Always Show Seconds on Windows 10 Taskbar

Every time I do a new Windows 10 install, I want the taskbar clock to be showing seconds, not like this:

Windows 10 taskbar with clock showing no seconds

Since I do it often enough, I may as well make a note here on how:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced needs a DWORD value named ShowSecondsInSystemClock added and set to 1.

For more thorough detail: Press Windows-R, then type regedit, Enter. Allow the app to make changes. In Regedit, go to

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Add a new key called ShowSecondsInSystemClock. It’s a REG-DWORD (32-bit) key. Set it to 1.

ShowSecondsInSystemClock in Registry Editor - screenshot

Restart the computer. You should now have seconds, now.

 


 

But, while I’m here, I also like to have the day of week down there, so let’s do that as well.

Hit that Start button / key, and type in “region.” Click or tap on “Region settings.”

Windows Start Menu with region typed in

Select Additional date, time & regional settings

Additional date, time & regional settings

Then, under Region, select Change date, time, or number formats

Change date, time, or number formats

Additional settings…

Additional settings... button

Go to the Date tab

Date tab

Then under Date formats -> Short date:

Date formats Short date

Change the short date format from whatever it was to yyyy-MM-dd ddd. That means you want a 4-digit year, a hyphen, a 2-digit month with leading zero, a hyphen, a 2-digit day with leading zero, a space, and then a 3-character representation of the day of the week, e.g. Wed. You could go with dddd for the full weekday, written out, but that’s a bit long for the taskbar.

Hit Apply.

That’s it. For this one, no need to restart. The final result, from my PC:

 

 

 

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