It’s important to have the correct time and date on your computer. Not only is it a nuisance for you the user, but can lead to problems connecting to the Internet, running backups, files have the wrong date stamp etc, etc.
In this easy to follow guide, I’ll show you how to change the time and date on your PC.
How To Change The Date And Time On A Computer.
To change the date and time on your computer, right click on the clock. That’ll open a menu.
For Windows 10 – click Adjust Date/Time.
And for Windows 11 – click Adjust Date & Time.
Sync Now.
The Date & Time settings will open in both versions of Windows.
To set the time automatically, click the Sync Now button.
That’ll cause your computer to check, and change if necessary, the date and time with the time server time.windows.com.
Time Zone.
You can also check that you have the right time zone set. Obviously if the time zone is wrong, your PC will continuously show the wrong time.
That can happen if you’re crossing time zones with your computer.
To change the time zone in Windows 10 & 11, click on the drop down arrowhead and select the correct time zone from the menu.
After changing your time zone, it’d be worth clicking the Sync Now button again to make sure you have the date and time set.
Change The Date And Time Manually.
Sometimes the Sync Now button won’t work, or at least it won’t work properly. In the past I’ve had issues with computers when the time and/or date is a long way out. Sync Now just doesn’t correct the time.
In that case, you’ll need to set the date and time manually.
In order to set the date and time manually, you need to turn off, or disable, the automatic time setting feature.
Click the slider switch beside Set The Time Automatically.
Now you can click the Change button under “Set the date and time manually”.
The Change the date and time window will open.
Use the drop down menus to adjust to suit and then click the Change button.
After that I’d recommend turning the “Set Automatically” option back on.
PC Continually Shows The Wrong Date And Time.
If your computer always seems to have the wrong date and/or time, then it’s probably down to the CMOS battery.
Every PC has a small battery (a watch type button battery) on the motherboard that keeps essential settings when the computer is turned off.
So if you’re seeing the wrong time and date every time that you start your computer, it’s the CMOS battery that’s died. You’ll need to get it changed.
Summary.
Computers get into a huge muddle if they have the wrong date/time stamp. So if you’re having issues with your computer, it’s worth having a quick glance at the clock. It could really be as simple a fix as that.
