WinClock Index

The Index contains a list of all Help topics available for WinClock.  You can use the scroll bar to see the entries that are not currently visible in the Help window.

For information on how to use Help, press F1 or choose Using Help from the Help menu.

While viewing the WinClock system menu, you may get context sensitive help by holding down the mouse button and pressing F1 while the item you want help on is selected.  You may get context sensitive help from inside most of WinClock's dialog boxes by selecting the "Help" button in the dialog box.

Click on one of the following  items to see more information about it.

Set Date/Time

Alarms

Alarm Date Options

Timers

Hourly Beep

Preferences

About

Displaying/Hiding The System Box

The Right Mouse Button

Avoiding Tiling Or Cascading WinClock

Closing WinClock

Moving WinClock


Setting The Time And Date

After selecting Set Time/Date... from the system menu, you can easily set the time and date from within WinClock.  Enter the correct time and date.  Click AM or PM to set the time in 12-hour format or click 24-hr and enter the time in 24-hour format.  WinClock will automatically convert the time between 24hr and AM/PM.

The current time and date will be shown in the edit boxes when the window originally appears.  To update the time and date displayed in the edit boxes to the current time and date, click the Time or Date push-button depending on which you want to update.

If the time is not changed and you click OK, the time will be updated to the current time.  If the date is not changed and you click OK, the date will be updated to the current date.

Auto Advance Date will automatically advance the date to the next day if midnight passes while WinClock is running.  Note that this should only be selected if you are using a version of DOS that has the bug that causes it not to advance the date automatically.

When you have made all of your choices, select OK.  If you want to leave the old time and date, select Cancel.


Alarms

WinClock allows you to set up to 25 alarms.  After selecting Alarms... from the system menu, select the alarm you want to set (Alarm One is the default).  To select an alarm, use the arrow buttons.  The alarm number is displayed in the edit box.  When you have made your choices, choose OK.  If you want to leave the alarms the way they were, select Cancel.

Enabled

If you want the alarm to be on, select Enabled.  If you do not want the alarm to be on, but only want to set it for use at a later time, make sure Enabled is not selected.  Enabled is automatically selected when the Run Program or Note edit boxes are modified.

Time

Enter the time at which you want the alarm to go off.  If you select AM or PM, enter the time in 12-hour format.  If you select 24-hr, enter the time in 24-hour format.

Date

Click on One Date if you want an alarm that will go off on only one date.  Enter the date on which the alarm should go off in the edit box.

Click on Enhanced Alarms to select alarms which are more complicated and can be set to go off on a combination of dates.  For more information, see Enhanced Alarms

Note/Run Program

If you want to, enter a note to display when the alarm goes off.

Select Run Program to run a program at the time for which you have set the alarm.  Type the full pathname of the program you want to run.  Select Max if you want the program to be maximized when it is run, Min to have it minimized, or Normal to have it shown in its normal size.

Click on List Files if you would like to select a file to run from a dialog box which lists files and allows you to change directories.

If you type the name of a program that does not exist on your hard disk, a warning message will appear when you click OK.  You may then choose to edit the name of the program to run or to leave it unedited.

Sound

To have the alarm play a WAV file when it goes off, select  Wave file and type the filename in the edit box.  You may choose to have the WAV file repeat up to 99 times.  To get a list of files, choose List files. To have the alarm beep when it goes off, select Beep.  Select high or low pitch.  Choose the duration of the beep; short is about eight seconds; long is about thirty seconds.  Both beeps may be stopped by clicking OK when the box alerting you of the alarm appears.  Choose No Sound to have no sound emitted when an alarm becomes active.

Miscellaneous

Remind On Startup will cause WinClock to display the selected alarm, if it is active and the date of the alarm is the same as the current day, when WinClock is first started.

Alarm Even If Screen Saver Active will cause an alarm to activate even if a screen saver is active.


Hourly Beep
Hourly Alert

Select the Hourly Alert option if you want WinClock to notify you via a short sound or wave file on the hour.  A check mark will appear next to Hourly Alert if it is selected.

In the Hourly Alert dialog box, you may choose to have a sound emitted, or to have a WAV file played.  If you select  wave file, you  may have it repeat a selected number of times or once for the number of hours (like a grandfather clock).  Select Play now if you want to test the wave file displayed in the edit box.

Special note for 386 Enhanced mode:

If a DOS box is active and hourly alert is enabled, WinClock will, by default, return you to Windows and alert.  You must then double click on the DOS icon to return to the DOS box.  If you do not want to be returned to Windows when an hourly alert occurs, deselect the For Hourly Alert check box in the Preferences dialog box.


