If you are in need of an alarm clock and you have no other options (e.g. you don’t have a real alarm clock and don’t have a feature phone or smartphone to use as an alarm clock), then Comfort Software’s Free Alarm Clock is for you.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO

Main Functionality

Free Alarm Clock is an alarm clock program for Windows. It allows you to set alarms and then dismiss or snooze the alarms once they trigger.

Pros

• Can set as many alarms as desired
• Alarms can be set to happen only once at the specified time or reoccur at the specified time every Monday, every Tuesday, every Wednesday, every Thursday, every Friday, every Saturday, and/or every Sunday
• You can pick one of the default alarm ringers or use your own custom MP3, WMA, or WAV file
• Alarms can be accompanied with an on-screen message
• Can automatically change system volume when alarm is played (e.g. you can set Free Alarm Clock to make your computer’s volume full when an alarm is played)
• Alarms can be dismissed or snoozed (using ‘Enter’ key or click snooze button with mouse), with snooze being a default of nine minutes but you can customize this picking from 1-10 mins
• Has the ability to automatically awake computer from standby or hibernate when it is alarm time, so you don’t have to leave your computer on for an alarm to be played
• Has the ability to automatically turn on monitor when it is alarm time, so you don’t have to leave your monitor on for an alarm to be played
• Can show a floating clock on-screen
• Is extremely easy to use
• Is portable

Cons

• Support for more audio file types would be nice
• Would be nice to be able to snooze by pressing a key other than ‘Enter’
• Using a computer as an alarm clock is probably not something most people will want to do

Discussion

While I am personally no fan of using a computer as an alarm clock, if you need to use your computer as an alarm clock then Free Alarm Clock is one of the best free alarm blocks you will find.

Free Alarm Clock is nothing fancy; it offers the basics of alarm clocking: unlimited alarms, reoccurring alarms, the ability to use your own audio file, and support for snoozing. Plus it is very easy to use and doesn’t use too many computer resources — roughly 5MB while it is idle, sitting in your system tray.

However, probably the best feature of Free Alarm Clock is its ability to automatically awake your computer from standby or hibernate. This means you don’t have to leave your computer running in order to use it as an alarm clock, which is extremely useful and makes using a computer as an alarm clock a bit more bearable.

CONCLUSION AND DOWNLOAD LINK

If you need to use your computer as an alarm clock, look no further than Free Alarm Clock. It is easy to use, offers the basic features required of an alarm clock, and has the coveted ability to awake your computer from standby or hibernate. Plus it is portable and, of course, free.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 2.7

Supported OS: Windows 2000 or higher

Download size: 1.6 MB (installer), 1.2 MB (portable)

VirusTotal malware scan results: 1/44 (portable)

Is it portable? Yes

Free Alarm Clock homepage (scroll to the bottom for portable version link)