I've lost count how many times a bad time setting on a server has caused havoc on a Windows server. It is quite often the simple underlying problem when we are called in to sort out a badly maintained network. This is a shame because it is quite simple to set up.

Here are the basic steps:

Open a command prompt on the server and type the following commands:

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:”0.pool.ntp.org 1.pool.ntp.org 2.pool.ntp.org”,0×8 /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes

w32tm /config /update

net stop w32time && net start w32time
w32tm /resync /rediscover

That should be all you need to do - just check in the event logs to make sure all is well.

Just spoken to a client who asked which version of internet explorer they were running. Easy I thought - just go to help about or click on the question mark and select about. Well, not so simple if the explorer installation on the client machine has been messed with and you don't see these options.

Fortunately there is another way!

Copy the following line of text:

cmd /k reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer" /v Version

Now click on start and then run (or search programs and files in Vista/Windows 7). Paste the above line into the field and press enter.

You should see a command prompt window open up with a dump of the Explorer version straight out of the registry.

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We thought the best way to do this was to put a blog on our site. We have a number of contributors lined up to add items to this blog. We hope you find it useful and would welcome your comments so we can make this better experience for you!