Tech Olive

With all the glorious Quarter 4 games just around the corner, it’s hard to contain all the excitement, and it’s all slowly building as the release dates grow nearer. More often than not, there’s that one game that stands above the rest. That one game that we’re all counting the days until its release. No other game quite compares to this one’s anticipation in your mind.

Today we offer you a way to count those days without having to scratch hash marks into your wall, with the use of your very own lightweight and customizable desktop countdown timer! With just a few minutes, we’ll show you how to create an awesome and fully customizable desktop countdown timer that will count the seconds to any date you wish.

1) Head over to Phantim3′s homepage.
- There may be other applications for this purpose, but we’ve been using Phantim3 for a few years now without any compatibility or performance issues.

2) Click on the “Download” tab at the top and save the 604KB installer to your desktop or whichever download directory you prefer.

3) When the download completes, run the executable and follow the installation process to completion.
- The application’s default install directory is what we will be referring to for our later steps in this tutorial.

4) Once installed, run the application (from either its start menu or desktop shortcut) and you will be presented with a default countdown and theme, as pictured above.

5) Now it’s time to customize your very own countdown.
- Phantim3′s website offers a great tutorial page on creating your own skins and that’s the best place for you to start!

For the purposes of this tutorial, we have already thrown together a Call of Duty: Black Ops theme that we will use. If you want to use it, you can download it HERE (just extract the .zip to Program Files/Program Files (x86) > Phantim3 > Skins).

6) To enable your new skin, right-click in the default countdown timer and click “Choose Skin….” Then you may need to click “Refresh” to see your new theme, but just select the theme you want and click “OK.” Now, drag your countdown to where you want it.

7) Once you have your theme enabled, it’s time to set your countdown target. Right-click in the application again and click “Choose Date/Time…” and input the details.

8) You may also want to select “Run This Clock at Startup,” “Stick to Desktop,” and “Hide Tray Icon”

And, remember: this application isn’t restricted to just games. You can also utilize it for any movies, events, holidays, or whatever else tickles your fancy.