Wclock world clock display
Wclock is a free, customisable, always-on-top world time clock for Windows computers.
Introduction
Wclock stays on top of all your windows and shows the time at various locations around the world. It just sits there quietly and tells the time until you exit the program. It makes no changes to your system's time settings. Wclock is a simple Win32 executable file wclock.exe only 86 kB in size which should work on any Windows platform. It comes with a help file and a customisable time zone data base file.
2012-12-06: New release version 1.5.2.. In response to many requests from users, including
Romildo Votto, Patrick, "R" from Australia, and the many others who have emailed us, we have added an option to display the date in the clock.
For more information, please see New in the latest version
and How to change an individual clock.
Wclock is free software. If you find it useful, please consider making a donation to contribute towards development costs.
Latest News
- December 2012: New version 1.5.2 released with option to show date in the clock. See New in the latest version.
- January 2012: New version 1.5 released. See New features in version 1.5.
- October 2009: What is that red dot?
The red dot means there's an update available for the daylight savings file or a newer version of Wclock has been released. See Automatic Update Feature and Latest Time Zone File.
- August 2009: Is Wclock a trojan? (Answer: No).
Feedback
“ I've been using wclock for about a year and just wanted to say thanks. I manage a team that works with offices in the US, The Netherlands, UK, Australia, and Macau. I tried a number of other world clock apps and none really worked quite the way I wanted. The always on top feature, and being able to customize things is great. ”
- Brian.
“ Thank you so much for the Clock. I was without it for a week and realized how dependent on it i have become. Cheers, ”
-Sandy
“ This program is excellent - I have been carrying it with me for all the laptops (~10) I have - never failed to work. Thank you! ”
-Alvin
“ Your WClock program is a real gem! Thanks so much. I've downloaded a couple of similar programs over recent months and yours is by far the easiest to install and to operate. ”
-Mike
“ At last I have found the perfect, easy to download and change clock from a pragmatic owner. Thanks! ”
-Sheldon B.
“ Excellent program, by the way - I am a longhaul pilot with BA and I find the program invaluable when I am away on trips. ”
-Jamie C.
“ Thanks for a great piece of software. So simple yet so effective. Keep up the good work! ”
-Alex
“ Wclock has to be the most useful and effective software I've downloaded. Thank you so much! ”
-Ana K.
“ Great tool for me to work out the time to call relatives all over the world. Thank you. Please keep up the good work. ”
-Cheng
“ It is such a simple to follow, discreet application. I have installed it on my mother's computer, her age 88, and her friend in England- in her 80's, and many others. It helps them instantly to adjust their communicating internationally, especially on Skype. ”
-Graham D.
“ Hi this is really great. I tried many world clock apps and this is the best one for free. It is good not just for it's free but also it is strong in features, and simple! Nice job! Thank you! ”
-Euccas
“ It's perfect and this is what I want. Very good, thank you !! ”
-Alex
“ Love your clock.... ”
-Linda
Instructions
Download and install the program on your system and then customise the individual clocks to suit your own requirements. Please read The Manual.
How to move the clock on your screen
To move the entire clock window, left-click in the BLACK area and keep the left mouse button pressed down while moving the clock to its new position. This new position will be remembered for next time.
How to access the menu (and get Help)
To access the menu, right-click with the cursor anywhere over the clock and select one of the Menu Options. For help, select the, er..., Help option.
How to exit the program
Right-click to get the menu options and select Exit
How to start the program
Start > All Programs > Wclock
How to change an individual clock
To change an individual clock, right-click with the cursor above the clock and select
Clock Properties.
Note the new Format option ("www dd") to display the date in the form "Tue 4th".
How to view the current time in all time zones
To view the current time in all time zones currently provided, right-click and select Display all zones...
How to set your preferences
Right-click and select Preferences.
How to hide the clocks
Right-click on the Wclock icon in the system tray at the bottom right-hand side of your screen and select Hide Clocks. To restore, use the Show clocks option.
If the clock has become lost by being obscured by other windows, use the Refresh option. To turn on the icon, set Show icon in system tray in the Preferences. More on this in the manual.
What's that red dot?
