Again for my Trivia, I'd like to create a countdown, so the player would have like 60 seconds to answer before the code continues...
I tried this http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/317/ but it doesn't work...Nor the first or the second one, unless I use a _sleep() before the if...
I just use a timer and then work with the WM_TIMER message. I set the timer to 1000 milliseconds and then decrease my count by 1 everytime checking for it reaching 0 to end.
The code could be modified to suit your timing needs if you put some tought into it.
The more obvious problem is that you would need threading for it to actually work as the code would freeze up as you retrieve the answer otherwise (assuming cin and the likes on a console).
I don't believe this will work without the WinAPI, because (if memory serves) console programming does not use multiple threads. You could try Warnis's solution and check how long the program has been running by using the current time.