[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

This is the first time I've used the "View: Source" for the article instead of Front Page. I messed up the Front Page so I'm trying the "Source".

[mikesmad]

I use NTP to set all of my times. The router that is on the same segment as the firewall gets its time from an NTP server on the internet. Each other router on the network gets it from that master, then each server gets it from the nearest router, and then each PC gets it from the nearest server.

Works great. I set it up and I control access. Incorrect dates and times can cause havoc, especially with financial systems/data. My biggest headache is from external email where people have incorrect dates/time/time zones setup and I get constant questions of why the email is so late being delivered when it is not (the sending system time stamps the message).

[Rightone]

UNFORTUNATELY, the clients in Windows and Mac OS aren't ideal. They share two problems: First, they may not synchronize often enough. The default--and unchangeable--synchronization interval for Windows XP is one week. That's better than nothing, but not good enough to let me use my PC's clock during my radio program.

Well, you can go here and download a neat little program that allows you to change how often your PC (I run XP myself) sets the time:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_time_sync.htm

[Demian]

As far as keeping time goes, a $15 wrist watch does a better job that WindowsXP. The clock on my computer is rarely correct. And whats more annoying, it resets *my* correct manual resets to the wrong time.

[DrDavid]

This is very old news. We've been using SNTP with Unix years before Windows XP was available.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Each of these birds carries its own atomic clock. In addition to helping people on the ground get their navigational fixes, these satellites transmit time pulses.

In fact, their clocks are the mechanism by which navigation data can be calculated.

It would seem that any GPS box would, at least internally, come out knowing the time to atomic-clock accuracy. 'course it might take so long to figure it out that it really tells you what time it was . . . so it would merely work to update the setting on your own local clock, telling it what time it had been however long ago it thinks it was . . .

[jae471]

Nano being 10 to the 9th power; milliseconds are 1/1000th of a second.)

Giga is 10 to the 9th power. Nano is 10 to the negative 9th power.

[Cyber Liberty]

Ping ta self for later reference....

[steve-b]

The default--and unchangeable--synchronization interval for Windows XP is one week.

Typical. IMO, a large chunk of the disdain Windoze earns could be addressed by getting somebody with three working neurons to assign the defaults. This isn't as serious as the various Take-Me-I'm-Yours defaults in the communications setup, but it stands out for sheer stupidity.

[HAL9000]

Mac OS X doesn't say how often it synchronizes the time, though a quick check found the clock on my iMac tightly synchronized with the radio clocks in my office (about those, see below). I suspect the interval may be adjustable someplace in the Unix system that underpins OS X, but I haven't found where that someplace is yet.

I haven't tested this, but here is what I'm seeing -

To adjust the NTP settings in Mac OS X, launch the "Netinfo Manager" in the Utilities folder.

In the Directory Browser, navigate to "/config/ntp/"

The host name of the NTP server and the "minpoll" and "maxpoll" settings can be modified there. The polling intervals are the number of seconds calculated by raising minpoll and maxpoll to the power of two. The default minpoll is 12 (4096 seconds, or about 68 minutes), and maxpoll is 17 (131,076 seconds, or about 36 hours).

The NTP polling can also occur when Mac OS X is started, and polling can be forced manually by clicking the "Set Time Now" button in the Network Time panel of the Date & Time control panel.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Working behind the scenes, a small government agency headquartered outside of Denver operates a network of 14 servers capable of changing the operating systems on your PC--and millions of others--in less than a second.

No.  They aren't capable of "changing the operating systems".

He told me something interesting: "Real clock people," he said, "don't use Windows." Or any graphical user interface, for that matter. In fact, real clock people don't trust their computer's clock for much of anything. 

IDIOT ALERT. 

The time on a PC has nothing to do with the OS.  Time is a BIOS function.  If your BIOS clock is wrong, it doesn't matter what OS you're using: the time will be wrong no matter what.

This article is so ineptly and pathetically written as to be basically worthless.  The author needs to find a new line of work.