The red dots are an indicator that an update is available, either for the time zone database, or for the Wclock program itself. See Automatic Update Feature.
New in the latest version
Version 1.5.2.0 December 2012: Added option to show date instead of time:
.
See How to change an individual clock.
See New features in version 1.5.
- Added option to hide the clocks and a new icon in the system tray which you can use to restore the clocks.
- Added a choice of two larger font sizes for the clock faces.
- Will now remember its last position properly on a dual-monitor system.
- Automatically saves any changes to the clocks or preferences immediately. Removed the now redundant "Save Settings" option.
- Increased the maximum number of individual clocks from 20 to 64.
- Added a "Refresh" option to repaint the clock display. This helps if the clock has been obscured.
- Added a calendar option, which will also compute the number of days from today to a given date.
- Added a countdown timer, which will set off an alarm after a given period of time.
- Added the option to Make a Donation to support development costs.
Automatic Update Feature
The automatic update feature is actually a notification of update availability. You can set in your preferences to check once a day if an update is available (this literally exchanges a few bytes each way with our web server). We have designed this to be as inobtrusive as possible so there are no annoying pop-ups.
If an update is available, it will show a red dot at the top of each clock. For more details, right-click and select Check for Updates. If you don't want to be reminded just now, check the Remind me later box on this menu. To turn off this feature, uncheck the Check for updates daily box on the Preferences menu. You can still do a manual check whenever you want.
Rationale: Why yet another world time clock?
Yes, there are lots of other `world clocks' out there, some free, some not. Why on earth produce another? Well, it's purely self interest. We travel a lot between different cities in the world and find an "always-on-top" time display very useful. For a while we got very used to a particular free world-clock utility which sort of worked, but not quite. We couldn't find another that did what we wanted, so we wrote our own, and published the source code for others to make use of.
We hope that Wclock is a quiet, unassuming little program that doesn't hog memory, change settings, or do anything else other than just show the time. And, of course, gets it right. However, we humbly accept that our program, too, may have its problems at certain transition periods with daylight saving around the world, so please let us know if you find one.
Download
Wclock is a simple Win32 executable file wclock.exe only 86 kB in size. The executable and setup programs are signed with our authenticated code-signing certificate (to check: right-click on the exe file then select Properties > Digital Signatures). Wclock comes with a help file and a customisable time zone database file.
Download it now and read the instructions above.
After installing, use the menu option Check for Updates to see if there is an update available for the time zone info database.
Wclock is free software. If you find it useful, please consider making a donation to contribute towards development costs.
To copy your Wclock settings to another computer, see Copying Wclock Settings.
Latest Version
Executable:
wclock.exe File version: 1.5.2.0 last modified: 2012/12/06 08:01:00 GMT size: 88184 bytes md5: 86c3920e0018d54069603d8ad5f9a850 crc32: 28911e57
Latest Time Zone File
The latest version of the time zone database file wclocktz.ini with a time-stamp of
2012-01-03T09:46Z is included in the latest distribution .
Spare copy: wclocktz.ini (zipped, 1.8 kB).
wclocktz.ini Timestamp: 2012-01-03T09:46Z Size: 3595 bytes crc32: 76F18E88
Use the Check for Updates menu option to see the current TZ info file details on your system. If a new TZ info file is available, click on the Install Latest TZ Info File button. You must then exit and re-start the program. (To exit: right-click on the clock and select Exit. To start again: Start > Programs > Wclock.)
Note: this TZ info file will only work with Wclock version 1.4.0.0 and later.
Adding or changing time zone data
The following time zones are currently included:
|
|
We provide these time zone details in good faith but we don't offer to keep them rigorously up to date. The time zone values provided were checked in April 2010 against Arthur David Olson's database. Daylight saving rules are changed by the authorities frequently, or we may have made a mistake. Please make your own checks (this may require you staying up until 3 a.m. on certain days in March and October to observe a correct transition!).
The time zones included are either ones we find useful ourselves or have been added at the request of users. We deliberately don't include countries that require a change every year (like Israel) and it does not do obscure rules that involve, say, Easter. See also My time zone is not included.
For more details on adding to or editing time zones, see Adding or changing time zone settings.
