Why is my computer clock running 5 minutes behind?

I think if you double click the time it should take you to the panel where you can fix it manually, but it is unusual that it somehow managed to fall behind.

Ha, really? Wow.

But, I’d like to know why it keep going back after I set it.

It keeps going back to being five minutes behind? Instantly or over time? What kind of computer are you using?

It goes back over time. I am using a Dell computer.

This may be a stupid question, but are you sure it is your computer clock that is wrong?

@Les, it’s not a stupid question

My best guess it that It might be auto-correcting based on the official time for your time zone. In that case, the other time pieces you compare it with, like watches/microwaves/stoves, may be running faster than the exact time dictates. Is there some kind of option for automatic update?

@Beta_Orionis – In Windows XP, double click on the clock on the screen, and you can select the tab for “Internet Time”. When selected, this will allow the clock to auto-sync to whatever website you’ve specified. You can uncheck the box to do this sync, but seems to me that I’d want to go with that time over the time my watch says.

Could be that your date/time server is wonky. I’m not sure how to set it in Windows. On a Mac it looks like this.

edit :: what Les said.

@johnpowell: It’s not a mac.
TThank you. I have the problem resolved.

@johnpowell Thanks for that! Mine was a couple minutes ahead

Mine never stays on time, even though it’s set to synch to internet time. :(

Mine does that all the time, but it goes BACK an HOUR. I just had to re-set it again today.

Stubborn little buggers, aren’t they….

Absolutely! Well, they’re just machines, after all.

It’s because you are actually going so fast that time itself cannot tether you.

Your computer is trying to tell you to slow the fuck down before you shatter reality.

I also have faced this problem many times and the best remedy I could find for this problem is updating the clock with the internet web server time i.e. synchronizing it with the internet.