Hiding the System Date and Time
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 25, 2019)
Your computer uses an internal clock which keeps track of both the date and current time. Windows relies upon this clock and works closely with it. For instance, when Windows saves a file, the current date and time are saved with the file. Windows makes this time available to you as a clock, visible at the right side of the Taskbar, in the Notifications area.
If you find the date and time distracting, you can turn off their display in the Notifications area. Just follow these steps if you are using Windows 7 or Windows 8:
- Right-click the clock, in the Notifications area. Windows displays a Context menu.
- Choose Properties from the Context menu. Windows displays the Systems Icons window. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Systems Icons window.
- Click the drop-down in the Behaviors column, to the right of the Clock system icon, and choose Off. The date and time immediately disappear from the Notifications area.
- Click OK.
Follow these steps if you are using Windows 10:
- Right-click the clock, in the Notifications area. Windows displays a Context menu.
- Choose Taskbar Settings from the Context menu. Windows displays the Taskbar window in Settings. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Taskbar window.
- Scroll down, if needed, to the Notification area on the right side of the Taskbar window and click on Turn System Icons On or Off. Windows displays the Turn System Icons On or Off window. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3. Turn System Icons On or Off.
- Turn on or off the system icons you want (in this case, Clock).
- When finished, close Settings.
You should note that these steps don't disable the system clock—it is still there, in the background, doing the important work it needs to do. The only thing these steps do is to turn off the display of the data and time in the Notifications area of the Taskbar.
Author Bio
Allen Wyatt
With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...
Changing Paragraph Borders
Word allows you to easily add borders to a paragraph of text. If you want, you can even change each side of the border to ...
Discover More
Setting a Length Limit on Cells
Limiting what can be entered in a cell can be an important part of developing a worksheet that other people use. Here are ...
Discover More
Monthly Close-Out Dates
If your company closes out its accounting months at the end of each calendar quarter, figuring out the proper closing ...
Discover More
Creating Additional Clocks
Want to keep track of what time it is in various areas of the world? Windows makes it easy by allowing you to display ...
Discover More
More Clocks to Track Time
As you work you may need to keep track of the time in various locations or time zones. Add additional clocks to the clock ...
Discover More
Deleting Additional Clocks
Windows can display up to three separate clocks so you can keep track of what time it is in various time zones. If you ...
Discover More
Comments