Why does being able to load websites / browse internet depend on my computer’s clock being right?

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I notice that if I’ve traveled and my computer’s system clock is wrong by time zone, or I have not started up a computer in a long time (battery went dead) and its clock is wrong, that computer will not even be able to visit regular old websites on the internet (to look up information, what time it is, etc).

But if I reset the clock to approximately the correct time, things are back to normal. Why does it depend on this?

In: Technology

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Computers rely on a few things being true or agreed upon by both/all computers on the network (group who is trying to talk to each other). Requiring the time to be the same for both of them is an easy way to finally check/guarantee that these other agreements happen too. At this point most of them are security but some of these agreements have existed before the internet existed.

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