I’m weird. I haven’t changed the time on my computer’s clock yet. I’ve been in Ukraine twenty months now. I’ve gotten used to adding eight hours to get the current time (or I just look at my watch). It’s nice having Midwest time on my computer because I easily know if it’s a good time or not to bother people back home. But what if I want the best of both worlds, Midwest time and Ukraine time? It’s possible to have both clocks, here’s how.

Windows 7 and Vista: Right-click on the clock and choose “Adjust date/time.” In the dialog box that pops up, click the “Additional Clocks” tab. Check the first box to enable the clock, choose the time zone you want and then give it a name. For me, I have UTC+2:00 and I called it “Ukraine.” Press “Apply.” Your second clock will now be visible when you hover or click on the clock.

Windows XP: You’ll need to download a small file from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=25166) to display multiple clocks. After you download, open the file to install the program. After installation, if the program doesn’t start by itself, run the program. You will see a new icon down near your clock. Right-click on this and choose “Options” to set your new time zones. A note, you might need to install .NET Framework 1.1 for this to work (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en).

Mac OSX: The best recommendation I’ve found for multiple clocks is to add a new “World Clock” widget to your dashboard. To do this, open the dashboard, click the “X” in the lower left-hand corner and then add the “World Clock.” Set its time to the time zone you wish.