Windoze datez

Because they were created on a different computer than the one you modified it on?

Although it's more often than not an error, one entirely legitimate scenario is when some guy on the east coasts mails you a file than you then proceed to modify: There's a three-hour window wherein it was created after it might be modified!

"Access" times are more for little utility programs running in the background moreso than human users directly.

Use the F2 and Delete keys instead of right-clicking? :-)

---Joel

Or use GP Software's Directory Opus :-) ...Jim Thompson

Or put more simply when you copy a file onto a new machine the modified date reflects when the original contents of the file were last altered, and the creation date shows the time when the fresh copy was made.

I have to say that I would prefer a 32bit CRC on the contents.

The Accessed date shows when the file was last opened and possibly altered.

I agree that having Delete next to Rename is totally moronic.

A bit like having Format next to Eject for removable media.

Regards, Martin Brown

All of the times can be set individually. If you download or copy a file from another system, and the original file has a defined modification time, that will be used for the copy's modification time, but the creation time will be the time that the copy was created.

There isn't a great deal of use for last-accessed times. Two cases I know of are:

1. Unix shells traditionally display a "you have new mail" message if they notice that your mail spool has a last-modified time later than the last-accessed time.
2. It used to be common on multi-user systems to archive to tape then delete files which hadn't been accessed recently.

Apart from that, if you have Windows explorer display the last-accessed time, you can sort by it, which may be useful for finding "that file you were looking at the other day".

Laptops and SSDs often have recording of last-accessed times disabled to preserve battery life or reduce wear.

I'll buy the 'error' part. As in one PC's clock was set incorrectly.

'Time' on any system should include the timezone to which it refers. So, for example, 10:00 PST is the same as 13:00 EST. Otherwise it is meaningless. And each system should interpret a date (stored in whatever internal format) in the local time zone.

Now, I understand that this is Windoze. So all these conventions that people have worked out over the years with networked computers separated by large distances probably confuse Microsoft. It appears that they still don't get this Internets thing.

Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote:

That seems like the most obvious explanation to me. Another would be the use of a "touch" utility.

I never thought about that, but now it seems so obvious.

Most of the files on my XP machines are modified before they are created, by days or weeks typically. Weird.

Apparently when a file is copied the "created" date of the copy becomes now, but the old "modified" date is retained. I think that's weird.

John

Why? When the file is put on that computer, it was created on that hard drive.

Why? Copying a file to a new location does not modify its contents.

The contents of the new copy are bitwise *identical* to the original master file - or at least they should be if your computer and hard drive are working properly. It makes finding duplicates easier by scanning filesize and modified date. If they are the same it means you actually have to compare file contents as well which is a lot more work.

Most times files with the same modified date and size are identical. It is logical to retain the modified date of the original on all copies. That you cannot understand this shows how little you know.

CRC32 is a better but not quite infalible test of identical files (a hostile virus addition can fake matching CRC).

Regards, Martin Brown

I don't want to know when a file was moved, I want to know when it was created. And that still doesn't explain why the date-modified can be months before the date-created.

John

It doesn't create its contents. It's like I move a paper document from one file cabinet to another, and all the dates change.

I think that's weird.

John

I understand it. I don't like it.

John

created

for

people

Then write your own operating and file systems. Personally, I want to know when something hits my computer.

You are demonstrably clueless in that respect. The last modified date tells you the date when an originating program created the master from a zero length file, copying that preserves the last modified date but has a file creation date that reflects when each new copy was made.

Any other way of doing it would result in a vast proliferation of identical files with random last modified dates equal to the physical file creation date that provides no additional information.

Whilst I would prefer that they stored the CRC32 for each file which is somewhat harder for a hostile trojan to fake the last modified date is a fairly reasonable if rather softer proxy for identical files.

Regards, Martin Brown

John Larkin wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

It's more like Make a photocopy of the paper document and put the copy in the other file cabinet. The date on the original must also be the ones on the copy (modified date) but the date you stamp on the copy (received) will be the new date.

Actually, it does explain it. You just don't like it. It *is* WAD; it's Windows!

Think of the 'created' date as an attribute of the directory entry rather than of the content.

EST is Sydney Asutralia and PST is pakistan right? :)

time should be stored in a non-ambiguous way. the easiest it to just use UTC, or an offset from UTC

there's an option somewhere to set it to use a UTC real-time clock and display in the local timezone instead of having it mess with the clock twice a year,

So, here's another question: What if one PC is set to store UTC and another stores local time? Each will apply its system time to file content or directory timestamps. But each PC will interpret a stored timestamp differently.

PC clocks reference from GMT... OR NOT.

It is user selected.

Your web browser, and your news client manages it when you post. Other apps do not. Linux manages it at the system level.