Purpose:

Networked computers often need to recognize the same time to perform online testing and other features. Individual computers can keep inaccurate time, and/or the CMOS battery can fail so that the resulting time is off by days if not years. You need to install a program that will update the correct time over the Internet. The U.S. Department of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a free program called NISTime that works well.

http://boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/its.htm

"The NIST Internet Time Service (ITS) allows users to synchronize computer clocks via the Internet. The time information provided by the service is directly traceable to UTC(NIST). The service responds to time requests from any Internet client in several formats including the DAYTIME, TIME, and NTP protocols."

NIST Installation

• Download NIST from http://boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/its.htm . Create a folder in the Program Files directory and install it there.
• After the program is extracted and installed, run the server update and select a goverment server near you. 
• Update the PC's time and set NIST to check the time every 4,6, or 8 hours. NIST will update the time on boot up too. 
• Select the option to run in the background. 
• Update the Win.ini file under run to execute NIST on startup. Type in the pathname, usually C:\progra~1\nist\nistime-32bit.exe. Save and exit the win.ini file. 
• Restart the PC and confirm that the time is correct.