I know I’m not the only one whose computer was really messed up when they changed the day when daylight savings time starts. Up until then, my PC was having no problem keeping track of the right day, date, and time for me automatically. She would religiously check a time server, then would adjust her own clock all by herself.

After they changed daylight saving time, her internet time function failed miserably. I would manually set the clock to the correct time, then find her one hour behind the next day. Just like a woman! At first I thought she was acting up, perhaps entering menopause, and then I even started thinking about the Matrix. I’m not sure if Macs are affected.

First I will explain how you can quickly work around the problem. Then I will let you in on a great program I found to replace the Windoze XP time function on your computer. This is the best way to go, because the built-in time function is very basic. Microsoft never gave it much attention once they released XP, since it worked ok.

You can easily work around the problem by disabling the ‘internet time’ function. Look for the digital clock in the far right corner of the desktop toolbar and right click on it. While hovering over the vertical menu, left click on “Adjust Date/Time”. Then select the “Time Zone” tab and verify the time zone is correct. At the bottom, make sure the box “Automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time” in Unchecked, then click on “Apply” along the bottom. Now you will have to adjust your time manually.

If you have a bit of time, I suggest you take a look at replacing the time function with some more sophisticated software. I’m using Chameleon Clock now and am very happy with it. You can customize the looks with skins and other goodies, easily add time servers, to name a few of the options. Did I mention that it’s very pretty to look at!!

Chameleon Clock is inexpensive to buy. You can easily download the evaluation version from their website. Some of the features are disabled but pay no attention.

The first thing you will want to do is to have the software synchronize the clock to the atomic time servers. Right click on the CC system tray clock, hover over to click on “Adjust Date/Time”, then hover over to “Using Atomic Time Servers”. Click on “Start” button inside the resulting dialogue window. Most importantly, make sure the “Adjust only minutes and seconds” box is checked, then click on “Accept”. I also suggest you disable the alarms the noise may seem like nagging to you. It’s rather alarming.

by Peter Jul 06 2007 00:00:43 This thread discusses the Content article: A Computer Dating Problem Let me know if you would like to register the Chameleon Clock