© 1999 Naissan Innovations, LLC. All rights reserved.

Operation Manual

Table of Contents


Installation

Warning: Please ensure your Windows Time Zone setting is correct!
To check it: Start menu, Settings, Control Panel, then open up the Date/Time icon and click on the tab marked Time Zone.
AtomTime98 is delivered as a single executable installation package. You simply run this program and it will install the software for you. Like most Windows installation programs, it will prompt you to confirm the installation location, etc. The installation package will by default create an AtomTime program group and Start menu icons (you can turn this feature off during installation if desired).

Removal

If you installed the Start menu group for AtomTime98 (the default behavior), then you can simply run the Uninstall program in that group to remove AtomTime98 and its folder. You can also open the Control Panel and run the Add/Remove Programs item to uninstall AtomTime98. This will also work even if you did not install the Start menu group.


Main Display


This is the main display for AtomTime98.
Notes:
* As long as the main display is open, automatic updates and the options involving Dialup-Networking will not run. Simply close the display to re-enable these features.
* If you have not yet checked the time difference (using the Check button) or if the clocks match, the Adjust button will be disabled.


Settings

The settings pages will allow you to customize the operation of AtomTime98.

Execution


This page controls settings related to the execution of AtomTime98.
  • Update Interval: This defines how AtomTime98 will perform automatic updates.
    • None: No automatic updates will be performed.
    • Once and Exit: A single update to the clock will be performed then the program will immediately exit.
    • Every 3 hours: The clock will be adjusted every 3 hours.
    • Every 6 hours: The clock will be adjusted every 6 hours.
    • Every 12 hours: The clock will be adjusted every 12 hours.
  • Verify Time Check: When this option is enabled (default), AtomTime98 will verify any Adjust actions to ensure that the adjustment process properly synchronized with the time server. If this option is disabled, the Adjust process will not verify time adjustments.
  • Dial-Up Networking: This control will be disabled if you have selected None for Update Interval or Windows reports you have not installed Dial-Up Networking.
    • Wait for connection: Will cause AtomTime98 to wait until it detects a Dial-Up Network connection is active before adjusting the clock.
    • Close when done: If you have set Windows to automatically start an Internet connection as needed and AtomTime98 detects that it caused the connection to start up, then with this option enabled AtomTime98 will hang up the connection after adjusting the clock. If the connect is already open when AtomTime98 accesses it, it will not attempt to hang up the connection (since it didn't start it -- another application could still be using it).
Notes:
* Any Update Interval setting (other than None) will transform AtomTime98 into a System Tray application. This will allow the program to run in the background without using up valuable Taskbar space. When you start AtomTime98 with one of these settings, the program will not open the main display unless you double-click on the icon in the System Tray area.
* Be careful with the Update Interval setting Once and Exit option. When you run with this option, AtomTime98 will simply connect, update the clock, and exit. There will be no display screen and no stopping for user input. If you desire to turn this feature off again, simply double click on the AtomTime98 icon in System Tray area when it is starting up (it will delay 5 seconds when starting up in this mode to give you a chance to open it). The display window will appear and you can change the settings again.
* You can not turn on both Wait for connection and Close when done features. This is because the first feature relies on another application (or the user) to open the connection while the second feature will actually control the connection itself.
* If AtomTime98 doesn't start up your Dial-Up Networking automatically, check this setting: Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel and then open the icon labeled Internet. Now look for a tab on that screen that is labeled Connection. Click on that tab. Ensure that the checkbox Connect to the Internet as needed is turned ON and the correct Dial-Up Networking connection is listed.


Display


This page will allow you to control the format in which the time values are displayed.
  • Actual Time: This will display the time exactly as read from the time server in a 24 hour clock format. This is the default behavior.
  • Local Time: The times are displayed in a 12 hour clock format, with the server time adjusted either by time zone or hour offset (depending on your Time Server setting) to display local time.
  • GMT Time: The display will show the times in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) with a 24 hour clock format.
Notes:
* The default setting of Actual Time can sometimes be confusing for a new user. The atomic clock server always reports its time in GMT format while the local PC time is usually shown in the local time zone (but 24 hour clock format). This is not a problem for AtomTime98 as long as you have your time zone set to your actual location.


