taskbar clock

  • Thread starter Thread starter bof
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bof

Guest
I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.





It now displays:



14:19

Friday





when it used to display:



14:19

12 March 2010





Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?



Many thanks





--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
Control Panel... Regional and Language Options ..

then set the format you want for time/date ;-)



HTH

Andrew





"bof" wrote in message

news:LNscRbBW4kmLFwmh@hotmail.com...

|

|

| I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

| corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

| colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but

can't

| find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

|

|

| It now displays:

|

| 14:19

| Friday

|

|

| when it used to display:

|

| 14:19

| 12 March 2010

|

|

| Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

|

| Many thanks

|

|

| --

|

| bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Regional Options tab,

Customize button



bof wrote:

>

>

> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

> corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

> colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

> find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>

>

> It now displays:

>

> 14:19

> Friday

>

>

> when it used to display:

>

> 14:19

> 12 March 2010

>

>

> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>

> Many thanks

>

>
 
(I'm XP)....I Googled "Taskbar Clock Format". ----Look at Control panel/

Regional and Language Options/ Regional Options Tab--Customize and see if you

can't fix everything.



"bof" wrote:



>

>

> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

> corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

> colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

> find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>

>

> It now displays:

>

> 14:19

> Friday

>

>

> when it used to display:

>

> 14:19

> 12 March 2010

>

>

> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>

> Many thanks

>

>

> --

>

> bof at bof dot me dot uk

> .

>
 
Thanks for the reply, the short date format here is set to

"dd MMMM yyyy" and the long date is set to "dd MMMM yyyy" yet the desk

top clock shows "Friday"



In message , Bob I

writes

>Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Regional Options tab,

>Customize button

>

>bof wrote:

>> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been

>>a corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

>>colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

>>find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>> It now displays:

>> 14:19

>> Friday

>> when it used to display:

>> 14:19

>> 12 March 2010

>> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>> Many thanks

>>

>



--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
Thanks for the reply Andrew, Control Panel's Regional Settings was the

first place I tried and there the short date format is set to

"12/03/2010" and the long date is set to "12 March 2010" yet the desk

top clock shows "Friday"











In message , Andrew

writes

>Control Panel... Regional and Language Options ..

>then set the format you want for time/date ;-)

>

>HTH

>Andrew

>

>

>"bof" wrote in message

>news:LNscRbBW4kmLFwmh@hotmail.com...

>|

>|

>| I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

>| corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

>| colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but

>can't

>| find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>|

>|

>| It now displays:

>|

>| 14:19

>| Friday

>|

>|

>| when it used to display:

>|

>| 14:19

>| 12 March 2010

>|

>|

>| Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>|

>| Many thanks

>|

>|

>| --

>|

>| bof at bof dot me dot uk

>

>



--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
Then you'll need to make the Taskbar taller.



bof wrote:



>

> Thanks for the reply, the short date format here is set to

> "dd MMMM yyyy" and the long date is set to "dd MMMM yyyy" yet the desk

> top clock shows "Friday"

>

> In message , Bob I

> writes

>

>> Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Regional Options tab,

>> Customize button

>>

>> bof wrote:

>>

>>> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been

>>> a corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

>>> colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but

>>> can't find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>>> It now displays:

>>> 14:19

>>> Friday

>>> when it used to display:

>>> 14:19

>>> 12 March 2010

>>> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>>> Many thanks

>>>

>>

>
 
Ah, thank you, getting closer now.



lifting the task bar to three rows I get:



19:23

Friday

12/03/2010



so any suggestions on how to get rid of "Friday" so I can go back to a

two row taskbar?



MTIA







In message , Bob I

writes

>Then you'll need to make the Taskbar taller.

>

>bof wrote:

>

>> Thanks for the reply, the short date format here is set to

>> "dd MMMM yyyy" and the long date is set to "dd MMMM yyyy" yet the

>>desk top clock shows "Friday"

>> In message , Bob I

>> writes

>>

>>> Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Regional Options tab,

>>>Customize button

>>>

>>> bof wrote:

>>>

>>>> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have

>>>>been a corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had

>>>>changed, colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it

>>>>was but can't find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>>>> It now displays:

>>>> 14:19

>>>> Friday

>>>> when it used to display:

>>>> 14:19

>>>> 12 March 2010

>>>> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>>>> Many thanks

>>>>

>>>

>>

>



--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
bof wrote:



> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

> corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

> colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

> find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>

> It now displays:

>

> 14:19

> Friday

>

> when it used to display:

>

> 14:19

> 12 March 2010

>

> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>

> Many thanks



with a 2-row tall Windows taskbar, I've been stuck with time & day-of-week

(dow) forever with this setup. I've never seen the "dow, date" format of

which you speak. You sure you aren't asking about the balloon that appears

when you hover your mouse over the tray clock?



