Due to the rise of mobile devices, people are often ditching their traditional alarm clocks, timers, and stopwatches in favor of gadgets. No, not desktops or laptops but rather smartphones and sometimes even tablets. However, if you are one of those that don’t have to don’t want to use a mobile device for the purposes of an alarm, timer, or stopwatch (or maybe you have a specific need for it on your desktop or laptop), then Cool Timer by Harmony Hallow is a program that provides all three features on Windows. Let’s see if it is worth your time.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Harmony Hallow Cool Timer is a desktop alarm clock, timer, and stopwatch in one package. Cool Timer comes in two versions, Standard (free) and Deluxe ($15). The following chart depicts the differences between the two:

Pros

• Has clock/alarm clock, countdown timer, and stopwatch functionality — you can use the program as any of these three
• Standard version can set up to two concurrent alarms; Deluxe version can set unlimited concurrent alarms
• You can pick between provided alarm and timer sounds or use your own MP3/WAV file
  • Standard version comes with 12 built-in alarm sounds while Deluxe version has 39; Deluxe version also allows you to recover a custom alarm using your mic while Standard version does not
• Alarms can be snoozed, allowing users to customize snooze duration and how many times an alarm can be snoozed
• Alarms can be set to reoccur based on the day of the week
• You can set it so you must solve a simple puzzle before you are allowed to close or snooze alarm
  • Standard version comes with one puzzle while Deluxe has six
• Has ability to show a text message when countdown timer has finished or alarm has rung
• Can open a file, run a program, or open a website when alarm rings
  • Standard version allows you to run one action after alarm while Deluxe allows you to perform unlimited actions
• Can open a WAV/MP3 file or open a website after a countdown timer has finished
  • Standard version allows you to run one action after timer while Deluxe allows you to perform unlimited actions
• You can customize the background image of the clock area
  • Standard version allows you to pick from four backgrounds while Deluxe has 35
• Has the ability to display a “visualization image” when using countdown timer
  • A visualization image is an image that either appears or disappears (depending on what you select in settings) as the timer runs down
  • Standard version comes with one image while Deluxe has 52 images and you can use your own custom image
• Can be minimized to system tray
• Prevents computer from hibernating while a countdown timer is running or an alarm has been set
• Has the ability to automatically start at Windows boot (in fact, sets itself to start at Windows boot and anyone that doesn’t like that can disable the behavior via Preferences)
• Deluxe version allows you to run multiple clocks/timers/stopwatches at the same time — you can run multiple instances of Cool Timer in Deluxe (Standard version can only have one clock or timer or stopwatch at a time — you can’t run multiple instances of Cool Timer in Standard)
• Cleans up after its RAM usage — RAM usage slowly increases to 30 MB but continually jumps back down to below 10 MB

Cons

• Comes packed with tricky bloatware during installation (or, as some of you like to put it, is a crapware landmine). Be extremely careful during installation. You will need to select advanced installation, uncheck boxes, Cancel, Skip, etc. — read every screen very carefully.
• As you can see in the Pros features list above, you need to purchase Deluxe to get full benefit of features
• Only supports WAV and MP3 files for alarm clock and countdown timer sound
• Neither the Standard or Deluxe versions can add a custom background to the clock/timer/stopwatch area
• Has a bug — displays an error when trying to close on-screen text message that appears after alarm clock/countdown timer. The error went away when I click Continue and try to close the message again.

Conclusion and download link

First off, let me say if you have a mobile device, using it for alarm, timer, and stopwatch purposes is a lot more user-friendly than your desktop or laptop. However, if you really need an alarm clock, timer, or stopwatch for your desktop or laptop, Harmony Hallow Cool Timer is actually a very good option; it isn’t perfect, but it is feature-filled and it has a free version you can use or try if you don’t want to pay for the paid version. Check it out… but just be watchful of the crapware landmine you will encounter during installation.

Price: Free, $15

Version reviewed: 5.0.7.0 (Standard), 1.0.6 (Deluxe)

Supported OS: Windows XP/Vista/Win7/Win8

Download size: 4 MB

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/46

Is it portable? No

Harmony Hallow Cool Timer homepage