Time Server


The Time Server page will allow the user to control which time server is accessed.
  • Use Atomic Clock Time Servers: This option has two benefits. First, it will cause AtomTime98 to use pre-defined atomic clock time servers for synchronizing your PC. Second, it will enable AtomTime98 to drop back to back up time servers when the primary atomic clock server is offline. This is the recommended setting for all users.
  • Alternate Time Server Address: If you want to use a less accurate time server, you can turn off the Atomic Clock servers and enter a time server address here.
  • Hours Offset: The number of hours ahead or behind the Alternate time server is from your local time. If you'd like to have Atomtime98 use your current time zone and daylight savings settings as the offset (same as Atomic Clock servers option) then you can leave this field blank. Positive values mean the alternate time server is x hours ahead of your time, while negative numbers mean the opposite.


Proxy Server


On this page the user can define settings in relation to using a proxy server (firewall).
  • Route via HTTP Proxy Server: This checkbox enables the proxy server support.
  • Address: This should be the hostname for the proxy server that you normally send HTTP protocol through.
  • Port: This should be the port number for that proxy server (and again the port where you normally send HTTP proxy requests).
  • Save Proxy Authorization: When this checkbox is enabled, AtomTime98 will save your proxy authorization information. (Proxy authorization or proxy authentication is the process where an application must send a username and password to the proxy server to gain proxy server access for that application.) Please note that this option could be considered a security risk since this information will be stored in a format that, while not clear text, can be decoded.
Notes:
* Outside of business sites, most users really shouldn't need to set this option.
* Proxy authorization has nothing to do with the Dial-Up Networking username and password.
* Check with your site administrator for this information if you need assistance with routing through a proxy server.
* If the proxy server support reports error 500, then your proxy server is most likely blocking access on port 13. Ask the network adminstrator to unblock port 13 (also known as the daytime port) or to provide a mapping service.


License


This page allows the user to view and set license information.
  • Locked: The checkbox will lock the fields as read-only. It will be turned on by default when a valid license is entered.
  • License Key: The license key. This field will be blank if you have not purchased a license (i.e. you are running with a temporary evaluation license).
  • Name: The name associated with the licensee.
  • Date: The date the license was generated.
  • License type: The type of license.
    • Single user: A license assigned to an individual.
    • Site license: A license assigned to an organization/company.
Notes:
* Please see the
Registration section for more information on licenses.
* A temporary evaluation license is currently set to expire 30 days after installation. After 45 days, the program may turn off some features. You are required to purchase a license if you plan to keep and use AtomTime98.


System Tray

AtomTime98 will run as a System Tray application when you have specified one of the
Update Interval options. This feature allows AtomTime98 to run in the background without consuming space on the Taskbar. Holding your mouse over the AtomTime98 icon will show a tool tip message (small text) displaying the current status of AtomTime98.

A right click on the icon will bring up a menu of actions. Double clicking on the icon will cause the main display to be opened. When the main display is opened, all background updating will be put on hold until the display is closed again. You can close the main display again by simply clicking on the close button (the little X in the upper right corner of the display).


Command Line

AtomTime98 still retains the command line parameter called autoUpdate. If you start AtomTime98 with this parameter, AtomTime98 will automatically update the clock and exit. This is essentially the same as running with the
Update Interval setting, Once and Exit. The one difference is using the command line parameter will not change your current settings for AtomTime98. Thus, you could normally run with no Update Interval setting and then run a shortcut with the autoUpdate feature when you want it to update your clock quietly. The usual example of this would be to put the shortcut into your StartUp folder so that your PC will get synchronized everytime you power up.

Here is an example of how to create the shortcut with the right command line option:

 



Appendix A: Error Messages

This section tries to outline most of the error messages and suggests some possible explanations and solutions. Please note you should be using at version 2.1 or higher of AtomTime98.

