Date and Time Properties - when Auto syncing doesn't work

Has anyone else noticed that the "Automatically synchronize with an internet time server" function doesn't work?

It seems that time.widows.com and time.nist.gov have been up and down (mostly down) of late.

Here's what to do to fix it:

Quick solution:

• Go to Date and Time properties
• go to the internet time tab
• in the Server combo-box type "europe.pool.ntp.org" click "Apply" and then "Update"
• provided that the server is up the update will be successful

Obviously, you have already checked that the Windows Time service is started and that the firewall is not blocking it ;-)

Longer solution:

Edit the registry to include a few servers

Go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers and add a few new string values for the following services that are confirmed to work as of today (25/01/2008):

• europe.pool.ntp.org
• clock.isc.org
• north-america.pool.ntp.org
  

Not such a pressing issue, but if like me you have several machines on your desk at work all showing different times you might find this a godsend - especially if you have to do a lot of testing that requires you to read through logs that are date/time stamped. Imagine having to do a time differential on every log comparison!