WinXP Pro v5.1 SP1 - Windows Explorer file access time

[John Pollard]

In Windows Explorer, all files show time accessed 12:00AM. Does
windows not set this time when files are accessed?

--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Sharon F]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT, John Pollard wrote:

> Reply-To: "John Pollard" >
> From: "John Pollard" >
> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
> Subject: WinXP Pro v5.1 SP1 - Windows Explorer file access time
> Lines: 9
> X-Priority: 3
> X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158
> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165
> Message-ID: et>
> Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT
[snip]
> In Windows Explorer, all files show time accessed 12:00AM. Does
> windows not set this time when files are accessed?

Check the headers on your message, especially the Date line. Do you have
your system date/time set correctly?

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

[John Pollard]

Sharon F wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT, John Pollard wrote:
>
> > Reply-To: "John Pollard" >
> > From: "John Pollard" >
> > Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
> > Subject: WinXP Pro v5.1 SP1 - Windows Explorer file access
time
> > Lines: 9
> > X-Priority: 3
> > X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> > X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158
> > X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165
> > Message-ID:
et>
> > Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT
> [snip]

> > In Windows Explorer, all files show time accessed 12:00AM.
Does
> > windows not set this time when files are accessed?

> Check the headers on your message, especially the Date line.
Do you
> have your system date/time set correctly?

Yes, my system clock is correct. And, I have not modified
system date/time since I posted my question, though I did shut
my computer down overnight. I do not think the date/time was
wrong yesterday either though; I look at it a lot and I have
lots of reminders during the day and they all worked correctly.

But I don't really understand the relationship: if my clock was
wrong - but running - then access times might be wrong ... but
not all say 12:00AM. Am I missing something?

And the problem is ongoing. I just now opened a file with Word,
then exited word. The document showed today as the access date,
but again 12:00AM as the access time. My system time is now
06:56AM.

--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[John Pollard]

John Pollard wrote:

<snip>

> And the problem is ongoing. I just now opened a file with
Word,
> then exited word. The document showed today as the access
date,
> but again 12:00AM as the access time. My system time is now
> 06:56AM.

Just a little update: I now used WordPad to create a new file,
with the following date/time characteristics.

Date Created: 08/15/2003 08:05am
Date Modified: 08/15/2003 08:05am
Date Accessed: 08/15/2003 12:00am

Very strange.

There is one other thing that *may* be involved, but I can not
remember for certain if it is true, and if it is true, I am not
certain when it happened ... though definitely earlier than
yesterday (08/14/2003). I vaguely remember changing my system
time zone ... I can not remember what (I think) it used to say,
but it now (correctly) says "GMT-08:00 Pacific Time (US &
Canada); Tijuana". And I think that I modified (checked) the
box for "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes.
Could this be involved?


--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Sharon F]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 15:11:35 GMT, John Pollard wrote:

> Reply-To: "John Pollard" >
> From: "John Pollard" >
> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
> References: et> > et>
> Subject: Re: WinXP Pro v5.1 SP1 - Windows Explorer file access time
> Lines: 37
> X-Priority: 3
> X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158
> X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165
> Message-ID: et>
> Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 15:11:35 GMT
> NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.244.19.72
> X-Complaints-To:
> X-Trace: newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net 1060960295 216.244.19.72 (Fri, 15 Aug 2003 08:11:35 PDT)
> NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 08:11:35 PDT
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arthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail
> Xref: TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics:125502
>
> John Pollard wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> And the problem is ongoing. I just now opened a file with
> Word,
>> then exited word. The document showed today as the access
> date,
>> but again 12:00AM as the access time. My system time is now
>> 06:56AM.
>
> Just a little update: I now used WordPad to create a new file,
> with the following date/time characteristics.
>
> Date Created: 08/15/2003 08:05am
> Date Modified: 08/15/2003 08:05am
> Date Accessed: 08/15/2003 12:00am
>
> Very strange.
>
> There is one other thing that *may* be involved, but I can not
> remember for certain if it is true, and if it is true, I am not
> certain when it happened ... though definitely earlier than
> yesterday (08/14/2003). I vaguely remember changing my system
> time zone ... I can not remember what (I think) it used to say,
> but it now (correctly) says "GMT-08:00 Pacific Time (US &
> Canada); Tijuana". And I think that I modified (checked) the
> box for "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes.
> Could this be involved?

Well, the date/time in your headers is now matching up with the date/time
my newsreader is showing for your posts. It wasn't before.

