Does Windows Vista have an alarm clock function?
Not directly. There is none for the Windows calendar, for instance. What you could use is the Windows Vista Task Scheduler. Here some details about it: “Windows Vista features a new Task Scheduler service that provides controlled, unattended management of task execution, launched either on schedule or in response to events or system state changes. The ability to perform actions based on an event occurrence enables proactive, ad-hoc system management. IT professionals can now configure machines to automatically react to potential system problems, including intermittent, hard-to-reproduce failures. They can also set up more complex and demanding tasks to run in sequence or in response to multiple triggers and condition changes. A task can notify an IT professional of a problem on a desktop by e-mail, and it can launch a diagnostic program or even an automated resolution. For periodic routine administrative tasks, Windows Vista Task Scheduler allows IT specialists to define their daily ta