Applications like iCal, OutLook and Entourage are great for keeping track of the many appointments, tasks and deadlines in our lives--but unless you keep the the programs open and running all the time, they're hardly handy for preforming simple tasks such as telling us what the date or day of the week it is. Fortunately, thanks to a clever, but often ignored set of options in your Mac's System Preferences, there's an easy method for doing both without the need to open up any calendar software.

Step One: Open Up System Preferences

Start this exercise off by opening your Mac's System Preferences window. By default, OS X will have installed a System Preferences shortcut icon to your desktop's Dock. You can also access System Preferences by locating it in your Mac's Applications folder.

Step Two: Open Date & Time Preferences

Open your Mac's Date and Time Preferences pane, located four rows down in the list of your computer's preferences. Once that's done, turn your attention to the three option tabs at the top of the Date & Time window: Date & Time, Time Zone and Clock. Click on Clock.

Step Three: Bend Day and Date to Your Will

As you can see with the Clock Preferences tab now open, you've suddenly got a lot of say in how your Mac's menu bar will display the time, day and date. Before making any changes, make sure that your Mac's preferences pane is unlocked, otherwise you won't be getting very far.

Now, look about halfway down the Clock pane. You'll see a set of check boxes under the heading of Date Options. Just check off both of the boxes to force your Mac to display the day of the week and the date in your Menu Bar.

Step Four: Always Know What Day and Date it Is...

...Provided you're sitting in front of your computer, that is. Unfortunately, now that we've showed you this simple trick, you'll never have an excuse to be late for anything ever again. Sorry.

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