How to change the Date, Time and Timezone in Windows

Why?

Having the correct date, time and timezone on your computer is important. This will prevent and/or fix any issue related but not limited to:

• your web browser stating that the web site certificates are invalid,
• Windows Update not working properly,
• alerts from Windows where it needs to be reactivated again,
• unable to connect to business and/or online game(s) servers. 

If you are experiencing any weird behavior with your application or software, it would be best to make sure that Windows time, date and timezone are accurate. If your computer does have the correct time after being turned off, you should contact the computer manufacturer as the date/time is not being saved in the CMOS/BIOS battery.

How?
For Windows XP, please visit Microsoft Windows XP Help Guide here.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, please visit Microsoft Windows Help Guide here.
For Windows 8:

• (Note: This guide is also applicable with Windows Vista and Windows 7):
• Go to your Windows desktop (Press Windows Key + D).
• Left click on the time that is displayed in your Windows taskbar.
• Left Click on "Change date and time settings...".
• A dialogue box should appear.
• Click on the "Change date and time...". This will open the Date and Time Settings with a calendar and the current time set in your computer.
• Adjust the date and time as desired.
• Click "OK" when finished.
• To change your time zone, click on the "Change time zone..." button.
• Select the appropriate timezone.
• Click "OK" when finished.
• Make sure that the time is still correct after changing the timezone.
• Click "Apply".
• Click "OK".

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What is a web browser?

If you are able to browse the world wide web, then you maybe using a web browser. Web browser is basically a client or software that communicates with the interconnected servers across the world and is able to render the 'code' over the network and interprets the 'code' into pleasant view for the users that browses a website or domain.

Upon buying your computer, the default operating system has a specific web browser. Windows has Internet Explorer, Mac has Safari, and Linux has Firefox (Although it varies on the version of Linux) installed by default on the system.

Even though there are default web browser depending on your operating system, these web browsers can be disabled or change by downloading other web browser that is available on the internet.

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Top 10 Essential Software after a fresh install OS

Got a new computer? Did you format your PC? If yes, then here are the techsnitch's top ten essential software for average computer users. It is recommended to have these type of software.

1. Web browser - Even though operating systems have default web browser, I find it incomplete and has a big security hole. Thank God we have other FREE web browsers better than the default installed web browser. Welcome Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera. Goodbye Internet Explorer!

Download:

Google Chrome 2.0.172.43

Firefox 3.6

Safari 4.0.4

Opera 10.10

2. Antivirus Software - Security of your computer is one of the important things that you should consider. Having full antivirus software would protect your system from any malicious files and contents. I recommend Avast over Antivir due to its complete protection. Imagine having your thesis documents being corrupted by a virus; I know you don't want that to happen to you. If you have the budget, go for Kaspersky Antivirus.

Download:

Avast 5

Buy Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 3-User

3. File Compression - Sometimes the file that you downloaded has a weird file extension like .tar or .rar. That only means that the file is compressed and you need to unpack or extract the file to be able to see what's inside the package. I use winrar although it's not completely free; you'll be able to compress/decompress files easily. The only problem is that you can't put passwords on the files you'll compress.

Download:

WinRAR 3.92 (32-bit)(demo)

WinRAR 3.92 (64-bit)(demo)
Buy WINRAR 3.60

4. Instant Messenger - You probably need to get in touch with your classmates and/or relatives that's why you need an instant messenger. It could come in handy whenever you need something from you friends.

Download:

Yahoo! Messenger 10.0.0.1102

Trillian Astra 4.1.0.24

Windows Live Messenger

Skype

5. Office Suite - Word processing, Slide Presentation, and Spreadsheets are the most common application of office suite. You probably need it whether you are working at the office, or at school. Microsoft Office is widely used in offices, schools and cafes. Open-Office is the alternative system that is free compared to Microsoft.

Download:

Open-Office (from http://www.openoffice.org/)
Buy Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007

6. Flash Player - Some of the websites that you visit

would require you to have flash player installed before you can

view the contents of the files. It is essential to have Flash Player 10 if you're playing games on facebook. :)

Download:

Flash Player for Internet Explorer

Flash Player for Other Browser

7. Optical Disk Burner - You'll need a good software to burn your files easily and with compatibility to other system. You can use IMGBurn - a free tool for burning images and files to disk. A complete Disk Utility and burner like Nero is also a good choice for burning DVD Videos and MP3s.

Download:

ImgBURN 2.5.0.0
Buy Nero 9

8. Download Manager - If you like to download multiple and larger files at the same time, it could be practical to use a download manager. Not only does it manage your downloaded files by separating them into different folders depending on the file format but it could also resume broken or interrupted downloads, saving you time.

Download:

Download Accelerator Plus 9.3 (Free)

9. All-In-One Media Player - it could be disappointing when you got a copy of the video you want to view but you can't even open the file. All-In-One Media player are great life savers when you need to play the most popular types of video and audio. I recommend using VLC Media Player to play your media files.

Download:

VLC Media Player 1.0.5 (from www.videolan.org)

10. Driver(s) - Installing your printer drivers right away could prevent you from searching for it at unwanted times like when you are in a rush to finish late documents. You're done but you find out that the printer driver is still not installed. Great. It could be troublesome, so save yourself from letting that happen to you by installing not only your printer drivers but also other peripheral drivers.

Find and download your printer driver:

Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Canon

Epson

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