockEx - I have been using it fro a few years. Good stuff and totally free!
brian
http://myvogonpoetry.com
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Arul said 12:38PM on 9-02-2005
I use title time - Extra space in the task bar http://www.jumaros.de/rsoft/index.html . From the site "TitleTime adds the current date and/or time to the Caption of the currently active application window. Additional options are a second clock (with a different time), week number, GMT/UTC time, Swatch Internet Time and Sounds at each full, half or quarter hour. It is also possible to set alarms, which will display user-defined pictures and/or execute resp. open programs, wave-files or documents."
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Jules said 10:12PM on 9-02-2005
i think you'll find that Lclock is the best clock replacement. i always see people saying it's Tclock, and they are all wrong. Lclock is a clock, calender and countdown timer. click the clock once to launch the calender and/or countdown timer.
BTW the picture at the site isn't very good, it's much better when installed.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/LClock/1092761816/1
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Dan Warne said 10:47AM on 9-03-2005
For Mac, the best clock replacement is MenuCalendarClock (love the literal naming). It gives you a configurable date and time in the menu bar, and a drop down month view calendar when you click on it. It's shareware, but free to use if you don't use the enhanced features (iCal/Entourage integration for to-do lists, etc). http://www.objectpark.net/mcc.html
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