Time off for some sites?

Question

The time displayed for when a message has been posted on various sites is off by 3 hours (it is late). Some known sites that have this problem for me are: Twitter, Google+, OpenStudy. The time displayed when messages are posted on Facebook is correct however.

My time and date on Windows are set correctly but one thing to note is that it has some type of bug that sets the clock and calendar to some random time in the past. The clock is set to the correct time when the website times are off.

Does anyone know what might be causing this issue and how I might be able to remedy it? It happens in both Chrome and Firefox.

Answer 1

TCP/IP events registered by a remote machine are flagged using their local time, not yours. Nothing you send to a website carries a timestamp from your local machine. This is usually a site-dependent setting (if you wish to set your timezone). Ensure that you have set the timezone in your user settings to your local timezone.

Alternatively, if you are not given the option to do so, ensure that you have set your location properly. Some websites base their event timers off of the timezone set by your location.

The main point I'm trying to make here, is that it does not matter what time your local PC is set to. Even logically it wouldn't make sense if it did, or you would be able to post data from the past or future.

Answer 2

Judging by your mention that "it has some type of bug that sets the clock and calendar to some random time in the past", it sounds like your time zone is configured incorrectly in Windows. If it is also configured to automatically sync with a time server, that could set it back several hours. An incorrect time zone will also mean that websites using the JavaScript method getTimezoneOffset to set times based on your local time zone will be receiving incorrect information, and thus display times incorrectly.

To verify your time zone settings and correct them if needed in Windows Vista and 7, right click on the clock on the taskbar and select Adjust date/time, then select Change time zone.... In Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows, right-click on the clock and choose Properties, and select the Time Zone tab.

Answer 3

Both Chrome and FF both store the last view of a webpage, if you hit the refresh or F5 you should see the up to date version of the page. I hope this helps.