Proxy authorization failure - Your proxy server requested authorization (username and password) and the combination you have supplied was not accepted.

Proxy error nnn - Your proxy server returned an error message that AtomTIme98 did not know how to handle. This message should have been preceded with a dialog box that contained the full error text from the proxy server.

Unsupported proxy server - The proxy server you are using is using a protocol that AtomTime98 does not currently support. At the time of this writing, the only protocol we do not support is NTLM (exclusive to Microsoft's proxy server).

No response from Time Server, No response from Proxy Server - While the server acknowledged the AtomTime98 request, it did not return any data. If this is a proxy server, it is probably blocking requests on port 13.

Unsupported data received - The server sent data back in a format that AtomTime98 does not currently recognize. A dialog box with the full data dump should have been displayed prior to this message. Report these error messages to our support team.

No TCP/IP connection detected - AtomTime98 did not detect any TCP/IP support installed on the PC. Check your Control Panel, Network settings to see if TCP/IP is an installed protocol.

Unable to reach host - AtomTime98 could not find a pathway to the host. This usually implies that you do not have an active connection to the Internet or you do not have a default gateway configured.

Unable to connect - AtomTime98 was not able to connect to the server. This could have a number of explanations including: you have specified an alternate time server with an invalid address/port, you are not connected to the Internet, or you don't have a default name server.

Invalid address detected - Either the alternate time server address or proxy server address you supplied is not valid.

Host not responding, Proxy Server host not responding - The server has failed while trying to retrieve the time server data. This could be caused by connection problems or simply all of the time server sites are down.

Unknown error (nnn) - AtomTime98 received an error code that it doesn't understand how to handle. Report these to our support team.


Appendix B: Upgrade notes for AtomTime95 users

There are a number of new features in AtomTime98. Some of the biggest changes are:
  • AtomTime98 will run as a System Tray application when you turn on one of the Update Interval settings. For old AtomTime95 users, you'll notice a difference when you click on the close button (the X button in the upper right corner) to close the application. The close button will simply close the main display and leave AtomTime98 running in the System Tray area. If you want to exit AtomTime98, you'll need to click on the Exit choice. If you are not running with an Update Interval setting, then clicking on the X will close the application.
  • The ability to have AtomTime98 automatically update the clock on a regular interval has been added. You can specify intervals of 3, 6 or 12 hours.
  • All of the settings for AtomTime98 are saved and loaded from the Windows registry instead of the AtomTime.ini file.
  • New options to assist with connection and disconnection handling associated with Dial-Up Networking.

There is special upgrade pricing available to registered AtomTime95 v1.5 owners (or those who sent in donations). Jump to the Registration section for more information.

Before upgrading to AtomTime98, you may wish to clean out the old AtomTime95 files. The process is actually pretty simple. Before deleting the old files, you might want to check the settings under AtomTime95 to write down any values you need to keep (like if you were using a proxy server configuration).

For all versions of AtomTime95:
You can safely delete the following files.
* AtomTime.EXE
* AtomTime.doc
* AtomTime.ini (located in your Windows directory)

For AtomTime95 v1.5 (commercial) users:
If you have no plans to run AtomTime95 v1.5 in the future and you are not running any other products from ideaMarket, then you can delete the following additional files.
* C:\Windows\IDEAMKT.CFG
* C:\Windows\System\IDEAWR16.DLL
* C:\Windows\System\IDEAWR32.DLL


Appendix C: Links

This section contains links to more information on Atomic Clock servers.

Atomic Clock - A nice page explaining what an Atomic Clock is and how it works.
Atomic Clock Tour - A tour of the Boulder Laboratories where the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) runs the Atomic Clock.
NIST Home Page - The home page for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
A Walk through Time - A NIST Physic Laboratory presentation on the evolution of time measurement.


