Those who’ve seen Windows 8 are probably familiar with its new login screen and how a giant digital clock now takes center stage. Ever wished you could port that clock to your desktop? If you have a Windows 7 or Vista computer, you can get W8 Desktop Clock, a Windows customization that does just that.
While your login screen won’t be touched with this tweak, the same clock that can be found in Windows 8’s login screen will be displayed over your desktop background. What does it take to get W8 Desktop Clock up and running? Not much, just a few megabytes of free disk space, an Aero-capable Windows Vista or 7 machine and .NET Framework 4, which you can get from here.
After downloading a small ZIP file, and launching the executable inside it, W8 Desktop Clock will immediately appear in your background, just move a few ‘windows’ out of the way to look at it. An icon on your notification tray will also be displayed, allowing users to disable the exit out of this customization if they wish to.
As with any third-party customization, there are a few caveats that might get in the way. For example, items can’t be dragged anywhere over the clock, not even temporarily. W8 clock will also disappear whenever the "Show Desktop" button on the taskbar is pressed: one would expect a desktop clock to actually be displayed when all the other windows are hidden.
There’s also no clear way to have W8 Desktop Clock start up at login, meaning that the only way to have it permanently on the desktop is to manually launch it every time after logging in. Of course, you can add your own boot entry manually by dragging the program’s executable to your Start Menu’s Startup folder.
Windows 8, scheduled to be announced in greater detail later this year, is Microsoft’s attempt to plunge Windows into the post-PC era, with a much more touch-friendly user interface, similar to the one found in Windows Phone 7. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 8 will have a full-screen view as its default user interface, where all compatible applications will take up the whole screen as well, although there will still be a regular desktop mode for those who wish to use it instead.
While it’s impossible to replicate this experience on older versions of Windows, many will definitely love to have a digital clock displayed over their desktop wallpaper.
Download W8 Desktop Clock from here
Also check out: Win8Menu Brings Windows 8 Tile-Based Interface And Side Menu To Windows 7. Download Now! [VIDEO]
You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google and Apple.
