My husband’s been deployed to Islamabad, Pakistan and I’d like to be able to always know what time it is there. Is there a way in Windows 8.1 to have dual timezones or a clock with a different timezone displayed?
First off, our thanks go out to your husband for his service to the country with his deployment to Islamabad. It’s hot there right now, in case you aren’t tracking the weather: Today, June 27, the high temp is expected to be 103F (39C). As you know, it’s also a long, long way away. If you’re based in Chicago, Islamabad is just a bit more than 7,000 miles away.
In terms of what you seek, there are a couple of ways to have a clock with a different time zone show up in Windows 8.1 including downloading a clock app that’ll just float on your desktop at all times, but the easiest way hands down is to tap into a secret feature of the Date & Time control panel that’s part of the system itself.
You already rely on this particular control panel every time you glance at the Taskbar and see what time it is!
Here’s what you see if you put the cursor over the date and time display:
I kind of zoomed in here so we can see what’s going on. Your display will probably be a bit smaller 🙂
Instead of just looking at this display, click on it. A window pops up:
That’s pretty neat and darn handy if you’re trying to figure out dates and times, for sure.
But what you want to do is click on Change date and time settings…
If you don’t see this view, make sure you’ve clicked on Additional Clocks along the top.
Now check “Show this clock” and find the proper timezone for Islamabad, Pakistan:
You can put in whatever label you want. You could even have “Mike Time” or similar if that’s what you’d prefer.
Now click on “Apply” or “OK” to have the new clock saved in the preferences.
Nothing looks different on the Taskbar, but when you move your cursor over the current (local timezone) date and time, the pop-up is considerably more interesting:
There we go, so when it’s 3.09pm local time (in Denver, at least), it’s 2.09am the following morning in Pakistan.
Even better, click on the date and time display and you’ll get two clocks to show up:
Now any time you want, simply hover your cursor over the date and time to find out the current time in Islamabad, or click on it to get the dual clock display to show up.
Hope that helps you keep track of your husband’s timezone while he’s stationed in Pakistan.