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Make your desktop or laptop tell accurate time

TexasDon
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TexasDon WRT Addict

TexasDon

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All computers have a clock. And since it's usually a CMOS (complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) with no real attempts to make it all that accurate, it usually isn't. The windows operating systems prior to W-10 have the ability to set the time and date as well as choose your time server. However, the frequency of syncing with the time server of your choice, is not a user defined value. Windows sets it by default at 1,036,800 seconds or, 1 week. Your CMOS clock is free to be totally inaccurate in between sync events. The only way to change this is to edit the registry on your computer. Not everyone cares to muddle around in the registry because bad things can happen if you muck it up.

However, if you go to www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/ you will find a very small applet that is free to download. It's only 891kb so it's quite painless. It adds the ability of a user, with administrator privileges, to easily set the sync time to a more useful pattern. It will also allow you to connect via the internet to the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Time) in the US and allow your computer to become in essence, a repeater for the Atomic Clock which has an accuracy of -1 second every 400 years. The file you will need is AtomicClockSync V3.5 and it adds absolutely nothing to your computer in the way of programs. It is merely an applet that edits your registry for you. I've tried it out and it is both virus free and correctly written. 

Further, you can save the applet on your computer. I placed mine in a folder aptly named, Atomic Clock, and set my sync value at 1 hour, or in my case, 3600 seconds. Now, anytime my computer is on and I'm connected to the internet, I'm automatically synchronizing with the NIST every hour and I know the correct time when I'm setting a watch or measuring accuracy. Should I feel the need, I can access my folder and relaunch the applet to change the sync frequency any time I choose. 

Cheers, 

Don

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