Alarm clock on a computer or laptop Windows – 3 ways

Some users may need an alarm clock on their computer if there is no other way to wake up from sleep, such as a watch or mobile phone. An alarm clock on a laptop or desktop PC will help you wake up on time at a certain time, or remind you of another time when you need to complete an important task.

In this case, the task of waking up on time is solved using the software installed on the device. At the set time, the software will beep to wake up the user.

An alarm clock on a Windows computer can be set using the built-in system tool, a standard application, or third-party programs. In this article, you will find instructions on several ways to solve this task, working in different versions of the operating system: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7.

In the first case, the standard system tools will help you, in the second case, you will need to download the alarm clock to your computer in order to install the appropriate program.

In both cases, be sure to check the volume on your computer before using the alarm.

How to set an alarm on a Windows 10 computer

First, let’s see how to set an alarm on a Windows 10 computer. Windows 10 has a built-in Alarms and Clock application that you can use without the help of other tools.

The app is built into Windows 10 by default and is located in the Start button menu. If the program was previously uninstalled from the operating system, the application can be reinstalled on the computer from the Microsoft Store (Windows Store).

The standard application “Alarms and clocks” is designed to work with timers, stopwatches, alarm clocks and clocks. The operation of the application depends on the power settings of the device.

In other cases, on a laptop or desktop PC, the alarm clock will only work in wakeful mode. The computer must be connected to the mains at all times, and sleep must be disabled in the power settings.

With this PC configuration, the Alarms & Clock application window displays the message “Notifications appear only when the PC is awake.” This means that this device does not support the InstantGo function, and the computer must always be connected to the mains in order for the alarm clock to work.

If your PC has been optimized for Windows 10 to speed up the system, check your device settings. It is possible that some functions necessary for the alarm to work were disabled in the OS settings.

In the Settings app, check the following settings:

• In the “System” section, in the “Notifications and actions” tab, in the “Notifications” parameter, the following items must be enabled: “Receive notifications from applications and other users” and “Allow notification sounds to play”.
• In the “Privacy” section, in the “Background Applications” tab, turn on the “Allow applications to run in the background” option, in the “Choose which applications can run in the background” option, go to the “Alarms and clocks” application, and then move the switch to “On” position.

To set an alarm on a Windows laptop or desktop PC, follow these steps:

1. Launch the Alarms & Clock application on your computer.
2. The “Alarm Clock” tab will open in the program window, in which the time is set by default: “7:00”.
3. Left click on the set time.
4. In the “Edit alarm” window, select the appropriate time in hours and minutes.
5. Change the name of the alarm if needed.
6. In the “Repeat” option, select the time: “Every day” (default), or other suitable days of the week for the audio signal to work.
7. The following ringtones are available in the Sound option:

• Clock sound.
• Xylophone.
• Chords.
• Knock.
• Ringing.
• Transition.
• descending.
• Hit.
• Echo.
• Ascending.

8. In the “Snooze” settings item, you can set the time for the alarm to start later:

• Turned off.
• 5 minutes.
• 10 minutes.
• 20 minutes.
• 30 minutes.
• Hour.

9. Click on the “Save” button located on the bottom panel to save your settings.
10. Turn on the alarm in the application window.

After launching the ringtone, an application window will appear in the notification area.

Here you can close the program, or click on the button in the upper right corner, where you need to select one of the options: “Go to notification settings” or “Turn off all notifications for Alarms and clocks.”

In the Settings app, in the Alarms & Clock window, you can configure the appearance of the notification window, priority, and other options.

If this alarm is not needed, you can delete it (the button with the image of a basket), cancel the selected action (the button with a cross), learn more about the application (the button with three dots).

In the Alarms & Clock app, you can create multiple alarms with your own settings.

How to set an alarm on a Windows computer using the Task Scheduler

What to do for those who need an alarm clock on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer (Windows 8.1 has an Alarm Clock application) and do not want to install third-party programs on their PC? In this case, you can use the built-in system tool.

