[geeks] NTP on Windows

gsm at mendelson.com gsm at mendelson.com
Tue Jun 21 07:40:53 CDT 2011


On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 08:18:06AM -0400, Nick B wrote:
>Windows XP has ntp built in.  Are these networked with any remote agents?

No it does not. At least not in the sense that anyone who uses NTP would
think it does. Once a week it checks your clock against a server and updates
it. 

A "real" NTP client would keep your clock in sync. About 200ms (1/5 of
a second) is what's needed for software development, otherwise make
(and similar programs) might not get things straight.

So if you want your Windows system to match the clock on your server over
the period of let's say a year, it does. It just wanders 5-10 minutes in
the process. That's good enough for "it's time to go to lunch", or "I should 
have been asleep an hour ago", but not good enough for "I had better leave
if I want to catch my bus". :-)

Geoff



-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Making your enemy reliant on software you support is the best revenge.


More information about the geeks mailing list