"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:uCrqC$UQIHA.5184@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:47677d5f$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>>
>> "Opinicus" <gezgin@spamcop.net> wrote in message
>> news:13meqqi2rgkmp28@news.supernews.com...
>>> {WinXP all updates in place}
>>>
>>> My 500 gig USB drive (W hiccuped (for lack of a better term) the other
>>> day and for a while Windows was unable to access it. (An error message
>>> that flashed by said something about "W:*" being missing or somesuch.
>>>
>>> A reboot brought it back. Just this morning I noticed that the
>>> last-modified dates have been changed to "01-01-2098 00:00:00" on 4
>>> files and to "31-12-2097 23:00:00" on one file. The files (videos all)
>>> seem to be OK.
>>>
>>> What happened? And how do I fix the dates?
>>>
>>
>> This is in fact a more serious problem than it appears. Under certain
>> circumstances file dates of this type can affect the system clock with
>> all the side effects that causes. There are a number of utilities that
>> you can use to change the file timestamps back to reality. My personal
>> choice is Touch Pro. This particular one has a try before you buy mode
>> that will allow reset of file time stamps of individual files (but not
>> folders). Should you wish to buy the full version, IIRC, it is not
>> expensive by any means.
>
> How can a weird or corrupted file date have an effect on the
> System Clock. Please elaborate!
A good question that I asked myself when it affected me a good few years
ago. The best answer that I got was that Windows can have a problem with
file dates under certain circumstances (which I have long forgotten). It
creates an internal error condition that causes Windows to resolve the
resolve the issue by adjusting the system clock to suit. IIRC it is only
file dates a long time in the future that are a problem.
The explanation certainly matched the reality that my system kept adjusting
the system clock to the late 21st century for no apparent reason. On
posting to another forum, the above explanation was offered with a bit more
detail. However, searching out the files with the late 21st century time
stamp and correcting them completely solved the problem.