Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

Date & Time

Your Mac's conception of what time it is can be very important. Every file you create or save is stamped with this time, and every email you send or receive is marked with this time. As you might expect, setting your Mac's clock is what the Date & Time pane is all about.

Date & Time Tab

Click the Date & Time tab. If your Mac is online, turn on "Set date & time automatically," and be done with it. Your Mac sets its own clock by consulting a highly accurate scientific clock on the Internet. (No need to worry about Daylight Saving Time, either, as the time servers take that into account.)

GEM IN THE ROUGH: Your Free Time-Difference Calculator

You can use the Time Zone tab of Date & Time to calculate the exact time difference between any two points on earth. To do this, you must have the Time Zone pane open and your menu bar clock turned on and set to View as Digital (see the discussion of the menu bar clock in this chapter).

To calculate a time difference, make a note of the current time shown in the menu bar, with the Time Zone correctly set to your own zone. Now click your way across the Time Zone map. With each click, notice that the time in the menu bar changes, updating itself as you cross from time zone to time zone. By comparing the original time on your menu bar with the new time that appears when you've finished clicking, you can easily determine the time difference.

Tip

If you have a full-time Internet connection (cable modem or DSL, for example), you may as well leave ...