Labels:text | screenshot | majorelle blue | font OCR: TimeSet |A Shareware Utility Review by Bob O' Connor I've told my friends, "No. I'm not a bug about time. It's just that since my computer has a clock and it is, after all a computer, I think it should be accurate." This computer business is supposed to be precise. So, for a couple of years now, it's just never seemed right that my machine's time keeping is out of sync with reality. To correct it I've had to dial a 976 number to get a recording that would beep every ten seconds, subject me to paid advertising, cut me off after forty seconds AND charge me 45 cents. After all that, even when my finger was quick, hitting the keys at just the moment the telephone beep came across, my new time setting would always be slightly off. That could be infuriating for someone involved in time management projects or anything requiring going online at precisely the right moment. For me, it was just aggravating. But, who likes to be aggravated? In my meandering through the boards I came across TIMSET60, the solution to my small problem, and other people's larger ones. Written by Peter Petrakis, the program dials either the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC or the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. From either place it connects your modem to theirs using its own Timeset software, and it downloads a signal of the exact time from an atomic clock. This resets your computer clock automatically, with incredible accuracy. All you have to do is load Timeset into any directory in your path. Configuration could not be more simple. It's menu driven. There's just one screen that you reach by typing TIMESET /C. You make choices by toggling them with the -- > (right arrow) key and you move from choice to choice with the down arrow. There is, of course, documentation accompanying the pro- gram. It's very well written and easy to understand and follow. But for those who like to see it work first, and read about it later, you just have to do this: 1) Type TIMESET /C 2) At the configuration menu cursor down till the cursor bar is at Time zone 3) Toggle through the choices with the -- >. Mine is set for EASTERN. 4) Cursor to Time season: -- > for DAYLIGHT or STANDARD. Cursor to Time season: -- > for DAYLIGHT or STANDARD. 5) Cursor to Serial port: -- > for the one you use. Mine is on COM3. 6) Cursor to Dialing method: -- > for TONE or PULSE. Mine is on TONE. 7) Cursor to Dialing baud rate: -- > to 1200. You MUST use 1200. 8) Cursor to Lock modem speed: -- > to NO. 9) Cursor to User's commands: Here you use the <ENTER> for the edit func- tion. You put in the commands for your particular modem. My Hayes com- patible 200M uses MO X4 S7=45 &C1 &D2. (Leave out the MO if you like to hear the dialing and connect sounds. ) 10) Cursor to Computer clock: -- > to DOS CLOCK-CALENDAR 11) Cursor to Immediate/countdown: -- > IMMEDIATE 12) Cursor to Manual/automatic: -- > AUTO OBSERVATORY if you want Washington, -- > AUTO NIST if you want Colorado. I'm in the east, so I use AUTO OBSERVATORY. 13) Cursor to Video type: -- > COLOR or MONO. I use COLOR. 14) Hit F10 and you're finished. Now, whenever you type TIMESET <enter> your modem will dial one of the two places, connect with a computer, and correct your clock. Just sit back and watch it happen on the screen. It all takes about 40 seconds but your phone charges will be small for the call because most of that time is off- line. You're only connected to the Observatory, for example, for a couple of seconds. Whereas my calls to the phone company used to cost 45 cents, my Timeset calls from New York to Washington cost 12 to 14 cents via AT&T if I make them after 11 p.m. The major imperfection of TIMESET is not TIMESET's. It's the fault of your computer. The clock WILL continue to drift, even after it's set exactly. But, all is not lost. Bundled with TIMSET60.ZIP are two other programs: RIGHTIME and TESTTIME. Both are products of Air System Technologies, Inc. of Dallas, TX and G. T. Becker. While not essential, especially if you're willing to use TIMESET every day or so, RIGHTIME creates a data file in it's own directory on a hard drive, which stores the clock deviations and periodically corrects them. RIGHTIME, which you can forget about once it's in place, can keep your computer clock operating accurately within a second or two a day. TESTTIME shows you how RIGHTIME is doing it. Product Information TIMESET Version 6.00A by Life Sciences Software Stanwood, WA In BBSs as TIMSET60.ZIP
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