Analog Clock-7

Analog clocks are an endangered species, some say, but they’re still the best way to tell time at a glance and from a distance. Style-7’s Analog Clock-7 is a free screensaver that places a customizable analog clock face on your desktop. It includes a digital display for up close and to display the current time for the analog-challenged.

Analog Clock-7 will install itself as your default screensaver unless you uncheck a box on the installer. We chose to uncheck this box and activate the screensaver the usual way, via the Windows 7 Personalize desktop customization interface. We selected Analog Clock-7 and clicked Preview. The default display showed a stark black background with a neon-green clock face about the size of an elementary school wall clock. Clicking the screensaver Settings tab called up a small dialog with an option to set the second hand and a color swatch that called up the usual Windows color picker when we clicked on it. This limits your color choices to your graphics card and your monitor; any color that can be displayed by your system can be used for the clock face. Buttons let you set Analog Clock-7 as your default screensaver and access the developer’s home page, but that’s about it. It displays your system time; it’s not meant to be an international clock. But what it does, itdoes well: it can let you know what time it is at a glance when you’re away from your PC.

Break time is precious, and no one wants to spend it tethered to the computer. Analog Clock-7 can give you the time of day from across a crowded room, and for free, too.