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Have you ever wondered how you could make your computer's system clock correct itself by checking an atomic clock over the internet? Along with the vast number of other protocols on the Internet, the Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to syncronize the time of a computer with another computer running an NTP server. NTP can provide accuracy to several milliseconds, although the farther you are away from the source of time, the less accurate your results will be.
To use NTP, you need an NTP client program. These are available for most popular platforms, including Windows 95, Windows 3.3, Windows NT, MacOS, UNIX, DOS and Novell Netware. These downloads are shareware, for a minimal cost, so be honorable and chip in a few bucks if you decide to use one.
Once you've downloaded and installed an NTP client, you must point it at an NTP server, ideally one operated by your Internet service provider. If your ISP doesn't run an NTP server, you can use a public NTP server, but respect the fact that you're a guest there. If you don't need the highest accuracy, use one of the secondary servers NTP servers (called stratum 2) in the list in the Public NTP Time Servers page.
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