Updated – 2017-02-05
Setting the date and time on your computer is sometimes simply necessary. Below I will explain why. After the unjustified transition to summer and winter time was finally canceled in our country, setting the system clock became especially relevant. Thousands of users have never been able to reset their clocks, and all files are created with incorrect time formats. Some people may not care about this, but if you work with electronic documents, then there may be overlaps. Imagine that you send some file with a report to a higher organization, it arrives there, they process it, and suddenly it turns out that the file was created a day later from the date of creation of this file? In most cases, no one pays attention to this, but it happens that for some reason you have to prove that you created and sent the report on time, but in the file properties there is a completely different date. And this may not work in your favor.
Also for this reason, even an antivirus program can get confused and fail. Even so, you need to set the date and time on your computer. Sometimes this is quite easy to do!
Correction of date and time values is usually done manually.
- Open menu START - CONTROL PANEL - DATE AND TIME .
- A dialog box will open Properties: Date and time .
- Open the tab DATE AND TIME .
- On the panel DATE select year, month, day .
- On the panel TIME Using a three-section counter, set the current time accurate to the second. Each counter field (out of three) is specified separately.
If your computer is connected to the Internet, you can synchronize the time. To do this, go to the tab INTERNET TIME and check the box SYNCHRONIZE WITH AN INTERNET TIME SERVER .
Time in the era of information technology has acquired special significance for modern man. Each of us looks at our watches at least several times a day. Many people regularly synchronize their time reporting devices through various sources, including the Internet. Accurate time sometimes plays a decisive role in matters where not even minutes, but seconds are important. For example, trading on stock exchanges can result in ruin for a player whose watch shows the wrong time. Let's try to set up our electronic clock on a computer and synchronize the exact time via the Internet.
Time synchronization technology
First, I’ll tell you a little about the technology used to obtain accurate time from Internet sources. The entire time synchronization process is carried out through a special network protocol called NTP (Network Time Protocol). This protocol is a set of various rules and mathematical algorithms, thanks to which the time on your computer is precisely adjusted with a difference of a few hundredths of one second. There is also a protocol for systems that do not require such precise synchronization, called SNTP. The difference between the source and the receiving device can be up to 1 second.
The technology for transmitting precise time parameters is a multilayer structure, where each underlying layer of electronic devices is synchronized with the underlying one. The lower the technological layer, the less accurate the time obtained from it will be. But this is in theory, in practice everything depends on many parameters involved in the synchronization system and more accurate time can be obtained, for example, from the fourth layer of devices than from the third.
At the zero level of this transmission chain there are always time reporting devices, roughly speaking, clocks. These clocks are molecular, atomic or quantum time-keeping devices and are called reference clocks. Such devices do not transmit time parameters directly to the Internet; they are usually connected to the primary computer via a high-speed interface with minimal delays. It is these computers that make up the first layer in the technological chain. On the second layer there will be machines that receive time from the first layer of devices via a network connection, most often via the Internet. All subsequent layers will receive information about the exact time using the same network protocols from the overlying layers.
Time synchronization in Windows
Let's try to synchronize time using systems Windows XP, Windows 2003 . To do this, click on the clock that is located in your tray (usually in the lower right corner of the screen) to bring up the date and time settings. In this case, be sure to check the settings “ time zone”, which are located there and adjust them if necessary.
For Windows Vista, Windows 7 You can also just click on the clock at the bottom of the screen and go to the settings through the special link “Changing date and time settings”
Then go to the “Internet Time” tab and click the “Change Settings” button.
An Internet time settings window will appear, similar to the same window from Windows XP, 2003.
In this window there is an option to automatically reconcile hours via the Internet, which is available opposite the inscription “ Synchronize with an Internet time server" If you enable it by checking the box, then periodically the time of your computer will be updated via the Internet server by the operating system itself.
Next, opposite the option “ Server:“The user can choose from a list of addresses from which synchronization will be carried out. Try selecting one of them and clicking the “ Update now" If after a certain time a synchronization error appears below the list, manually enter one of the server addresses below and check the connection to it.
| ntp.mobatime.ru nist1-ny.ustiming.org ntp.chg.ru |
Below is a video that will show the process of setting up the system clock in Windows 7 and synchronizing it.
Changing the automatic time synchronization period in Windows
By default, the Windows operating system accesses synchronization servers only once a week. Provided that the user has set automatic time checking, of course. For some, this period may seem quite long or may be quite frequent than would be desirable. Fortunately, the system allows you to change this parameter through the registry settings.
