Parallaxis Cuckoo Clock

This impressive, feature-packed clock fills a major gap in Windows' built-in clock. As you'd likely guess, Parallaxis Cuckoo Clock's main job is timekeeping, and it does so by displaying a stylish, skinnable analog clock on your desktop. (Additional clocks and wallpapers are available for download on the publisher's site.) It also includes alarms with pop-up messages that can be accompanied by an audio file and/or the launch of a file, application, or shutdown operations. The utility plays a ticking sound denoting each passing second, and you can hear a cuckoo sound as an alert every quarter-, half- or full-hour. In addition, you can synchronize the clock with a couple of atomic clock servers. Small plug-ins for calculating date and time differences also are included. We wish it would have displayed the date, however. All levels of PC users will appreciate this clock's versatility and functionality, but will find its 15-day trial stingy.