Copyright: Help information ® 1994-95 Leonard A. Gray


Time Zone

The Time Zone option provides complete access to the time zone information used by your operating system.  The Time Zone option gives you access to the default definitions of time zones used by the Date/Time option, as well as to the internal values currently in use by your computer.  Time Zone allows you to view and/or edit the names of the standard and daylight saving periods, the bias of each period, and the dates that each period begins.

It is important that your system date and time are always accurate.  Be sure that you set the correct date, time, and time zone information for your system.

Choose one of the following buttons for information about the Time Zone dialog box:

 Current Settings

 Registry Values

 Local Bias

 Standard Name

 Daylight Name

 Automatically Adjust...

 Uses Daylight Saving Time

 Begin Daylight Time

 Date

 Time

 Bias

 Calc

 Resume Standard Time

 Date

 Time

 Bias

 Calc


Current Settings

Select Current Settings to view or change any information about your time zone that is currently being used by your computer.  If you make any changes to to this information, you may also want to make the same change(s) to the default time zone definition for your area by using the Registry Values option.  This will insure that your changes are not accidentally undone if someone resets the time zone using the Date/Time option.


Registry Values

Select Registry Values to view or change the default time zone definitions in the system registry.  These definitions are used by the Date/Time option to update the current settings for your system whenever you activate Date/Time and then select OK.  To make a temporary change to the current time zone information used by your system, use Current Settings instead.


Standard Name

The Standard Name is an appropriate text label for the standard time period in your time zone.  This information is available to applications running on your computer, but it is not used by the operating system.


Local Bias

The Local Bias is the difference in minutes between local time and Universal Time (UT or GMT).


Daylight Name

The Daylight Name is an appropriate text label for the daylight saving time period in your time zone.  This information is available to applications running on your computer, but it is not used by the operating system.


Automatically Adjust for Daylight Saving Time

(Current Settings only)  The Windows NT operating system can automatically adjust the local time on your computer when daylight saving time is in effect.  Check this box to select this option.  When selected, you will have access to the lower controls on the dialog that specify when daylight saving time begins and ends.  This option is not available when running under Windows 95, which was not planned to  support automatic time adjustment at the time of this release.


Uses Daylight Saving Time

(Registry Values only)  Check this box if the time zone uses a daylight saving time period.  When selected, you will have access to the lower controls on the dialog that specify when daylight saving time begins and ends.


Begin Daylight Time

This section defines the parameters used to determine when your system will adjust to daylight saving time.  Select the appropriate date and time for your location.


Resume Standard Time

This section defines the parameters used to determine when your system will adjust to daylight saving time.  Select the appropriate date and time for your location.


Date

This control is used to enter the date that the system should adjust the local time.  The edit control will accept many abbreviated date entries and expand them when you tab or mouse out of the control.  Or, select the drop-down mode using the arrow button or by pressing Alt and the down arrow on your keyboard.  This allows the date to be conveniently selected from a perpetual calendar control.


Time

This control is used to enter the time of day that the system will adjust your local time.  It accepts time entries in the format that you have defined for your Windows configuration.  For example, if your system is configured to 24 hour time, you may enter 2:00 or just 2.  If you are using a 12 hour clock, you may enter 2:00 AM or just 2A.  Local time adjustments are commonly made at midnight (or 2:00 AM to accomodate neighborhood taverns).


Bias

This control is used to enter the local time difference during this period.  This value is normally set to negative sixty for Daylight Saving Time and zero for Standard Time.


Calc

This drop down control is used to specify whether the setting of the Date control specifies an exact date or a day of the month for the time change.  For example, you can select the first Sunday in April as a day of the month and your system will compute the date for future time changes based on this information.