Open the window " Execute” through the menu “ Start" At the command line, type regedit and start with the “ OK" You need to get to the next section one by one
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SYSTEM - CurrentControlSet - Services - W32Time - TimeProviders - NtpClient
and select the option in the window on the left SpecialPollInterval. The value is given here 604800
, if you convert it to the decimal system. This number of seconds is equal to one week. Here you can enter another value that you need, converting it into seconds.
In addition to the clock running on your computer, there are probably other sources of time that you have to periodically check so as not to get out of the general work schedule or schedule. Clocks can be wall, table, or wrist, and the accuracy of the time shown by them does not always correspond to reality. Meanwhile, trying to synchronize the time of these devices manually, many turn to television sources. However, such means can transmit signals with significant delays, so it is impossible to guarantee accurate time to at least a minute from these sources.
Fortunately, there are many time display services on the global network that will help you set your watch to the exact time, down to one second. Of course, the Internet is not blameless in terms of time delays in the transmission of information, but such delays with good communication usually do not amount to more than one second.
Multifunctional service for displaying exact time. In addition to its main purpose, it allows you to check the clocks of different time zones, find out calendar information for the current day, fine-tune the format for displaying time on the screen via the site and the display style, display the current year’s calendar, find out the time in any city on the globe and much more. Perhaps one of the most useful and versatile time services I have ever worked with.
A beautiful image of a dial with moving hands will delight fans of stylish virtual design. In addition to information about the exact time, here you can find data on the time of sunrise and sunset in your region, as well as a link to the weather forecast for the specified city.
There is practically nothing superfluous on the screen, only basic information about the exact time, plus the ability to compare it with the clock of your system. However, there is a small menu with additional functions, such as the remaining time until the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, a stopwatch, a date converter and a time zone map.
You also have access to other web resources that may help you resolve your issues.
Having purchased a new mobile gadget, users may encounter problems with incorrectly set time zones and the current date and time. However, it can be solved quite simply, and in this guide we will tell you how to set the date and time on a smartphone running Android.
To set the time on Android, you need to follow a few simple steps:
Step 1. Run Settings, go to the category " System and device" and select the section " Additionally».
Step 2. Click the button date and time».
Step 3. In the window that opens, you can set the time, change the date, select the format for displaying the time and date, set the time zone, and also set automatic receipt of settings.
You can also access the date and time settings in another way - through the application Watch:
Step 1. Launch the application Watch.
Step 2. Click the options button.
Step 3. Click on the button Date and time settings».
Why does the time go wrong on Android?
Date and time synchronization on Android smartphones can sometimes not work correctly, causing settings to crash. To fix this issue, you need to disable the " Network date and time" And " Network time zone", and then set the settings manually.
If the issue is not resolved, you should reset Android to factory settings and reset all settings.
Conclusion
Although a computer is a precision machine, its clock (like any other) can be slow or fast. To prevent such incidents, time synchronization using the Windows Time service is necessary.
According to a given schedule, the OS checks the clock with the server specified in the settings. If the values are not equal, the system adjusts the indicators. Initially, the configuration already contains several addresses.
How to synchronize time on a computer
For one-time synchronization, you need to do the following: Left click on the Windows clock.
The "Change date and time settings" button will open the settings window. Next, you need to go to the “Internet Time” tab. It will display the server address specified in the settings and the last date of synchronization.
By clicking on "Change settings", you can update the time.
Automation function
To synchronize your computer's time with the Internet automatically, just check the only box in the last window. If it is impossible to connect to the north or an error occurs when updating the time, then you can select one of the additional servers, fortunately the OS provides a choice of as many as 5, or find and enter it in the “server” line.
Be careful, the last selected server will remain in the default settings, the operating system will work with it and will automatically synchronize the time on the computer with the Internet.
Command Line Tools
It is not always convenient to use graphical system configuration tools. For example, if the window is overloaded with text: the eyes try to find the right button, but everything merges into one monotonous image. And entering a couple of commands is faster than frequently moving the mouse cursor from one corner of the window to another.
To synchronize the time on your computer with the Internet using the command line, open the Start menu and select Run, or simply press Win + R on your keyboard. In the line of the window that opens, write cmd, and then press Enter. This will take you to the command line, the following command will update the time on the local computer with the server installed by default:
- w32tm/resync.
To configure the server that the system will use to synchronize the time on the local computer with the Internet, run the commands:
- w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:[server for synchronization] /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes (this command sets the server whose time will be used for updates);
- w32tm /config /update (message to the time service that the settings have changed);
- net stop w32time && net start w32time (service restart).
- is it too difficult?
