DeskClock

Analog clock toolbar for the Windows 10 taskbar.

Pre-requisites

Version 2.0.0 has been tested under Windows 10 64 bit. It won't run under Windows 10 32 bit unless you compile it yourself for that platform.

No Windows 11 Support!

Microsoft has removed toolbars on the taskbar in Windows 11. So you will not be able to use this clock in Windows 11. But you could provide feedback to them. Maybe they change their mind.

If you want to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11, remember to uninstall the DeskClock first. If you upgraded and didn't uninstall it first, your Desktop will not appear in Windows 11, because Explorer still loads the DLL but then hangs (Great work MS!). Your best option is to start the task manager, open a command line window and rename or move the DLL manually so that it cannot be loaded, then reboot and properly uninstall the DeskClock afterwards.

If you want to switch to Linux instead, I can recommend Cairo Clock. I have contributed a Siemens daughter clock theme for it.

Installation

Download and run the MSI installer from the latest release.

To show the clock on the tasbar, right-click on the taskbar and expand "Toolbars >", then check the DeskClock entry. Note, after installation, you have to open the Toolbars menu entry twice to actually see the new entry.

In case you want to manually install the application after compiling it yourself:

• Create a new folder "DeskClock" under C:\Program Files\ or somewhere else.
• Copy the DLL and the clockface PNG into that directory.
• Open an elevated CMD window (press the Windows key, type cmd, right-click and select "Run as Administrator")
• Navigate to the folder where the DLL is located.
• Run "regsvr32 DeskClock.dll" (without the qoutes).
• Display the clock in the taskbar as described above.

Hiding the clock

• You can simply uncheck the DeskClock in the context menu of the Windows taskbar.

Complete uninstall

Run the installer again to uninstall the DeskClock completely.

To manually uninstall:

• Open an elevated CMD window (see above).
• Navigate to the folder where DeskClock.dll resides.
• Run "regsvr32 /u DeskClock.dll
• Log off and back on again and delete the folder containig the files.

Hints

Stopping and re-starting the Windows Desktop (explorer.exe) without logging off

• Open a regular (non-elevated) CMD window
• Click on the taskbar or on the desktop and press Alt+F4
• Instead of selecting one of the options, press Ctrl-Shift-Alt+Esc
• To restart the desktop, just execute "explorer" in the CMD window you opened before closing the desktop.

Why an analog clock on the Windows taskbar?

• Because there was none so far.
• Because I have a 47 cm version of this Siemens daughter clock from the Fifties at home and I like it.

Version history

Version 2.0.1

Added an MSI installer. The .wxs source file for the WiX toolset has been added to the source files.

Version 2.0.0

This is the first version that

• is based on the Deskband sample code from the MS Windows Classic Samples on GitHub,
• works with high-DPI settings (e.g. 150 % scaling of the display),
• uses the theme of taskbar for its background

Version 1

I created the initial vesion in 2004 based on different Deskband sample code.

SVG version:

SVG Version of the clock