I just tried adding Date Accessed to the Details View in my Explorer
window. It's a weird little feature. The date/time is being shown as the
current date/time for many files. Wondering if the access info isn't
already stored in the file headers, that Windows will assigns the current
date/time of when the feature is first turned on?

Accessing a file does not update the info shown until I hit refresh but it
is the current date/time and not always 12AM like you're seeing.

I don't have answer for you yet. Will do some digging in the Knowledge Base
and in the XP resource kit. If I find anything that helps to explain this
mystery, I'll post back in this thread.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

[Sharon F]

>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 19:12:43 -0500
User-Agent: 40tude_Dialog/2.0.5.1
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Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
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Xref: kermit microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics:136623

On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 18:30:46 GMT, John Pollard wrote:

> Sharon F wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> I don't have answer for you yet. Will do some digging in the
>> Knowledge Base and in the XP resource kit.
>> If I find anything that helps to
>> explain this mystery, I'll post back in this thread.
>
> I'm guessing there is no more info available as it's been 5
> days. Sure is frustrating; I was just planning to do a little
> research that would have used the file access date/time stamp.
>
> Is this something that should get reported to Microsoft as a
> possible problem? If so and if I should do it, can you point me
> to the right place; I looked at the MS site and the options for
> those using OEM versions of Windows did not seem to have any
> place to report suspected bugs.

John, I didn't forget you but didn't find anything either. IMO, "Date
Accessed" has never been as reliable of a reference in Windows Explorer as
"Date Modified."

Some folks use alternative file manager tools and seem to like the results.

I don't know if the behavior you've noted is a fault with Explorer or with
the bit that tracks the info. Example if you look at "Date Created," you'll
find a wide variation. Some files will reflect the date the file was
created on your hard drive. Other files will show a date stored internally
(1999 on a brand new 2003 computer).

Sorry I couldn't find anything more for you.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

[John Pollard]

Sharon F wrote:
> John, I didn't forget you but didn't find anything either.
IMO,
> "Date Accessed" has never been as reliable of a reference in
> Windows Explorer as "Date Modified."

Hi Sharon. I didn't mean to imply I thought you forgot; I know
you said you'd post back if you found something, so I figured no
post meant no info.

> Some folks use alternative file manager tools and seem to like
the
> results.

Are you talking about third party software? Any examples?

> I don't know if the behavior you've noted is a fault with
Explorer
> or with the bit that tracks the info.

> Example if you look at "Date
> Created," you'll find a wide variation. Some files will
reflect the
> date the file was created on your hard drive. Other files will
show
> a date stored internally (1999 on a brand new 2003 computer).

I have seen this too; in other os's as well. I think it is a
philosophical question whether a file copied to your pc from
elsewhere was created the day it was copied or the day it was
created "elsewhere". I can live with those differences. But
date accessed is, in some os's, a very straightforward date,
means just what it says. Indeed, there are jobs/commands on
some systems which do things like purge files that have not been
"accessed" in over a year ... 'course the accessed date best be
correct for this to work.

> Sorry I couldn't find anything more for you.

So am I, but thank you for trying.

I am still unclear whether this is something that Microsoft
would be interested in and, if so, how to notify them.

--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Sharon F]

> > >
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 12:45:13 -0500
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Xref: kermit microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics:136919

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:57:06 GMT, John Pollard wrote:

> Sharon F wrote:
>> John, I didn't forget you but didn't find anything either.
> IMO,
>> "Date Accessed" has never been as reliable of a reference in
>> Windows Explorer as "Date Modified."
>
> Hi Sharon. I didn't mean to imply I thought you forgot; I know
> you said you'd post back if you found something, so I figured no
> post meant no info.
>
>> Some folks use alternative file manager tools and seem to like
> the
>> results.
>
> Are you talking about third party software? Any examples?
>
>> I don't know if the behavior you've noted is a fault with
> Explorer
>> or with the bit that tracks the info.
>
>> Example if you look at "Date
>> Created," you'll find a wide variation. Some files will
> reflect the
>> date the file was created on your hard drive. Other files will
> show
>> a date stored internally (1999 on a brand new 2003 computer).
>
> I have seen this too; in other os's as well. I think it is a
> philosophical question whether a file copied to your pc from
> elsewhere was created the day it was copied or the day it was
> created "elsewhere". I can live with those differences. But
> date accessed is, in some os's, a very straightforward date,
> means just what it says. Indeed, there are jobs/commands on
> some systems which do things like purge files that have not been
> "accessed" in over a year ... 'course the accessed date best be
> correct for this to work.
>
>> Sorry I couldn't find anything more for you.
>
> So am I, but thank you for trying.
>
> I am still unclear whether this is something that Microsoft
> would be interested in and, if so, how to notify them.


