thanks, I use microcodestudio but this is a reason to look for MPlab.
Microcodestudio sadly don't have a timerfunction. A time ago did I look for MPlab but it looked a lot harder to work with to me.

The shiftregisters works simple. It is data+clock and when all data is loaded a puls so the latches reset to the new value.
Maby you do have Proteus VSM? I mean that they have also this registers(haven't a lisence myself). The datasheet is here: http://www.alldatasheet.com/datashee...S/74HC595.html

The RTC I used is a DS1307 from Maxim-ic.com but that works fine..