Saturday, May 19, 2007

How do I fix this???

I'm hoping one of you computer-savvy folks can help me with this.
It's bugging the crap out of me.
Ever since the last "daylight savings time" thing, my computer's clock has been screwed up. I don't mean the one in the lower right corner of the screen; I know how to change that. I mean the internal clock that's connected with Outlook Express. Whenever I receive an e-mail, it records it as having arrived an hour LATER.
For example.... I send you an e-mail at 4:30.
Fine. Outlook records it as 4:30.
Then you respond at 4:35...
But my screen will say it arrived at 5:35.
And if I respond back to you at 5:37, it'll say 5:37,
But if you reply again at 6:00, it'll say you actually replied at 7:00.
So in my folders, the messages are all out of order, and it's extremely annoying if I'm sorting through it trying to find a specific message.
To make things even weirder, once in awhile I'll receive a message which IS actually stamped with the correct time. But 95% of the time, it's marked as being an hour later than it really is.
What the hell?
Can anyone help me fix this?
I'm about ready to drive a stake through the computer screen, and that would be a shame, 'cuz I couldn't blog anymore after that.
.

19 comments:

Lynda said...

Did the person who is emailing you update to daylight savings time?

Janna said...

Lynda: I'm presuming that EVERYONE has switched to Daylight Savings Time... Certainly more than 5% of the population has switched! 95% of my e-mails have the wrong time on them.
Even so, it wouldn't matter what the other person's computer said, would it?....?? Wouldn't it only matter what time MY computer thought it was?
...?
(See how confusing this is?)

Curiously enough, when your comment arrived in my inbox, it had the correct time.

Mo and The Purries said...

Janna, I think you are out of phase from the time-space continuum. You need to remodulate your shield harmonic variance to a modulating resonant pulse.




Sorry, Lee just made me watch an episode of Voyager

Lynda said...

My husband seems to think that the other persons may have a setting wrong on their email, but he also suggested checking the zone preferences in your email program.

Janna said...

Morgen: My sympathies.

Lynda: I have no idea what zone preferences are. I've looked through the "Tools" tabs and I can't find anything that relates to time or clocks.
This wasn't a problem before Daylight Savings Time a couple months ago. It must have something to do with that. It just doesn't seem logical to me that the other person's computer could have anything to do with it. Why would 95% of all the other computers be wrong? It doesn't make sense.
To add even more freakiness to the mix, more than HALF my e-mails today have had the CORRECT time attached to them. So now instead of 95% it's 50%.
Makes no sense.
No sense at all...

Lynda said...

Well, I installed a patch with DLS, but you know, now it is the normal time zone. The only thing I can think is that people don't update their computers regularly and it is there end.

Maybe after I sleep, something else will pop up.

Janna said...

Lynda: I absolutely refuse to believe that 95% of people didn't update their clocks for Daylight Savings Time. That doesn't make ANY sense.
In fact, Morgen's one of the people whose e-mails get stamped an hour late, and I KNOW he's updated, 'cuz I've visited him in person and I've typed on his computer and I've seen the time setting.
Also, think about it-- if you get an e-mail from someone in another time zone, it doesn't come through with THEIR time on it, it's supposed to come through with YOUR time on it. If a California person sends me an e-mail, it isn't stamped three hours earlier, even though their computer is on Pacific Time. If a Colorado person sends me something, it isn't stamped two hours earlier, even though their computer is on Mountain Time. It doesn't matter what time the sender's computer says. I don't see how that's part of the equation; it simply can't be. The mail is stamped an hour late, regardless of the time zone of the sender.
Argh. *sigh*.
I know you're just trying to help.
Thanks for trying. Lemme know if you think of anything else.

This is why I need to be married to a geek; he could fix these kinds of things for me, then I could smile and point to my list of correctly-stamped e-mails, then he and I could go off in the other room and have hours of hot geeky nerdy sex.
...Perhaps I've said too much.

Lynda said...

Yeah, these things are easier to fix when you are there. LOL. I still haven't thought of anything else. But I might google it later.

Lynda said...

You aren't the only one with this problem, though.

Lynda said...

Do you have a LAN? What email program do you use? Should I email this instead? LOL

Lynda said...

If you use Outlook, and have secondary time zones set, you might want to try to remove them and see if that helps.

Janna said...

Lynda: Your dedication to the issue amazes me. :)
To add to the strangeness, most of TODAY'S e-mails have had the CORRECT time.
I dunno.
I think my computer is just screwing with me and snickering behind my back.
....there, there it is...
Did you hear it?

Lynda said...

I am a computer geek. What can I say? My research seems to indicate it is a setting in your mail program, which is what my husband said.

It's driving me crazy I can't fix it though. If I didn't have glass to clean, I would be driving up to Michigan.

Lynda said...

It

Has

To BE

FIXABLE!!!


GAAAAAAAAH!!

Mo and The Purries said...

Well, Janna, clearly you have succeeded on your Mission To Drive Lynda Insane!

Anonymous said...

Janna,

I know that if you use Windows XP, there was a special patch that needed to be downloaded to accommodate DST changes (a law took effect that made DST happen a month earlier or something like that) this year.

There is a bunch of help at this URL:
http://support.microsoft.com/DST2007

It looks like you answer questions and it will tell you what you need to do to make sure Outlook and your PC are up to snuff with the DST stuff.

I hope this helps. If it does, thank Bobbarama. I am here via his blog.

:-)

Janna said...

Lynda: None of this makes any sense, but for some reason now my e-mails seem to be mostly stamped with the correct time. I did nothing to change it, it just seems to be changing by itself. Could it be something my ISP did???

Morgen: It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams!! :o

Polliwog: Thanks for visiting! I actually have Windows 98 instead of XP. I know it's ancient, but it's all I've got. Thanks for the site. I wish there was a rent-a-geek service where I could have somebody come fix it FOR me. :)

Lynda said...

I think anything is possible. I even considered that your mail was being routed through a server they forgot to update.

But that is more my husband's area of expertise.

Janna said...

Lynda: I think we must have somehow fixed it with the power of our minds, because things seem to be coming through at the right time now.
It STILL makes no sense, but at least now I'm happier. :)