Third party tools: Power Desk and Total Commander (formerly Windows
Commander) that come to mind.

See this link:
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy15.htm

If you scroll down to the definitions for created, accessed, and modified:
you will see that applications as well as the operating system touch this
attribute. This probably explains some of the inconsistencies. (I am not
seeing the same 12AM time stamp that you're seeing though and have no idea
why that is showing up on your system).

There may be some more detailed and technical info about this in the
Technet sections of Microsoft's online documentation. May want to comb
through their archives a bit.

The behavior of the date attributes has been consistent as long as I've
used Windows operating systems (3.x and up). So I would think MS would be
aware of it by now. However, if you'd like to drop them an email about it,
this is the link I would suggest using:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http%3a%2f%2fregister.micros
oft.com%2fmswish%2fsuggestion.asp

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

[John Pollard]

Sharon F wrote:
> Third party tools: Power Desk and Total Commander (formerly
Windows
> Commander) that come to mind.

Thanks, I will check them out.

> See this link:
> http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy15.htm

Did so.

> If you scroll down to the definitions for created, accessed,
and
> modified: you will see that applications as well as the
operating
> system touch this attribute. This probably explains some of
the
> inconsistencies. (I am not seeing the same 12AM time stamp
that
> you're seeing though and have no idea why that is showing up
on
> your system).

Yes, I see now. How depressing. But at least I have a better
idea where things stand. The 12:00AM time was my only real beef
when I started; maybe I didn't set my sights low enough. :)

> There may be some more detailed and technical info about this
in the
> Technet sections of Microsoft's online documentation. May want
to
> comb through their archives a bit.

Ok.

> The behavior of the date attributes has been consistent as
long as
> I've used Windows operating systems (3.x and up). So I would
think
> MS would be aware of it by now. However, if you'd like to drop
them
> an email about it, this is the link I would suggest using:

>
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http%3a%2f%2fregister.micros
> oft.com%2fmswish%2fsuggestion.asp

Done.

Thank you very much for sticking with this.

--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Mario]

Since you guys are on the date time problem... Maybe you
can help me. I keep setting my date & time on my system
but It falls behind big time... It's actually showing
August 24, 7:09PM but in fact it's August 28, 9:00AM now.
I have to shut down often cause my computer freezes up if
I don't. I used to leave it running for weeks... Any
Ideas?
>-----Original Message-----
>Sharon F wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT, John Pollard wrote:
>>
>> > Reply-To: "John Pollard"
>
>> > From: "John Pollard" >
>> > Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
>> > Subject: WinXP Pro v5.1 SP1 - Windows Explorer file
access
>time
>> > Lines: 9
>> > X-Priority: 3
>> > X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>> > X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express
6.00.2800.1158
>> > X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE
V6.00.2800.1165
>> > Message-ID:
et>
>> > Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:03:37 GMT
>> [snip]
>
>> > In Windows Explorer, all files show time accessed
12:00AM.
>Does
>> > windows not set this time when files are accessed?
>
>> Check the headers on your message, especially the Date
line.
>Do you
>> have your system date/time set correctly?
>
>Yes, my system clock is correct. And, I have not
modified
>system date/time since I posted my question, though I
did shut
>my computer down overnight. I do not think the
date/time was
>wrong yesterday either though; I look at it a lot and I
have
>lots of reminders during the day and they all worked
correctly.
>
>But I don't really understand the relationship: if my
clock was
>wrong - but running - then access times might be
wrong ... but
>not all say 12:00AM. Am I missing something?
>
>And the problem is ongoing. I just now opened a file
with Word,
>then exited word. The document showed today as the
access date,
>but again 12:00AM as the access time. My system time is
now
>06:56AM.
>
>--
>John Pollard
>j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
>Please reply to newsgroup
>
>
>.
>

[Patrick]

Mario wrote:
> Since you guys are on the date time problem... Maybe you
> can help me. I keep setting my date & time on my system
> but It falls behind big time... It's actually showing
> August 24, 7:09PM but in fact it's August 28, 9:00AM now.
> I have to shut down often cause my computer freezes up if
> I don't. I used to leave it running for weeks... Any
> Ideas?

If the machine loses time when the machine is turned off,
then the likely cause is the battery on the motherboard.

rest of original thread SNIPPED
(BAD 'Mario' for jumping in) :)