Changing the format of the system clock

TclockEx

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The TclockEx program, that is presented on its conceptor's site, http://www.rcis.co.za/dale/tclockex, and also available on a certain number of download sites, aims to change the display format of the system clock in a certain number of versions of Windows (9x, NT, 2000, XP), to have the date appear, as well as the seconds (or any other format). This program also allows a limited user to dispose of a calendar, and facilitates the access to certain functions.

This program runs well, although it sometimes happened to me, on Windows XP, that the Windows taskbar disappeared at the beginning of each session, before reappearing, except a few missing icons. The study of the problem made clear that, on my machine, this happened at the moment of loading TclockEx. It appears that TclockEx needs more memory when starting than afterwards. It is not absurd to think that Explorer, the program that manages the taskbar, is sensitive to lack of memory.

There are two solutions  :

• postpone the loading of TclockEx, so that the other programs that are loaded at the session start have finished their work when TclockEx is loaded.
  The Retard program allows you to launch a program after a delay, thanks to the creation of a planned task.
• display the date by another means.

Of course, these two solutions suppose that you wish to avoid increasing the height of the taskbar, or that you wish to dispose of TclockEx for other functions, as the calendar. Otherwise, the standard clock of Windows XP displays the date on a separated line.

A further precision  : this problem occured during a few months before finding the solution. When I changed my machine, I could load TclockEx directly at the start of the session. The new machine has more memory, and some of the programs that were loaded before have been replaced. Nevertheless, it can happen that another user meets the same problem, and maybe this solution applies.