Time Server

How to set your computer to Internet time.

 

This section will explain how to set your computer to Internet time and where to download the AboutTime software.

The MCB.NET primary timeserver can be found at 195.10.105.2   From time to time and during upgrades this address can change, the result being the message 'Time could not be synchronized with the server' being displayed on the screen.  If this happens change to the secondary timeserver which is 195.10.105.3

If your computer time is not synchronized with the server you may find the expiration of news articles is incorrect or that  scheduled images and components on some webpages do not appear.  Having a computer with an incorrect clock will not cause disconnections, failure to connect or mail collection to fail.

Turnpike users have a feature built in to the software which checks the PC clock and sets it if required. Users of other software  that does not have this feature may want to obtain a package that will set the PC clock. A package that is available is About Time, this is a 'careware' package that will set the PC clock with several timeservers

The software AboutTime is located on our FTP server, below are two methods to use to download the software onto your PC. This procedure can also be used for downloading files from other FTP and internet sites as well as MCB.NET.

 

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

If you have FTP software please follow the following instructions.

  1. Connect to MCB.NET in the normal manner.

  2. Open your FTP program, by clicking on its icon.

  3. Enter the Host name / Address as ftp.mcb.net

  4. Enter the user name as anonymous

  5. Enter the password as your email address eg; 'fred@mcb.net'

  6. Now after the information required to connect has been entered click on OK.

You will now be connected to our FTP server, in the right window is the directory of our server, and in the left window is the directory of YOUR harddrive.

What you will need to do now is select where on your harddrive you would like to download the AboutTime software to. For this you could create a folder called Time by clicking on the tab MkDir, then double click this folder to open it in the right hand window.

After you have selected the folder in which to download AboutTime to you need to find the correct folder on our server that contains AboutTime software, to do this proceed as follows.

  1. In the right-hand window double click the folder called pub.

  2. Next double click on the folder called dist.

  3. Now double click on the folder called misc.

  4. In this folder you will see the file time.exe, highlight this file by clicking on it.

  5. When the file is highlighted click on the arrow pointing to the left, this is usually between the two windows.

The file will now download onto your harddrive, this may take a couple of minutes depending on the speed of your modem.

When the download process has finished you need to end your FTP session by clicking close.

Using a Browser

If you do not have an FTP program you can use your internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to download the required software. To do this proceed as follows.

  1. Connect to MCB.NET in the normal manner.
  2. Open your browser as if you were going to access the internet and wait for your start page to finish loading.
  3. In the address bar enter the following ftp://ftp.mcb.net
  4. Now open the folder pub then dist and then find and open misc.
  5. You will now see the file time.exe , double click this to download onto your harddrive in the normal manner, selecting save to disk and the folder of your choice.

Using AboutTime

When you have downloaded the software, locate the folder on your harddrive and open it. In this folder you will see a file called time, double click this file, the software will then install into this folder. After installation you will see two files one is the icon to run AboutTime and the other is the help file (please read this it contains important information). Click on the AboutTime icon to launch the program.

Once the program is running you will see a small window. The button, set time, on the bottom of the window is used to set the PC clock. The messages that appear in the window are detailed in the help file that accompanies the software. You could also click on client hosts and add the primary and secondary time server addresses.