Note: if you make changes to the time zone info file or your computer's clock settings, exit the Wclock program and start it again.
My times are wrong
See Troubleshooting in the manual and Setting your system clock and time zone.Important: If you've made changes to your system's time settings, you must exit the Wclock program and start it again.
My changes are not saved
I make changes to the clocks but after I reboot the changes have gone
We have had a few reports of this. The program is meant to save all changes to the user's personal registry immediately they are made, but sometimes, for some reason, it doesn't. We suspect it is some sort of protection issue on certain configurations of Windows.
Try making your changes and then quit Wclock explicitly by using right-click-on-the clock then Exit. Then start again by doing Start > All Programs > Wclock. If your change comes up this time, then it should be permanent.
If this does not work, then try uninstalling and then install again with a fresh download.
My time zone is not included
Either
- Use an existing time zone that matches yours and change the title in Clock Properties; or
- Add a new entry to the
wclocktz.inifile.
To add a new entry to wclocktz.ini, see the section Adding New Time Zones in the help file (right-click + Help...). Remember to exit the Wclock program and start it again after making a change to the wclocktz.ini file.
But if there is another city with the same time zone, then just use that. For example, if you live in Melbourne, you can use (at least at the time of writing this) the standard clock for Sydney. So hold your nose and add the Sydney time clock, then change the title of the clock (right-click + Clock Properties...) to Melbourne so it displays your appropriate city name. Similarly, you can use the Denver clock for Calgary, the Bangkok clock for Hanoi and Jakarta, and so forth.
We have tried to use the reference cities given in David Olson's TZ database wherever possible, so if you think your city has been unfairly omitted, please contact him.
Uninstalling
To uninstall, first try using the standard uninstall option:
- Make sure the Wclock program is not running - right-click anywhere in the clock window and select Exit.
-
In Windows 7/Vista:
Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features
XP and earlier: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs - Select Wclock and click on Change/Remove. This should start the uninstall program which will completely remove the program.
The above only applies if you installed Wclock using the WclockInst installation program we provided. You must have administrator privileges to remove it. If Wclock does not appear in the Add/Remove list of currently installed programs, follow the instructions below.
Wclock still won't go away!
If you are experiencing difficulties in uninstalling Wclock from your system and the instructions above do not work, follow these instructions:
- You must have administrator privileges when un-installing.
- Make sure the Wclock program is not running - right-click in the black area of the clock and select Exit.
- Start > Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu > Advanced tab > Advanced button (or similar, the exact choices depend on what version of windows you have)
- This should put you in Explorer display in a folder called Start Menu.
- Go down into the folder Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete the shortcut Wclock, if present.
- In Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder C:\Program Files\Wclock or C:\Program Files (x86)\Wclock on a 64-bit machine (thanks, Bill).
- If the file wclock.exe is still there, delete it.
- To complete the removal, delete the entire folder C:\Program Files\Wclock and any other files in there.
If you cannot find the wclock.exe file or the C:\Program Files\Wclock folder,
use Windows Explorer and do a search for the file wclock.exe. When you find it, right-click on the file
and select Properties and check under the Version tab that the company name really is
DI Management Services (you wouldn't want to delete someone else's program of the same name). Then delete the file.
Repeat the search until there are no more copies of the file on your system.
Source Code
The source code files for Wclock are available under a GPL License. Wclock is written in pure ANSI C. The executable provided was compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVS 2008). The same source code should also compile using MSVC++6/7/8/9/... and (with limitations) Borland C++5. We've tested it on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, W98 and W95 platforms.
Source code: wclock-1.4.0.src.zip (62 kB). [MD5 signatures signed with our PGP key].
If you make changes and recompile, you are on your own.
Techniques used
The Wclock program demonstrates the following Win32 programming techniques:-
- How to create an `always-on-top' window
- Double-buffering with a bitmap to avoid display flicker
- Using combo boxes in a dialog
- Using a Tooltip control
- Saving settings in the registry
- Reading data from an INI file
- Creating OWNERDRAW buttons
- Opening a WinHelp file
- Using context (right-click) menus
- Using a mutex to prevent the program being loaded twice
- Creating a ListView in a dialog
- Using
WM_QUERYENDSESSIONandWM_ENDSESSION - Finding the
%APPDATA%directory - Making a URL link in a dialog
- Opening the default web browser
- Using INET to receive data from a (specially customised) CGI web page
We've also re-written the `localtime' function from Arthur David Olson's localtime.c source code,
so it can be called repeatedly without using static variables,
looking for any files, or using or setting any environment variables.