Windows Task Scheduler is a tool for configuring and scheduling automatic tasks on a computer. We will create a task in the Task Scheduler , which will start an audio file with an alarm melody.

If you have a question about how to set an alarm on a laptop or computer, you can use this method. This method works the same in different versions of the operating system: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7.

Do the following:

1. Start Task Scheduler on your computer.
2. In the task scheduler window, in the right column “Actions”, click on the item “Create a simple task …”.
3. In the window of the wizard for creating a simple task, specify any name for the task: “Alarm Clock”, “Alarm Clock”, etc. You can leave nothing in the “Description” field if the name of the task is completely clear to you, and there is no need for additional information.
4. In the Task Trigger window, select the appropriate frequency.
5. In the next window, set the task execution time.
6. In the “Action” window, activate the “Run a program” setting.
7. In the Program Startup window, fill in the following fields:

• In the “Program or script:” field, specify the full path to the executable file of the application that will play the audio file. To do this, use the “Browse …” button.
• In the “Add Arguments (Optional):” field, enter the path to an audio file, such as an MP3 file on your computer. If the file path contains problems, it must be enclosed in quotation marks.

These parameters are necessary in order to select a program for playing the alarm melody and the desired audio file.

Below are the paths of the executable files of some popular programs: Windows Media Player (Windows Media Player), Media Player Classic Home Cinema, VLC media player.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe"

"C:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\MPC-HC64\mp-hc64.exe"

"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe"

8. In the Summary window, check the box next to “Open a Properties window for this task when I click Finish” and then click Finish.
9. In the task properties, in the “General” tab, in the “Security Options” section, check the “Run with highest privileges” checkbox.
10. In the “Conditions” tab, check the “Wake the computer to complete the task” box.
11. Click on the “OK” button to apply the changes.

To test the job, you can first specify a different time to find out the result.

By default, the media player plays the entire alarm melody, and then the alarm stops. To loop the sound, for example, when you are in a deep sleep, in advance in the multimedia player settings, select the options for endless playback of the file. The sound will be heard until the user independently closes the program window.

To change the alarm start settings, open the “Conditions” and “Triggers” tabs, to change the start time settings or select a different program.

If you have a question about how to turn off the alarm on a computer, follow these steps:

1. In the Task Scheduler window, click on the Task Scheduler Library folder, select the task intended to start the alarm in the right column “Actions”, in the “Selected Item” section, click on the “Delete” button.
2. Confirm this action.

Free Alarm Clock – free alarm clock for computer

You can set an alarm on a laptop using third-party software. For example, the free program Free Alarm Clock acts as an alarm clock on a PC.

You can download the Free Alarm Clock program from the developer’s website at the link: https://freealarmclocksoftware.com/en/ . A regular installation version and a portable version of the application are available for download.

Free Alarm Clock has the following features:

• Autoload with Windows.
• Audio playback in formats: MP3, MP2, OGG, WAV, WMA, M3U, FLAC, AIF, AIFF, AIFC, AFC.
• Automatic increase in volume if necessary.
• Wake up PC from sleep mode.
• Repeat actions at a specified interval.
• Display messages on the taskbar.
• Create multiple alarms.

If the laptop lid is closed, the Free Alarm Clock application will not be able to wake the computer from sleep.

Free Alarm Clock Usage:

1. Run the program on your computer.
2. The main window shows the default time.
3. Click on the “Edit” button to set the desired parameters:

• Alarm start time.
• Repeat work on days of the week.
• The inscription in the alarm window.
• Select an embedded sound or an audio file from a computer.
• Other options are enabled by default.

4. At the selected time, a sound signal will be broadcast from the PC speaker, and the Free Alarm Clock window will appear on the screen.

There are other similar programs that can be used as an alarm clock on a PC.

Article Conclusions

Some users need to know how to turn on the alarm clock on the computer to wake up on time at the set time. To solve this problem, you can use the help of the built-in components of the Windows operating system, or solve the problem using third-party software. As a result, an application will be launched on the computer that plays the alarm.