Preferences

Preferences allows you to change how the date and time are displayed.  Select the options you want and select OK.  If you want to keep your old options, select Cancel.

NEW!  Language, a new feature, allows you to have the month and day displayed in any of six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish.

Display Preview, also a new feature, shows you how the formatting options you have selected will look.

Click on one of the items below to see more information about it.

Date And Time Formats

Display

Screen Location

Screen Saver Compatibility

DOS Box, Hourly Beep, and Alarms


About

The About Box displays information about the program.


Displaying And Hiding The System Box

You may display or hide the system box in the following ways:

1.  Open the Preferences dialog box and select System Box so that there is an "x" in the box.  This will display the system box.  To hide the system box from the Preferences dialog box, select System Box so that there is no "x" in the box.

2.  Double click on the WinClock caption (the caption is the area in which the time and date are displayed).  If the system box is hidden, it will appear; if it is displayed, it will be hidden.

Hiding the system box reduces the area that WinClock takes up on the screen.


The Right Mouse Button

If you want to tile the open windows, you should click once with the right mouse button on the WinClock client area (the area where the time and date are displayed).  This will cause WinClock to be hidden for about seven seconds, during which time you may tile the open windows.


Closing WinClock

To close WinClock, do one of the following:

1. Double click on the WinClock system box.

2. Click once on the WinClock system box and then click on "Close".


Moving WinClock

To move WinClock, click on WinClock and, while holding the mouse button down, move WinClock.  You may also select Move from WinClock's system menu and then move the window.


Timers

After selecting Timers... from the system menu, you can select to start, stop, and display up to two stopwatches and two countdown timers.  Select the options you want and then choose OK.  If you do not want to make any changes, choose Cancel.

By selecting different options, you can have WinClock display some or all of the timers as well as the time and date.  In order to use a countdown timer, you must type a number from which to countdown in the Countdown from edit box.  This number should be in the form: HH:MM (hours:minutes).  If it is not in this form, any numbers that come before non-numeric characters, excluding the colon will be used for the minutes.

Select Display Timer individually for each timer if you want to display it (or not display it).  Select Display Date and/or Display Time if you want to display the date and/or time while one or more of the timers are running.  The display of the date and time are not dependent on the timer that is currently selected.  Display seconds is selected by default.  If you do not want to display the seconds, click on it so that there is no "x" in the box.  You can choose to display or not display the seconds individually for each timer.

The settings that you make in the Timers dialog box only effect the WinClock display while one or more timers are running.  The settings will be saved while WinClock is running but will be reset to the default when WinClock is restarted.

The timers are displayed as follows:

The first stopwatch appears as: S1 00:00:00

The second stopwatch appears as S2 00:00:00

The first countdown timer appears as: C1 00:00:00

The second countdown timer appears as: C2 00:00:00

The current count (time elapsed) of the selected timer will appear in the Current Count box while the Timers dialog box is displayed.

When a timer is stopped, its current count will be displayed in the Current Count box until you switch to another timer.  The stopped timer will then reset itself to zero.

The Start/Stop button will reflect whether the currently selected timer is running.  If the current timer is running, the button will display Stop so that you may stop the timer.  If the current timer is not running, the button will display Start so that you may start it.

Each countdown timer may be set to beep by selecting beep so that there is an "x" in the box.  Select the pitch and duration of the beep.  Short is about eight seconds; long is about thirty seconds.


Avoiding Tiling Or Cascading WinClock

Cascading

If you want to Cascade the open windows, it is useful to have the Anti-Cascade option selected (in the Preferences dialog box) so that WinClock does not get cascaded.

To select Anti-Cascade, select Preferences... from WinClock's system menu.  In the Preferences dialog box, select Anti-Cascade so that there is an "x" in the box.  Anti-Cascade is on by default.

Tiling

If you want to tile the open windows, you should click once with the right mouse button on the WinClock client area (the are where the time and date are displayed).  This will cause WinClock to be hidden for about seven seconds, during which time you may tile the open windows.


Preferences - Date And Time Formats

Select the date and time formats that you would like by clicking on the combo boxes.

Separator

You may change the characters that separate each part of the date by typing a different character in the edit boxes between the elements of the date.  You may enter up to five characters in each separator box.

Language

The month and day can be displayed in any of six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish.

Display Preview shows you how the formatting options you have selected will look.