If you can't find an answer here that lets you change the dow string to a

"dow, date" (something that I'd be interested in, too), you might have to

replace the tray clock with a 3rd party offering, like:



http://www.sarbyxlabs.com/en/sarbyxtc.html (free)



I only trialed this last year sometime but didn't continue using it (as I

prefer a simple environment with as little software running as possible, and

this wasn't a critical need). During that time since the trial, there have

been so many times that I've needed the date (not just the day of week) that

I've relied on the hover balloon to show it; however, Windows XP has a known

defect that it may stop showing the hover balloons (and the workarounds

aren't permanent).



You can search on "tray clock" at popular download sites (softpedia.com,

download.com) for other solutions.
 
In message , VanguardLH

writes

>bof wrote:

>

>> I recently booted my XP Pro machine and there appears to have been a

>> corruption somewhere as the appearance of the desktop had changed,

>> colours, fonts, etc.. I've got most of it back to how it was but can't

>> find a way to get the taskbar clock back to its original format.

>>

>> It now displays:

>>

>> 14:19

>> Friday

>>

>> when it used to display:

>>

>> 14:19

>> 12 March 2010

>>

>> Anyone advise where the taskbar clock format can be configured?

>>

>> Many thanks

>

>with a 2-row tall Windows taskbar, I've been stuck with time & day-of-week

>(dow) forever with this setup. I've never seen the "dow, date" format of

>which you speak. You sure you aren't asking about the balloon that appears

>when you hover your mouse over the tray clock?



I'm 100% certain, definitely not a balloon or pop up, previously I've

always had



09:23

13/03/2010



as the two row format,



and it's exactly the format I need, as I always know what day it is but

can rarely remember the date; so it's annoying to have to hover over the

clock for the date, I've changed, hopefully temporarily, to a three row

task bar.





>

>If you can't find an answer here that lets you change the dow string to a

>"dow, date" (something that I'd be interested in, too), you might have to

>replace the tray clock with a 3rd party offering, like:

>

>http://www.sarbyxlabs.com/en/sarbyxtc.html (free)

>

>I only trialed this last year sometime but didn't continue using it (as I

>prefer a simple environment with as little software running as possible, and

>this wasn't a critical need). During that time since the trial, there have

>been so many times that I've needed the date (not just the day of week) that

>I've relied on the hover balloon to show it; however, Windows XP has a known

>defect that it may stop showing the hover balloons (and the workarounds

>aren't permanent).

>

>You can search on "tray clock" at popular download sites (softpedia.com,

>download.com) for other solutions.



Thanks for the pointers, I guess there must be an answer out there

somewhere, I might try a rollback if nothing crops up. Should I find a

solution elsewhere I'll post it here.







--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
In message , VanguardLH

writes



>with a 2-row tall Windows taskbar, I've been stuck with time & day-of-week

>(dow) forever with this setup. I've never seen the "dow, date" format of

>which you speak. You sure you aren't asking about the balloon that appears

>when you hover your mouse over the tray clock?





OK I seem to have solved it the help of this article:



seems someone posted the same problem here in 2005.







Looks like my machine somehow configured itself with a custom desktop.

I'm now back to the default XP desktop and have



12:27

Saturday

13/03/2010



in a two row taskbar.





Many thanks to all who responded.







--



bof at bof dot me dot uk
 
bof wrote:



> In message , VanguardLH

> writes

>

>>with a 2-row tall Windows taskbar, I've been stuck with time & day-of-week

>>(dow) forever with this setup. I've never seen the "dow, date" format of

>>which you speak. You sure you aren't asking about the balloon that appears

>>when you hover your mouse over the tray clock?

>

> OK I seem to have solved it the help of this article:

>

> seems someone posted the same problem here in 2005.

>

> Looks like my machine somehow configured itself with a custom desktop.

> I'm now back to the default XP desktop and have

>

> 12:27

> Saturday

> 13/03/2010

>

> in a two row taskbar.

>

> Many thanks to all who responded.



That won't work for me. I changed the DPI setting for my screen to 125%

(from normal of 96 DPI to large of 120 DPI). That makes text easier to

read. One of the problems with the higher resolutions for monitors is that

they make the text smaller and gave me headaches squinting at the screen.

So upping the DPI made the text larger everywhere, including the tray

clock's text. So that clues me in as to why I only got 2 rows of clock text

(instead of 3) in a 2-row Windows taskbar.



I retrialed the Sarbyx tray clock and found one of its skins is actually

preferrable to tiny text of a 3-row tray clock included in Windows. By

selecting the Longhorn skin, I get a tray clock that I can immediately read

rather than squint at those tiny characters. The date and day-of-week are

still small but bolded so they are still easier to read than the default

text size for a 3-row tray clock display.



Higher resolution can be nice but not when it makes me have to wear

magnifying eyeglasses to use the computer (they actually sell those).

Eyeglasses also give me a headache when worn for hours and hours.



I hadn't thought about the font size but it makes sense as to why Windows

thinks it can't get all 3 rows of text for the tray clock.
 
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