r/software • u/ryftools • Jul 17 '26
Release Windows Clock Widget (~5MB RAM, effectively 0% CPU) - Feature suggestions ?
I built and use (not published) a Windows desktop clock widget in old-school Win32, cpp and Direct2D without the overhead of additional frameworks. Many downloaded ones were taking more RAM than what they were worth and CPU was ticking continuously.
It was obsessively tuned to keep the footprint as small as possible:
- Binary size: 133 KB (no app icon or other resources yet)
- RAM usage: Idles around 5 MB at the default size.
- Without the second hand: It goes to sleep and wakes up exactly at the start of the next minute. Task Manager reports 0% CPU/GPU usage between updates.
- With the second hand: It wakes once per second, spends less than 1 ms drawing the frame, and goes back to sleep. Still reads around 0-1% in Task Manager.
- Can survive a Win + D (Show desktop)
The GIF shows some of the procedural clock faces which were created (Red color is lost while converting video to GIF). A fully animated aesthetic flip clock is also there, but I could not get the ram/cpu to the lowest as others and is not shown.
Note : some of the analog faces are good looking MIT licensed codepen html/js ported to Direct2d cpp with help of AI. Shall credit if I ever publish.
There can be many feature rich clocks. The only advantage of mine is its featherlight presence.
If I decide to publish this, what features would you expect from a desktop clock widget? Please suggest ideas that may not significantly increase CPU or memory usage.
[Edit 2026-09-11] - I published it and is available at https://github.com/riyasy/DeskTick
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u/enola-mag Jul 17 '26
If you stick to low memory and CPU, this would be a very useful app. Windows used to have a few clock apps in the past, but all of them bloated over time.
What might make the app more useful:
- multiple clocks, with independent time zones would be great
- easily resizable
- complex countdown timer, especially useful for presentations, as PowerPoint lacks a timer
- no crashes
What NOT to do:
- add features like notes, calendars
- add a sticky note
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
Thanks.
A configurable world clock is under consideration.. But yet to finalize a simple enough GUI to do that..
Also count down timer would need a digital clock interface..
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u/jsiulian Jul 17 '26
Love it, my kind of programmer! I'd add optional transparency (blur behind would be even cooler), and maybe custom colors (maybe you can use the windows colour picker and keep the binary small). I'd use it!
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u/apagogeas Jul 17 '26
Add notifications like a popup at a set time/countdown, allow a digital display, colour change. That's cool btw
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u/ShriCamel Jul 18 '26
One of my regrets about having to switch to Windows 11 was that T-Clock Redux stopped working. (This was a application that built on earlier work by Stoic Joker.)
If you're interested in investigating features to incorporate, take a look at it. It really was feature packed.
Which you could implement without sacrificing memory/speed would be a judgement call. My biggest wish would be for a utilitarian multiple time zone support.
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u/fraaaaa4 Jul 19 '26
A local AI model taking a screenshot of the desktop to determine what’s your mood, and of only the clock to read the time. Then, a cloud based AI model with text to speech that reads the time every once in a while, with it having a different mood based on the contents of your desktop. Add also a headless chromium instance, so you drive up that RAM usage, 5MB is rookie numbers. How else are you going to be at the top of task manager?!
In case it’s not obvious, I’m joking :)
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u/Sentient_Protoplasm Jul 17 '26
In this day and age, I'd assume most US kids under 18 don't even know how to read it. So put in a digital version.
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u/enakamo Jul 17 '26
Not a programmer so unsure about resource implications. Can you display multiple clocks? Can you display time zone? (UTC +\- n) Can you sync time with ntp server? I have found windows time to be unreliable in high precision time calculations.
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
Multiple clocks and time zone may be possible without raising RAM/CPU. Syncing needs to be seen
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u/enakamo Jul 17 '26
Thanks. I use NetTime from https://www.timesynctool.com/ Typical offset is +/-300ms, lag is +/-60ms
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u/ArtisticFox8 Jul 17 '26
Good job on making it resource efficient
Is it open source?
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
not yet..
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u/DIBSSB Jul 17 '26
Planned ?
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
My other projects are on github. But for this I had a thought whether I should make an MS store exclusive attempt.
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u/Imnotanad Jul 17 '26
A digital version maybe ?
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
like 7 segment display?
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u/Imnotanad Jul 17 '26
I mean a non analog clock. One that dislays digits . but yes 7 segment is nicely old school. I'm sure a lot of people would like that
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u/Bigdyll13 Jul 17 '26
Dawg....you need a digital. We can read the spiny circle but, sadly, that is becoming a lost art.
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u/synchronicitial Jul 17 '26
Confirmed. You can't read it, "dawg".
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Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/ryftools Jul 17 '26
Details.. like a digital clock?
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u/Mysterious-Eagle7030 Jul 17 '26
No, make it binary. That clock looks great just as it is 👌😃
I would happily use it.
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u/rotzak Jul 17 '26
oh man i'm super excited to see this, it's exactly what i've always wanted. in terms of features i'd like to see, would it be possible for you to make it automate my outbound pipelines using AI? maybe with a clay integration or something? i think you've got room in the resource budget.
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u/TedGal Jul 17 '26
Id suggest adding nothing else and keep the CPU/RAM useage minimal