Microsoft is working on various improvements for Windows 11 users, and it turns out that one of the features that may soon find its way back into the operating system is support for displaying the unit of time, the second, in the system tray clock. While this is not necessarily the top feature users are asking for in Windows 11, seconds can be enabled in the recent Windows Insider build. Most importantly, it can be enabled with the Vivetool utility thanks to a dedicated test ID 41314201.
A dedicated option in the Settings app allows users to enable the seconds in the system tray icon (after enabling the dedicated toggle mentioned above), so it’s possible that getting the seconds back is a work in progress and the same change may go live for all users in the Insider program sooner rather than later.
Enabling this feature is very simple, although for now, you will find that the following steps only work in Windows Server build 25246 – as said, the return of the seconds in the system tray clock may only be a matter of time for all Insiders. Once you’ve done so, a new option called “Show seconds in the system tray clock” can be found in System Settings, under Personalization > Taskbar.
Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into improving the desktop and taskbar experience in Windows 11, so the company is updating the operating system to offer previously popular features. One of these is drag-and-drop support, a feature that was previously available on Windows 10 and should have been in Windows 11 from the start, but users were surprised to find that the new system’s taskbar functionality had regressed considerably. The feature’s retrieval was first introduced in Windows 11 build 22557 earlier this year as part of the Insider program and then made available to users with the debut of the 2022 update.
Right now, it’s not known when Microsoft plans to bring the seconds in the system tray clock to all users, but that could take some time, as the feature isn’t even available to all Insiders.
Most likely, the software giant will need more time for testing and the new Moments feature update is expected to be released in the first half of 2023, so it can either wait for that release or Microsoft will integrate the feature into the monthly quality updates that go live for Windows 11 devices.
