Configuring Windows XP Time Service

Time is an interesting concept. Some people are on time for everything, and others are always late. Personally, I prefer to bring a book or a Game Boy video game and be early (I've discovered this puts me in a distinct and small minority). 

Whether you are early, on-time or late, you almost certainly depend upon clocks to tell you what time it is. Some of us use wall clocks, other digital clock-radios and some tell time with a watch. 

Computer nerds like myself use, well, the clock on the computer. I program my Outlook to remind me of everything, I've set tasks with due dates and times, and I've got appointments constantly scheduled. Thus, my life tends to revolve around the clocks on my work and home computers.

One of the first tasks that you must perform when you get a new computer is to set the time. On Windows XP, this is done using the "Date and Time" Control panel. You can completely control how your computer system handles time from this one place.

There are three tabs on the control panel: Date & Time, Time Zone and Internet Time.

Date & Time - Allows you to set the date and time for your computer. If you are using internet time (you have the time automatically adjusted based upon a public time server) then you don't have to be very precise. Just enter the date and time from your watch or wall clock.

Time Zone - Now indicate which time zone your computer is in. This is important, as it informs your computer how to handle your time. Also, if you are in an area with daylight savings time (a silly practice in the United States intended to confuse people), be sure and set it here.

Internet Time - This tab allows your computer to automatically check the time every once in a while by requesting it from a public time server. If your system is connected to the internet, it's a good idea to do this. Personally, I am not thrilled with the Windows XP implementation of internet time, as I've found it to be resource intensive, difficult to configure and problematic about retrieving the time. Thus, I have disabled the Windows time service and use a freeware product called ArgoSoft Time Service.

When you are finished setting up your time, click OK and it will become active.