Windows is an OS whose functionality can be expanded with additional applications. If you experience difficulties setting up the time update, then you can use the simplest option - download a program that will take many steps on its own and require minimal intervention. Moreover, such programs allow you to synchronize time with greater accuracy than standard system tools. Often they can take into account delays in receiving and sending packets and obtain server addresses from lists on the Internet.
Undocumented settings
By default, the period with which Windows, after setting it up, will synchronize the time on the computer with the Internet is a week. Sometimes this interval needs to be reduced, but the built-in tools do not allow the necessary configuration. The registry will help.
To launch the registry, type regedit in the Run window and press Enter. Go to the HKEYLM branch, in it you need to expand the SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient directory. Find the SpecialPollInterval parameter. It will already contain the value 604800. It is in this number of seconds that one week passes. If you change this number to 3600, the synchronization time will be one hour.
It is not recommended to enter values less than an hour and more than a day in this column. Small values will significantly increase Internet traffic. In addition, if you try to synchronize the time every few seconds, the server will block your IP. Larger values will not achieve maximum system clock accuracy. After making the changes, enter the characters net stop w32time && net start w32time into the command line.
The local network
If you have several computers at home or in an office connected via a local network, you can use one as an accurate time server. Synchronization with the time of a PC connected to a local network is carried out in the same way as with servers on the Internet. But first you will have to run an NTP server on the computer, whose time will be used by other network participants.
To do this, open the registry and edit the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer section. In it, the Enabled key needs to be set to 1, then restart the Windows time service from the command line by typing net stop w32time, and after execution - net start w32time.
Remember that the PC is now used by other network users as a reference, do not forget to check its performance from time to time. You can check whether the server is turned on with the w32tm /query /configuration command. An Enabled value of 1 indicates that everything is fine with the server.
Don’t forget to synchronize the time on your computer with the Internet, because now if the clock runs ahead or is too slow on it, this will affect all users.
It's no secret that even electronics cannot achieve absolute accuracy. This is evidenced by the fact that after a certain period, the computer’s system clock, which is displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, may have a discrepancy with real time. To prevent such a situation, it is possible to synchronize the exact time with an Internet server. Let's see how this is done in practice in Windows 7.
The main condition under which clock synchronization can be carried out is the presence of an Internet connection on the computer. You can synchronize your watch in two ways: using standard Windows tools and using third-party software.
Method 1: Time synchronization using third-party programs
Let's figure out how to synchronize time via the Internet using third-party programs. First of all, you need to select software to install. One of the best programs in this direction is SP TimeSync. It allows you to synchronize the time on your PC with any atomic clock available on the Internet via the NTP time protocol. Let's figure out how to install it and how to work with it.
- After running the installation file, which is located in the downloaded archive, the installer's welcome window opens. Click "Next".
- In the next window you need to determine where on the computer the application will be installed. By default this is the programs folder on disk C. It is not recommended to change this parameter unless absolutely necessary, so just click "Next".
- A new window informs you that SP TimeSync will be installed on your computer. Click "Next" to start the installation.
- The installation process of SP TimeSync on the PC starts.
- Next, a window opens indicating that the installation is complete. To close it, click "Close".
- To launch the application, click on the button "Start" in the lower left corner of the screen. Next, go by name "All programs".
- In the list of installed software that opens, look for the SP TimeSync folder. To proceed to further actions, click on it.
- The SP TimeSync icon will be displayed. Click on the indicated icon.
- This action initiates the launch of the SP TimeSync application window in the "Time". For now, the window only displays local time. To display the server time, click on the button "Get Time".
- As you can see, now both local and server time are displayed simultaneously in the SP TimeSync window. Indicators such as difference, latency, start, NTP version, accuracy, relevance and source (as an IP address) are also displayed. To synchronize your computer clock, click "Set time".
- After this action, the local time of the PC is brought in accordance with the server one, that is, synchronized with it. All other indicators are reset. To compare the local time with the server time again, click again "Get Time".
- As you can see, this time the difference is very small (0.015 seconds). This is due to the fact that synchronization was carried out quite recently. But, of course, it is not very convenient to synchronize the time on your computer manually every time. To set up this process automatically, go to the tab "NTP client".
- In field "Get every" You can specify a period of time in numbers after which the clock will be automatically synchronized. Next to it, in the drop-down list, you can select a unit of measurement:
- Seconds;
- minutes;
- Watch;
- Day.
For example, let's set the interval to 90 seconds.
In field "NTP server" if desired, you can specify the address of any other synchronization server, if the one that is installed by default ( pool.ntp.org) for some reason does not suit you. In field "Local port" It's better not to make changes. By default there is a number «0» . This means that the program connects to any free port. This is the best option. But, of course, if for certain reasons you want to assign a specific port number to SP TimeSync, you can do this by entering it in this field.
