A Guide to Time Synchronisation With Windows Vista

All computers have clocks of course although the real8. Click Ok twice.
time chips (RTC) that inhabit most PC’s are notIf problems occur then another method of
the most accurate of timepieces and are prone tosynchronising your computer is possible via the
drift.command prompt by running w32tm / resync. This
This may not matter much to the average homeshould activate the windows time service.
user although when it comes to time sensitiveNote: Microsoft and other operating system
applications this inaccuracy can be at best annoyingmanufacturers recommend that an external hardware
(an email arriving before its been sent) or at worstsource should be used to synchronise a computers
leaving your machine open to security threats.clock as Internet time servers can not be
A universal time (UTC) does exist and allows theauthenticated leaving systems vulnerable to security
global industry to communicate and trade eventhreats.
across time zones. UTC was developed to ensureThere are specialist time servers that connect to a
that everybody used the same time reference,UTC source using either the GPS network or a
preventing problems with time sensitive transactionsspecialist radio transmission. These servers use NTP
such as on the stock exchange.(Network Time Protocol) to synchronise machines on
Windows Vista has an inbuilt time synchronisationa network to one UTC source and are easily installed
facility already installed called Windows Time and it isand relatively inexpensive.
pretty easy to setup and to synchronise a machineWindow Vista also has a facility to add extra clocks
with UTC over the Internet. This will ensure that theto the system tray. This allows different times from
clock on your computer is accurate to UTC time anddifferent time zones to be displayed on the
is constantly updated to ensure the time does notcomputer. If the clock has been synchronised with a
drift.UTC source then all these clock will present UTC time
To synchronise your Windows Vista machine to anconverted to whatever time zone is required.
Internet UTC source simply follow these instructions:To add additional clocks simply follow these
1. Right click the clock in the system tray.instructions:
2. Click adjust time and date.Choose change date and time settings.
3. Click the Internet time tab.1. Left click the clock and click Additional Clocks tab.
4. Click change settings.4. Put a check mark in Show this Clock.
5. If you are prompted for a password or for5. Select the time zone.
confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.6. Enter a name for your new clock.
6. Select the server you want to use (such as7. Click apply, then when you click on the Clock icon
windows.time)you’ll see your new clocks.
7. Click the Update now button.