Instructions from those who maintain the US time reference: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/its.cfm If you're a real time geek then this is interesting reading... http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/utcnist.cfm
Thank you! I downloaded the program at: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/its.cfm and it seems to work. It updates my clock every hour. Many Thanks!
http://download.cnet.com/Chronos-Atomic-Clock-Synchronizer/3000-2350_4-10444462.html?tag=mncol;4 It can update your computer clock from every 30 seconds to every 3 days. I update mine every 5 minutes.
I'll find this and then re-bump this thread because the Mods won't allow us to edit after 30min. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307897 ^^^ That's how to update your clock via command line. I have a script that runs once daily to update and sync. You essentially write a .txt (notepad) document that says "go out and re-sync time via command line" and then change the .txt to .bat. Once it's a .bat file you can schedule it in the Windows Task Manager. It runs just like you can schedule antivirus or disk defrag. http://www.ntp.org/ It's a good idea to pick a few if you can. If not at least find out who your data & broker sync to and use those. I'll dig up my .bat file and post it in this thread on Saturday - next time it is convenient to log into a machine that has it running.
Nice catch/comment - that's a very good point. For most people a normal weekly sync to time.windows.com is more than enough - your latency (and changes in latency between trades/quotes) will be more of an issue than worrying about your CPU clock cycle being slightly off. If your time is slightly off and you correct it while your system is running it can cause a break - quotes have time stamps, orders & messages have time stamps - your broker may do anything from place things out of order to just ignore or dismiss your trades. When you initially log in the platform syncs with the broker. If you change that mid-session it depends on the code and the platform but it could range from zero/minimal impact to a freeze and reboot/restart required. For what it's worth - You probably don't need to worry. If you have issues with losing time completely you may need to replace your CMOS battery. If you are that fast/slow that you are seconds off daily and you have a fresh CMOS battery I'd look elsewhere to the motherboard, power drains, CPU failure (extremely rare), etc.