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With daylight-saving time returning early Sunday morning, don't worry about springing forward your computer clocks. The computer should do that automatically. You should know, however, that it may not be the exact daylight time: Most computer clocks lose accuracy. It could be a matter of gaining or losing a couple of seconds here and there, but over a period of months, those seconds can turn into several minutes.
"I would say that all (computer clocks) are bad and unreliable," said Steve Leschin, a manager at TrueTime, which creates extremely time-sensitive clocks for the Defense Department. "And it's all because of that 25-cent crystal."
That computer clocks are among the least accurate modern timepieces around is truly ironic. They're installed, after all, in computers.
And the fact they don't always tick to the exact 60-second-per-minute cadence isn't in the user's best interest.
For example, if someone wants to trade stock online or book a ticket via a travel website, and the computer clock is inaccurate, a crucial window of opportunity may be shattered.
Blame the cheap crystal.
Inside every computer is a chip that surrounds a quartz crystal oscillator to record time. The crystals used for computer clocks are made with stones that cost about 25 cents a piece to produce, Leschin said.
Both Macs and PCs are plagued by inaccurate computer clocks, Leschin said.
"Some crystals may drift fast, some drift slow," said Rich Patterson, a sales manager for TrueTime. "They can be very unpredictable. But all of ... (the ones) put into personal computers are notoriously slow."
People may think their computer clock, usually found in the right-hand corner of the screen, is used solely for convenience reasons, but if the clock runs fast or slow, it can affect the user's timestamps on anything from e-mail to e-commerce transactions.
The quartz crystal chip is placed deep within the hardware of a computer. The interaction between the mechanical stress and electric field cause the crystal to vibrate and generate a constant-frequency electric signal that can be used to operate an electronic clock display.
Because a cheap quartz crystal is used, the frequency at which the crystal vibrates is less consistent then a higher quality quartz crystal. Lower-quality crystals are more affected by environmental factors, such as humidity and temperature. This causes the crystal to expand and contract on its own, thus affecting the ability to oscillate consistently.
That is why a computer's clock will seem faster or slower when a laptop is left in a hot car, or the air conditioning in an office goes on the fritz.
"When you carry your laptop upside down, you can change the orientation of the crystal, and your computer clock won't work as well," Leschin said.
Fear not. Computer users can download the exact time using certain software programs such as Worldtimeserver.com or by going to the National Institute of Standards and Technology website that syncs a user's computer clock to atomic clocks found around the world.
Most e-commerce companies use comparable software to ensure accurate timestamps.
"Expedia is set on absolute time, so when you enter the site, there isn't a question as to what time it is," said Andrea Trent, a spokesperson for the online travel company.
Users can also go to Time.gov or the United States Naval Observatory website for the precise time.
Manufacturers of computer hardware are aware of the problems associated with time clocks, and say they are currently developing better quartz crystal chips for future models.
"If you look at the quality of the clocks, they're improving," said Daniel Palmans, a technical product manager for Hewlett-Packard. "If you compare, I would say the clock is just about a couple of seconds off each month, whereas in the past, it was minutes."
Tinker around with Gadgets and Gizmos
Tinker around with Gadgets and Gizmos
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