Windows, like any other operating system, has a clock . This allows us to keep an eye on the time at all times, and is also used for a large number of internal tasks, especially for synchronization and encryption. The computer has many ways of keeping the correct time. For example, when plugged in, it uses the frequency of alternating current to maintain clock cycles. When offline, it uses the PC’s internal battery to save time. And when it’s on, it syncs the time with the internet. However, despite this, there are times when we look and the time on the clock is wrong. What could have happened?
How the clock influences the operation of Windows
Having the wrong time on the computer can not only confuse us when looking at the clock. That is the least of the problems we can have. If we have a bad configuration in the PC time, the first thing we will encounter will be problems when connecting to the Internet . Modern Internet protocols use security systems that create synchronization based on time. Therefore, if the time is wrong, the synchronization will fail. The webs won’t load, and many other applications and functions that depend on the Internet, either.
Therefore, we must change the time of Windows when it is wrong, although if we do not want to have to do it every little bit we have to find out why this time is wrong.
Reasons why the PC clock is delayed
Although the clock should automatically synchronize the time over the Internet every time we turn on the PC, it should not lag very often. And if this happens, it is because something is not working correctly.
PC battery problem
When the computer is off, and disconnected from the power, the motherboard battery is used to save a series of data, such as BIOS / UEFI settings and, of course, keep the clock running. If the battery is about to run out, we can see how the clock is starting to slow down. First a few minutes, and then up to hours or days. And if it ends up wearing out, the clock will be reset to its factory date and time, and the motherboard settings will be lost.
Although these batteries usually last a long time, if we notice these types of problems, we should consider changing the battery on the board.
We use two operating systems in Dual Boot
If we have configured a Dual-Boot with Windows and Linux, it is very common that every time we change an operating system the clock is time offset. This can vary, from one system to another, about two hours. And if we change it in one of the systems, when we return to the other, it will be wrong again.
This is because, when you turn off the PC, Linux saves the time on the motherboard in UTC format, while Windows does it in local format. Hence the difference. Therefore, we must make Windows work with UTC time, or Linux work with local time. Thus, both systems will share the same format and we will not have problems.
Failed to synchronize time
Although Windows 10 should update the time over the Internet through the NTP protocol , there are many times that this does not work correctly. It may happen that we have the time synchronization disabled, or it may even that the NTP server that is configured in the system is not working correctly. It may even be that the router itself, or the computer’s firewall, is blocking these features.
Be that as it may, we must check if the sync function is working properly to avoid problems.
Bad BIOS / UEFI settings
Windows almost always uses the time that we have configured in the BIOS or UEFI of our computer. Therefore, if for some reason the time of this is wrongly set, or we have the time zone of the computer wrongly configured, it is most likely that this error is reflected in the Windows time.
To solve it, what we must do is enter the BIOS and correctly configure the date and time of the PC. By doing so, and saving the changes, we will prevent the time from going wrong.
