May 1, 2011

Lately I've had several complaints from people about problems with Internet Explorer reporting problem with web site certificates and a plethora of problems updating programs, so this month we are going to discuss a very basic issue, your computer date and time.

As weird as it may sound, many web sites and software today require your computer date, time, and time zone to be correct for wherever you are connected to the Internet.  With some of the new developments in web design technology, these are very important.  Even some software, like Quickbooks, many antivirus programs, etc. will not update correctly or will cause errors to be generated if your computer date or time are incorrect.  Even if you have the wrong time zone selected, but the correct time set, you will still have problems.  This should also be noted when you are traveling.

Windows adjusts you time automatically, but only at certain intervals, so, if for some reason you time gets changed, you will experience issues with some software and some Internet sites.

So, if you find yourself in the situation where you see any of these symptoms, before you stress out, check the time, date, and time zone and make sure they are correct.