A reader had a suggestion for a great little gadget download and her comment was so darn good, she basically wrote the tech tip! She says:
I’m a time freak, and I like always having a clock right in front of me. Unfortunately, home decor doesn’t lend itself to a clock on every wall. But I have found a nifty clock for my computer desktop, so I’m not squinting at the little digits in the systray all the time. Also (my age is showing here), I prefer analog clocks.
The program is called “ClocX,” and you can find it at clocx.net and many software catalog sites. It’s freeware, but you can donate a few bucks if you’re happy with it. It’s compatible only with Windows if I recall correctly. It started at XP, and the latest version is for Win 10 – 64 bit.
It puts an analog clock on your desktop. There are many options. There are, as a WAG without counting, 200 or so possible clock and watch faces, from sports teams to cuckoo clocks to pocket watches to designer watches to classic wall clocks. Most can be sized from tiny to wallpaper. You can show AM or PM and/or the date if you want. Second hand is optional. You can move the clock around and put it anywhere on the desktop you want. You can set its default transparency from solid to shadow. You can set it to fade on “hover over” from not at all to disappearing so you can read through it. You can set it for “click through.” You can also have a desktop icon if you want, or a tray icon to change your options. You can set alarms if you want, and it will also show a calendar (but not an appointment book). I have deleted the desktop icon but keep the tray icon for changing settings. You can also access options by right-clicking on the clock. Please note, though (this baffled me for a minute), if you have enabled “click through,” you must disable it to drag the clock or access the right-click options. (You can’t have it both ways.) That’s why I keep the little tray icon, because I prefer being able to click through the clock.
As usual, beware of the plethora of downloads on the download site, and make sure you click the correct link for the program. (No, we don’t need driver updates.)
I am also a time freak. I picked it up during my years in TV where it’s important to know what time it is down to the second every minute of every day. I don’t know how much I could add to this wonderful suggestion, but since I want to keep myself relevant, let’s check it out.
Click here to go to the clockx site.
As the reader pointed out, keep an eye out for the adds directing you to downloads.
Make sure you click the Download tab at the top of the page.
Again, watch out for unwanted downloads. There’s nothing wrong with these downloads, they just aren’t what you want right now.
You want to click here:
Once downloaded, head to your downloads folder and run the program. You’ll have to give permission for it to install. A wizard will walk you through the setup process.
If you choose Desktop icon in setup, the clock appears on your desktop. Move it wherever you like.
Right-click the clock for options.
Tomorrow, in part 2 of this article, we’ll look at your options for customizing ClockX.