How to have the date and time updated whilst on the net.

[blinky88]

Hi all,

I have seen it somewhere in the registry, GPEdit or Firefox not sure .... I want to have the date and time updated automatically everytime I'm on the net .... really appreciate a little help with this problem.

[Des]

Not sure about doing it though Firefox, but on Windows XP and Vista there is a service built in to run and check the time over the internet or through a network. It's under Control Panel -> Administrative Tools-> Services and go down to "windows time" and turn the service on.

The alternative is to use something like net time: http://nettime.sourceforge.net/

Which I use on my W2K machine.

--dES

[blinky88]

Hi Des,

Yes, I have it set to start automatically, it is not operating. Went back to see if I could do more and found a dialog box under log on (Allow service to interact with desktop) that was not checked. Now checked, hopefully that will fix the problem .... will get back to you. Thanks for taking time out to respond.

Cheers from downunder.

[AlanHK]

Hi all,

I have seen it somewhere in the registry, GPEdit or Firefox not sure .... I want to have the date and time updated automatically everytime I'm on the net .... really appreciate a little help with this problem.

In WinXP, click on the time display on the bottom taskbar to get the calendar.
You'll see a tab "Internet Time".

Turn on "Automatically synchronize..."

By default it will now sync with Microsoft's time server once a week, and you can also "Update Now".
See http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/tune-17.html for how to change the server (better to use one in your own city) and the interval (every hour should be more than adequate) to keep you within a second of correct time.

See http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1122814.html for some Australian timeservers.

If you don't have admin powers you might not be allowed to do this.
If you can log in as admin change the permissions to allow everyone to adjust time.

This has some limitations however.
I have a laptop with a dead CMOS battery (impractical to replace) and so time is off by years when it boots up, and this won't allow such a large adjustment. (If it's within a few days, you'll be okay.)

So I use Dimension 4 on that machine (http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/) a free utility which can wait till you're online, adjust time by any amount necessary, and exit, so it doesn't consume RAM in the background when not needed (only 1-2 Mb, still this laptop only has 256.)

[blinky88]

Hi Alan,

Yes, I do have that box checked also. I might check the battery when I shutdown tonight .... thank you for the advise, appreciated. I will keep everyone advised when I eventually get this sorted.