Blinking Colon

You may select to have the colon that separates the hours and minutes blink on the second when the seconds are not displayed by selecting Blink Colon so that there is an "x" in the box.

Leading Zero

Leading Zero determines whether a zero is displayed before a one character hour.  For example, with Leading Zero selected, you would see 03:00 instead of 3:00.


Preferences - Display

Bring To Front

If you want to have WinClock appear over other applications, select Bring To Front.

System Box

To have WinClock display a system box, select System Box.  Hiding the system box reduces the area that WinClock takes up on the screen.

Anti-Cascade

You should select Anti-Cascade if you do not want WinClock to be cascaded when you cascade the open windows.


Preferences - Screen Location

One Location

WinClock remembers one screen location by default.  This means that when you move WinClock, it remembers its position on the screen so that the next time you run WinClock, it will go to the position where it was when it was closed.

Always Return To Default Screen Location

If you want to move WinClock  to a certain location for only the current time that WinClock is running but then have WinClock revert to the default screen position next time it is run, select Always Return To Default Screen Location.

Lock Location

Select Lock Location if you do not want to be able to move WinClock.  This is useful because it prevents moving WinClock to another location accidentally.


Preferences - Screen Saver Compatibility

Auto

Setting this option will cause WinClock to be hidden when a screen saver saves the screen.  This option is compatible with most screen savers; it is recommended that you try this option first if you would like screen saver compatibility.

Delay

Setting this option on will cause WinClock to be hidden (not displayed on the screen) after the amount of time that you specify in the edit box, when the mouse and keyboard have not been activated.

You must set the delay in the form MM:SS (minutes:seconds).  If it is not in this form, any number found (that is before non numeric numbers, excluding the colon) will be used as the seconds.

None

This turns off screen saver compatibility which means that WinClock will not be hidden if you have a screen saver.


Preferences - DOS Boxes, Alarms, and Hourly Beep

The following information only applies when Windows is running in 386 Enhanced mode.

If a DOS box is active and an alarm is enabled and set to go off, WinClock will, by default, return you to Windows and display the message, beep, and/or run a specified program.  You must then double click on the DOS icon to return to the DOS box.  If you do not want to be returned to Windows when an alarm occurs, deselect the For Alarms check box in the Preferences dialog box.

If a DOS box is active and hourly beep is enabled, WinClock will, by default, return you to Windows and beep.  You must then double click on the DOS icon to return to the DOS box.  If you do not want to be returned to Windows when an hourly beep occurs, deselect the For Hourly Beep check box in the Preferences dialog box.


Enhanced Alarms

Select the options you want and then click OK.  If you want to leave your old settings, click Cancel.

Date

Enter the start date, which is the date from which the alarm options in the dialog box start.  The date causes the alarm to go off on the first matching date on or after the date entered.  (The date you specify is itself included.)  The settings from the Week Interval section are combined with those from the Day section.  Any combination of settings, including multiple options from Periodic, Of Every Month and Day, may be selected, as long as at least one Week Option and one Day  is selected.

Week Interval

Periodic

The periodic section causes alarms to go off on dates such as: Every Sunday, Every Other Thursday, Every Third Friday, and Every Fourth Saturday.  Select the periods that you want and choose the days that they should be combined with.

Of Every Month

This section causes alarms to go off on dates such as: The First Thursday of Every Month, The Third Saturday of Every Month, and so on.

Day

This section is combined with the options you select in the Periodic and Of Every Month sections.

If you want an alarm to go off daily, you should select Every in Periodic and then select all of the days in Day.

For more information, see Alarm Examples.


Alarm Examples

Periodic

To have an alarm go off Every Other Tuesday, you would select Every Other in the Periodic Section and Tuesday in the Day section.

If you entered 5-15-90 in the Start Date edit box and selected Every and Tuesday, since 5-15-90 is a Tuesday, the alarm would go off on 5-15-90, 5-22-90, 5-29-90, 6-04-90, and so on.

If you entered 5-15-90 in the Start Date edit box and selected Every and Thursday. the alarm would go off on 5-17-90, 5-24-90, 5-31-90, 5-06-90, and so on.

Of Every Month

To have an alarm go off on the Second Wednesday of Every Month, you would select Second in the Of Every Month section and Wednesday in the Day section.

If you entered 5-15-90 in the Start Date edit box and selected Third in the Of Every Month section and Monday in the Day section, the alarm would go off on 6-17-90, since that is the third Monday of the month.