Problem with the clock on my computer

Question

Problem with the clock on my computer

Thành Phát Lê 20

Hello!

My computer has a clock error. I closed it before (maybe it went into sleep mode). About 3 hours later when I turned it on, the clock was broken. It was about 7:00 PM but the clock was running at about 4:22 PM. Then I tried to reset the time zone to UTC+07:00 (my Vietnam time zone) but it still happened. I went to 'Ctrl Panel -> Date and Time -> Internet Time' and the message appeared: "An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with https://www.google.com/search?q=time.windows.com. This operation returned because the timeout period expired.". I don't know what to do and hope to receive help.

Please help me quickly because I'm quite worried that my computer has a virus, thank you very much!

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hi @Thành Phát Lê,

Good day to you! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Regarding to your description, the issue could be related to Windows time sync service, please try the following steps to see if the issue persists:

Enabling the SynchronizeTime task. a. Simultaneously press the Windows + R keys to open Run command box. b. Type taskschd.msc then click OK to open Task Scheduler.

c. On the left pane in task scheduler, expand Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft .> Windows.

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d. Under Windows, scroll down and select Time Synchronization.

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e. In the right pane, under the Name column, right-click at SynchronizeTime and click Enable.

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f. Close the task scheduler, then check if the time on the device is syncing.

If the problem persists, continue to step 2 below.

Start/Restart the Windows Time service.

Once the time synchronization task is enabled, proceed to start the Windows Time service (or to restart it if already started).

a. Press the Windows + R keys to open Run command box.

b. Type services.msc and click OK to launch Services.

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c. Locate Windows Time among the services, if it is running, right-click and Restart the service. However, if it is stopped, right-click and select Start.

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Now check if the time is automatically synced.

d. Use Another Internet Time Server.

Another method to solve time synchronization problems in Windows 10, is to change the Internet time server to which Windows is connected to synchronize the computer's time.

e. Press the Windows + R keys to open Run command box.

f. Type control date/time and click OK to open the "Date and Time" settings.

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g. At Date and Tine window, ensure that you have specified the correct Time Zone.

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h. Then select the Internet Time tab and click Change Settings.

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i. Ensure that Synchronize with an Internet time server is checked. Then, click on the dropdown and change the time Server. When done, click Update now.

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Once it updates, the time on your device will synchronize correctly with the time of the region where you are based.

Note: If, after following the above methods, your computer loses time after shutdown, this indicates a faulty CMOS battery. In such a case, replace the CMOS battery in the device.

If you have any further questions and concerns, please let me know. Looking forward to your response.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Thành Phát Lê 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T12:11:12.26+00:00

Yes it works when I change to time.nist.gov. But there are some other oddities like when I put the computer in Sleep mode and open it the next day it looks like it has been Shutdown (all the programs I had open before are closed)
Thành Phát Lê 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T12:12:54.6266667+00:00

Another thing is that lately my laptop has been quite slow when surfing the web and opening programs.

4 additional answers

Your answer

Thành Phát Lê 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T12:11:12.26+00:00

Yes it works when I change to time.nist.gov. But there are some other oddities like when I put the computer in Sleep mode and open it the next day it looks like it has been Shutdown (all the programs I had open before are closed)
Thành Phát Lê 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T12:12:54.6266667+00:00

Another thing is that lately my laptop has been quite slow when surfing the web and opening programs.

Answer 1

Hi @Thành Phát Lê,

I'm glad that my answer helped resolve the clock issue, regarding to the next questions, please refer to these steps to see if the issue persists:

Check the power settings of your computer

Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog box then type ms-settings:powersleep, and press Enter.

windows-10-turns-off-instead-sleep

Inside the Power & Sleep window, select Additional power settings.

Additional power settings - windows 10 turns off instead of sleep -

Within the Power Options menu, click on Choose what closing the lid does.

choose-lid Windows 11 lid close action

Change the values for each of these options: When I press the power button to Sleep, When I press the sleep button, and also When I close the lid.

windows-10-turns-off-instead-sleep

Click on Save changes.

In addition, if your computer is running slowly, please check if there is any application that take account of large resources of the computer by opening task manager.

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Check if there's any programs using large amount of resources then right click > end task

If you have any further questions and concerns, please let me know, looking forward to your response

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Hi @Thành Phát Lê,

Thank you for the response. Regarding to the description, I would recommend trying the following steps to see if the issue persists:

Enable memory saver in Chrome:

Launch Chrome and paste the following into the address bar: chrome://flags/#high-efficiency-mode-available

User's image

Next to "Enable the high efficiency mode feature in the settings", change the Default setting to Enabled, then restart Chrome.
Now paste the following into the address bar: chrome://settings/performance
In the new "Performance" menu, toggle the switch next to Memory Saver to enable it.
Restart Chrome for the changes to take effect.
1. Close un-used tabs regularly to reduce memory usage.
2. Remove unnecessary extensions that may use memory.

Please try these steps to see if the issue is resolved, if you have any further questions or difficulties, please feel free to let me know. Looking forward to your response.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 3

PG 180

Try entering your Bios (pressing the Esc, F1, F2, or Delete button rapidly) and look for a tab named time. Enter your current time, press a key like F10 to save changes, and restart.

of course, all bioses are different.

Hope this helps.

PG

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Answer 4

Thành Phát Lê 20

No unknown programs are running. But Chrome is taking up too much memory even though I have Efficiency mode turned on. User's image

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