Instead, the user passes a time_t value and a POSIX.1 TZ string and the function
returns a broken-down time structure set with the correct local time.
The complicated code is "hidden" behind an opaque pointer named TZ_T and only
the relevant functions are exposed to the user.
Planned Improvements
Many people have written to suggest improvements. Thank you. We are grateful for the feedback. The most popular in 2010-12 were:
- Add an option to display the times vertically down the page instead of horizontally (still pending, I'm afraid).
- Add an option to increase the font size - done
- Add some option to temporarily hide the clock - done
- Make it remember its position on a dual-monitor setup - done
- Add an option to show the date instead of the time - done
Is Wclock a trojan?
It's come to our attention that some of the more paranoid AV products are showing our
Wclock executable as a trojan, usually
of the category Trojan.Downloader.Gen.
It's not. This is a false-positive. We suspect the cause is that the latest version has a new automatic update feature in it to check if the timezone data is out of date. If activated, this queries our site once a day to see if an update is available. That's all. This feature presumably "looks" like a trojan to some AV products. It's certainly much more benign than all the stuff Microsoft's latest products do, or Adobe, or Apple. We added this feature because every March and October, when daylight saving changes happen, we spend ages dealing with queries about why the daylight savings time is now wrong in <insert city here>. Having an automatic check makes it easier to let people know there are changes to the timezone file in a timely manner. The program doesn't even download anything automatically, it just advises that it's available. You can turn it off.
The program is open source and published with an MD5 checksum.
December 2009: the program is now properly signed with an authenticated code-signing certificate in our name.
The full source code with digital signatures is published on this page
and you are welcome to check it yourself to see there is no malicious code -
search for checkForUpdates and inetGetUrl
(and don't worry about the function searchDriveForCreditCardDetailsAndSendToRussianServer :-).
Revision History
Wclock was originally published 30 April 2005. Latest version 1.5.2.0 released 6 December 2012.
- 6 December 2012: Released version 1.5.2.0.
- 4 January 2012: Released version 1.5.0.0.
- 2 January 2011: Released more up-to-date
wclocktz.inifile - see Latest Time Zone File. - 5 December 2009: Version 1.4.2.1: minor fix for browser problem in some versions of XP.
- 3 December 2009: Released version 1.4.0.2 with digital signature and updated timezone data.
- 24 April 2009: Released version 1.4.0 with automatic notification of updates.
- 26 March 2009: Released more up-to-date
wclocktz.inifile. - 30 March 2008: Updated
wclocktz.inifile to reflect daylight savings changes in Australia and New Zealand. - 1 January 2008: New version 1.3.0. Shows date when mouse hovers over clock. Added Preferences option for auto-start.
- 4 February 2007: Fixed typo in
wclocktz.inifor Baku. - 2 February 2007: Version 1.2.0. Updated wclocktz.ini file to reflect USA 2007 changes and add new zones. Added `Display all zones' menu option. Clock Properties now shows TZ string.
- 3 June 2006: Version 1.1.1. Minor fix to ensure changes to clock position enables Save Settings option.
- 21 May 2006: Fixed installation program to make sure program is not running when un-installing.
- 29 March 2006: Version 1.1.0. Fixed INI file/hard-coded TZ values issue.
- 30 April 2005: Version 1.0.0. Wclock first published.
Acknowledgements
- Time zone handling
- The time zone handling code in tz.c is derived from public domain software by Arthur David Olson (arthur_david_olson@nih.gov) available from ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/.
- Installation program
- The installation program was created using NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) available from http://nsis.sourceforge.net/.
- Executable compression
- The executable was compressed using UPX, the Ultimate Packer for eXecutables available from http://upx.sourceforge.net.
Contact us
Any comments, feedback, questions to our contact page or use the comment feature below.
This page last updated: 9 December 2012
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