Appendix D: Revision History

  • 1.0 AtomTime95, Initial release - 1996 Jan 20
  • 1.1 Major improvements - 1996 Apr 04
    • Proxy server support
    • Daylight savings time support
    • Support for other time servers
    • Enhanced error reporting
  • 1.1a Minor update - 1996 Apr 16
    • Fixed problem with some proxy servers that caused AtomTime95 to crash
  • 1.2 Major updates - 1996 Nov 12
    • Added support for time servers that don't report GMT time
    • Modified auto update mode to be run from the command line only
    • Added triple time check option to ensure clock value has "settled"
  • 1.2a Minor update - 1996 Dec 14
    • Made change to disable new triple time check option because of strange NT 4.0 problem
  • 1.3 Major bug fix - 1997 Jan 11
    • Fixed a major bug that caused proxy server connections to fail for a lot of users
  • 1.4 Major update - 1997 Feb 11
    • Finally fixed the bug that sometimes caused AtomTime95 to crash just after reporting the time
    • Re-enabled the Triple Check option for NT users
    • Added support for proxy authentication (user id and password prompting for proxy server)
    • Cleaned up minor regression bug with some proxy servers (would report Proxy error: 200 Ok)
  • 1.4a Minor bug fixes - 1997 Mar 31
    • Resolved a long standing bug with users in time zones that do not observe daylight savings time
    • Added check for invalid proxy port setting
    • Updated the documentation
  • 1.4b Minor changes to the documentation only - 1997 May 5
    • Changes to clean up some bad images in the documentation
    • Added some more FAQ notes
  • 1.5 Major bug fixes, some enhancements - 1997 August 21
    • Cleaned up proxy server support extensively: should now support nearly all versions of HTTP proxy servers.
    • Removed Triple Check option, replaced with a more useful Verify option
    • Increased diagnostic information on proxy errors
    • Enhanced documentation, especially for proxy servers
    • Added code to fix problem with proxy servers that performing caching
    • Signed on with ideaMarket to be exclusive distributor. Starting with this version, AtomTime95 is no longer freeware.
  • 2.0 AtomTime98, Major enhancements - 1998 May 1
    • AtomTime98 can run as a System Tray application
    • Improved error handling and messages
    • Dial-up Networking support: wait for connection and hang up
    • Scheduling support
    • Multiple clock servers and automatic switch over when server is down
    • Time display options
    • Ticking clock display
    • HTML documentation
    • Full installation package
    • Settings saved in Registry
    • Proxy authorization can now be saved
    • New licensing: Dropped ideaMarket; AtomTime98 is now shareware with no ties to any single distributor
  • 2.0a Minor update, some enhancements - 1998 June 2
    • Added support for new time format that the atomic clock site might use
    • Added support for proxy error 504 to try the next time server
    • Updated the FAQ list
  • 2.1 Major clean up, bug fixes, some enhancements - 1998 September 13
    • Improved error handling including: better diagnostics, more backup time server cases, and more error messages
    • Improved proxy server support including: better handling of return codes, more support for HTTP protocols, and trapping of unsupported NTLM proxy servers
    • Added "heartbeat" to status line when connecting to help indicate the program is not locked up
    • Added tooltip message to indicate when clock was last sync'd when running with an Update Interval
    • Fixed bug with keyboard focus after 'Check' operation was performed
    • Added attempt with numeric addressing on primary server to help out PCs configured without a default nameserver
    • Switched from time-a to time-b machine to help relieve load on the time server
    • Added warning when turning on Update Interval
    • Corrected flaw which sometimes caused the settings to not be saved
    • Removed disabled Apply tab from the settings
  • 2.1a Minor update, bug fixes - 1998 December 18
    • Fixed problem where in the Execution settings, the Dial-Up Networking section was sometimes improperly disabled
    • Reset the Update Interval timer once clock has finally been set
    • When attempting to start a second copy of AtomTime, bring the running version to the foreground
  • 2.1b Minor upgrade - 1999 April 18
    • Added Help button on main display
    • Updated documentation to update screen images and reflect new company organization
    • Reduced size of images resulting in overall smaller package size