- In addition, the same tab contains precision control settings, which are available in the Pro version:
- Attempt time;
- Number of successful attempts;
- Limit number of attempts.
But, since we are describing the free version of SP TimeSync, we will not dwell on these features. And to further configure the program, let’s move to the tab "Options".
- Here, first of all, we are interested in the point "Run when Windows starts". If you want SP TimeSync to automatically start when you start your computer, rather than doing it manually every time, then check the box next to the specified item. In addition, you can check the boxes next to the items "Minimize tray icon" And "Run with window minimized". Having set these settings, you will not even notice that the SP TimeSync program is running, since it will carry out all time synchronization actions at a set interval in the background. The window will only need to be called up if you decide to adjust the previously set settings.
In addition, users of the Pro version can use the IPv6 protocol. To do this, you just need to check the box next to the appropriate item.
In field "Language" If desired, you can select one of the 24 available languages from the list. By default, the system language is set, that is, in our case, Russian. But English, Belarusian, Ukrainian, German, Spanish, French and many other languages are available.
Thus, we configured the SP TimeSync program. Windows 7 time will now automatically update every 90 seconds to match the server time, all in the background.
Method 2: Synchronize in the Date and Time window
In order to synchronize time using the built-in capabilities of Windows, you need to perform the following algorithm of actions.
- Click on the system clock located in the lower corner of the screen. In the window that opens, navigate to the inscription "Changing date and time settings".
- After the window starts, go to the section "Time on the Internet".
- If this window indicates that the computer is not configured for automatic synchronization, then in this case click on the inscription "Change settings...".
- The settings window opens. Check the box next to the item “Synchronize with an Internet time server”.
- After performing this action, the field "Server", which was previously inactive, becomes active. Click on it if you want to select a server other than the default one ( time.windows.com), although this is not necessary. Select the appropriate option.
- After this, you can immediately synchronize with the server by clicking "Update Now".
- After completing all the settings, click "OK".
- In the window "Date and time" click too "OK".
- Now your time on your computer will be synchronized with the time of the selected server once a week. But, if you want to set a different automatic synchronization period, it will not be as easy to do as in the previous method using third-party software. The fact is that the Windows 7 user interface simply does not provide for changing this setting. Therefore, you will have to make adjustments to the system registry.
This is a very responsible matter. Therefore, before proceeding with the procedure, think carefully about whether you really need to change the automatic synchronization interval, and whether you are ready to cope with this task. Although there is nothing unusually complicated here. You just have to approach things responsibly to avoid fatal consequences.
If you still decide to make changes, then call the window "Run" by typing the combination Win+R. In the field of this window, enter the command:
Click "OK".
- The Windows 7 system registry editor window opens. On the left side there are registry sections presented in the form of directories arranged in a tree form. Go to section "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" by double-clicking on its name with the left mouse button.
- Then, in the same way, go sequentially to the subsections "SYSTEM", "CurrentControlSet" And "Services".
- A very large list of subsections opens. Look for the name in it "W32Time". Click on it. Next, go to the subsections "TimeProviders" And "NtpClient".
- The right side of the Registry Editor contains subkey settings "NtpClient". Double click on the parameter "SpecialPollInterval".
- The parameter change window opens "SpecialPollInterval".
- By default, the values in it are specified in hexadecimal notation. This system works well for a computer, but it is incomprehensible to the average user. Therefore in the block "Number system" move the switch to position "Decimal". After that in the field "Meaning" number will be displayed 604800 in the decimal measurement system. This number displays the number of seconds after which the PC clock is synchronized with the server. It is easy to calculate that 604800 seconds is equal to 7 days or 1 week.
- In field "Meaning" parameter change windows "SpecialPollInterval" We enter the time in seconds after which we want to synchronize the computer clock with the server. Of course, it is desirable that this interval be less than the default, and not more. But each user decides for himself. As an example, we will set the value 86400 . Thus, the synchronization procedure will be performed once a day. Click "OK".
- You can now close the Registry Editor window. Click the standard close icon in the upper right corner of the window.
Thus, we have configured automatic synchronization of the local PC clock with the server time once a day.
Method 3: Command Line
The next method to start time synchronization involves using the command line. The main condition is that before starting the procedure you log in under an account with administrator rights.
You can synchronize time in Windows 7 either using third-party software or using the internal capabilities of the operating system. Moreover, this can be done in various ways. Each user simply must choose the option that is more suitable for themselves. Although objectively using third-party software is more convenient than using built-in OS tools, it must be taken into account that installing third-party programs creates an additional load on the system (albeit a small one), and can also be a source of vulnerabilities for attackers.
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