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Old 07-01-2005, 12:44 PM
tinhat tinhat is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: white courtesy phone
Posts: 288
Default Re: Computer Timestamp...

[ QUOTE ]
To use a shareware product (not poker related), I want to set the date on my computer clock backwards.

Man, I thought I was cheap. Besides being contrary to the spirit of shareware, setting your clock back ten years could cause all kinds of unforseen problems.

If I set it to 2000, it screws up the days of the week.

Therefore I want to set it to 1994.

When I do this, I get a warning message when I start win XP, which says that the date on my computer is wrong.

I'm also getting an error when I go to web pages with secure content that the cert is expired, and it prompts me to accept the site... This happens often enough to upset me.

So I'm curious about a few things...

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1) Why does win xp care what time it is? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Like, how does this affect the rest of the O/S?

It's likely windows stores the start/stop times from when your computer was used last. It's certain it's checking the date/time in BIOS when it boots so try changing it there. If that doesn't work there's likely no way around it.

Apps, the OS, etc., all are based of the sys clock for certain functions, stamping file creation times, some authentication purposes. Probably a lot of things are unaffected by a change in absolute time but those relative to the actual date could cause any number of peculiar problems. There's just no way to know ahead of time what all the effects would be.


2) Is there a safe way to shut off that thing that prompts me to verify my certs? I haven't been able to set internet security to medium-low, and my changes in custom settings in security and advanced options haven't worked...

I don't know a lot about site certificates except they're an important part in the security chain for your browser to be able to trust (like IE cares) that a site is who it says it is. Even if it's possible I don't see how it can be a good idea to not even be aware certificates are being changed/added. For purposes of bogarting the shareware (IMO) it seems kinda backwards to reduce even further what little protection IE provides

3) Is there a firefox mod that lets you use all the IE hotkeys? This is the main reason that I'm unwilling to change over to firefox. I love my keyboard. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

IE is such a miserable browser I don't think you should let something (IMO) so inconsequential as this keep you from dumping it pronto. Maybe take another look at IE when/if a new one ever comes out.

4) Is there a program out there that constantly runs, that basically inserts itself between the O/S and the program that I want to run, that would "emulate" the o/s for the program, and make the program perceive a different date/time than the o/s was running on? I.E. Could I set winxp date/time to 2005 (normal) and have the program that I want to run still believe that it's 1994?

Can't imagine anyone thought this would be useful so I'm guessing "no"
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