Strange clock behaviour

gavinpoo

gavinpoo

gavinpoo

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Joined
25 Sep 2003
Posts
433
Location
Derbyshire
Recently the clock on my PC has been behaving oddly. The time, date and month don't alter but the year adjusts itself to 2005 when Windows starts. I thought at first it could be a dodgy battery on the motherboard but it's a new board (bought at Christmas) and the clock is seen to adjust itself within a few seconds of Windows reaching the desktop.

I have reinstalled XP but this behaviour continues. Has anyone heard of this happening before and can you suggest things to check? It doesn't seem to be spyware or a virus as Norton and Spybot both come up clean, and both are fully up to date on a fresh XP installation.

EDIT

Another thing, before I formatted I couldn't double click a drive in My Computer, I could only access it by right clicking and selecting Explore. I've just noticed that the same is happening after the format.
 
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Think Internet Time is messing with you. Right click the clock, select Adjust Date/Time, go to the Internet Time tab (last one) & turn of Automatic Synchronization ;)

For the latter part of your question, do a thorough virus scan. Also run a HijackThis check (here) :)
 
I've formatted again and kept an eye on when things start going wrong. I installed with my router switched off so the internet couldn't interfere.

Installed XP, then SP2, then SpyBot. All was fine at this stage. Then installed motherboard drivers (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) and at some point during this the year started switching back to 2005. Also the drive double clicking problem developed again.

I can set the year back to 2007 and it doesn't alter itself until just after it gets back into desktop at next startup.

I have noticed that the default double click action is 'Auto' rather than 'Open'.

desktop.JPG


It's very odd as I've had this setup since before Christmas and haven't had any problems until recently. Whilst I can just about put up with these annoyances I would rather not have to keep resetting the date at every startup, or have to right click and select open to access drive contents. If anyone can tell me how to set the default double click action to 'Open' or explain why the date keeps altering itself I would REALLY appreciate it.
 
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Me thinks virus :( Got a flashdisk recently which was infected & always wanted to Autorun infecting the rest of the PC.

Suggest you use a good antivirus like Kaspersky to do a thorough scan either in Safe Mode or fresh XP install ;)
 
I've already done a fresh install (twice) with a full format and no internet connection so can't see how it is a virus. I will try a scan with Kaspersky just to be sure, although Norton comes up clean.
 
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