Hello,
My system clock seems to be corrupted or something. We had installed panda antivirus software trial version. Since it was for a limited time, I found a hacking software to crack the expiration date. What the hacking software did was, it made the computer clock get reset or am not sure, the clock hasnt worked properly since then.
Removing and putting back the battery didnot solve it. Every time the bios needs to be updated with the correct time. The OS doesnt seem to be showing the proper time in the clock, resetting it in the BIOS or the OS, is only a temporary solution.
I would appreciate all help in solving this problem.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
kselin.

My first piece of advice is: back up everything that you don't want to lose.

Then, maybe you can go to wherever you got your hacking software and see if there is an un-hack.

You see, in the "old days" the expiration date of some commercial software was tied only to the current time-of-day clock. This protection wasn't very secure: you didn't need a "hack" to crack it; you merely set the clock manually, and somewhere there was a file installed by the software to check current date versus installation date. (Kind of like making a padlock out of silly putty.)

More securely protected versions of software nowadays make entries in your registry (highly encrypted, typically, and hidden in some out-of-the-way place with some name not obviously referring to that software). There may also be one or more "hidden" files in "hidden" directories that coordinate between installation date and current date. Your "hack" probably changed one or more registry entries. In addition, it maybe put something in the registry to reset the clock. This may be a "service" that runs upon startup and changes the clock, or something as simple as a script to reset the clock when your machine boots up.

You may be able to find and fix the registry, but you should be prepared to re-format the disk and reinstall Windows. Note that if you reinstall Windows without reformatting the disk this would not necessarily remove superfluous registry entries or other files installed by the software and modified by the hack.

In my experience, other than using regedit to change the registry manually, there are two types of registry repair utilities:

1. The type that doesn't mess with unknown registry entries (and, therefore, which would not solve your problem).

2. The type that does mess with unknown registry entries (and, therefore, may make your system unusable --- thus necessitating disk format and Windows reinstall).

Pardon me for repeating myself, but: backup everything that you value before attempting repairs. Then all you would have lost is time. (Assuming that you have a legal copy of Windows and that you will be able to activate it again.)

I am guessing that anti-virus software, particularly, has lots of ways of protecting itself, and hacks may create system problems from which recovery is extremely difficult. On the other hand, maybe not...

Regards,

Dave

Hello,
Thanks a lot for your reply. But we tried formatting the hard disk and reinstalling everything from scratch. Correct me if I am wrong, I suppose any registry entries or hidden files should have been removed then.
I am not sure how to correct this.
Thanks.

Regards,
kselin.

Well if the entire disk was really reformatted (and there are no other disks), the registry was certainly erased (and other files as well). I am stumped. Maybe the hack had nothing to do with it, and your motherboard battery (or some other circuit) was ready to give up the ghost? Assuming that the battery is good and that you reinstalled it properly, it's not the kind of coincidence that I would accept as very probable.

Sorry.

Regards,

Dave

Well, it has happened to my system. I would definitely appreciate any more thoughts for a solution.
Thanks.

Regards,
kselin.

Yes, I would also suggest you look at the "hardware", specifically the battery despite the fact that you have already replaced it once. By reformatting and reinstalling the OS, you have already eliminated "software" as the culprit.

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J de Silva
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Well, if you consider the BIOS (in FLASH memory) to be software: that hasn't been eliminated. I remember reading about some malware that actually trashed BIOS enough to make some motherboards unusable. So could the "hack" have changed something in FLASH? I'm not saying that's what happened here, but anything is possible.

[edit]
Unsympathetic, petty remark that was here has been deleted by Dave. Sorry.
[/edit]

Regards,

Dave

With "Replace the battery", I meant, we removed it and put the same one again. I think thats what I have mentioned before. So, from what I understand, it looks like the problem could be with the battery or the BIOS.
Thanks.
Regards,
kselin.