How Does Windows 10 or 11 handle daylight Savings Time 2023?

🗓️ November 6, 2022 By ✍️ Jaysukh patel

Daylight saving time (DST) is that period of the year when the clocks are advanced by an hour. This is done so that people across the U.S. can enjoy some more sunlight hours in the evening during the summer season. The clocks are moved one hour ahead at the starting of DST and then again move them back by an hour when returning to the standard time. The change from standard time (ST) to daylight saving time (DST) means moving an hour of sunlight from day to evening, while the transition from daylight saving time to standard time means adding an hour of sunlight from evening back today.

The DST was first introduced in the United States of America back in 1918. In today’s day, most of the states in the U.S. follow DST. But states like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Island, Guam, and Arizona don’t observe the DST. This is because the Department of Transportation regulates the DST and time zones in the U.S. However, all the rules regarding DST are observed and maintained by NIST.

What are the present-day rules regarding Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was introduced for the first time in the U.S. back in 1918, and there have been some changes in the rules since then. The last change was made in 2007 after 20 long years. The latest changes widened the length of Daylight Saving Time in an attempt to reduce energy consumption. In addition, the new rules have increased DTS duration by one month because of which Daylight Saving Time is in effect for a total of 238 days, almost about 65% of the year. Currently, the Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. are as follows:

It starts on the Second Sunday in March at 2:00 a.m. The local time changes automatically to 3 a.m when the clocks strike at 2:00 a.m., reducing an hour from that day.
The Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. The local time automatically changes to 1:00 a.m. when it’s 2:00 a.m, thus repeating the hour and adding an extra hour in the day.

How does Windows handle Daylight Saving Time?

The DTS for Canada and the U.S. is already set on your systems when installing windows and selecting the time zones. The DTS settings can be changed using the ‘Change timezone’ button. If the preconfigured time isn’t correct for your Region, you can easily change it using the change timezone option. You also have an option that reminds you a week prior that the Daylight Saving Time is about to change in a week.

There are additional clocks tabs too, which allows the user to see three different clocks with different timings across the world. You will have to click on the notification or hover your mouse over the time. This option is extremely useful for users who need to know the time in different time zones or frequent flyers.

However, there are instances when a country decides not to follow the Daylight Saving Time for that calendar year. There have been several queries on how Microsoft services Daylight Saving Time changes in such situations. The answer to this question is that even if the country doesn’t follow the Daylight Saving Time this year, it still has to complete last year’s cycle. This is because Microsoft launches an update at the correct time before the DTS cycle of the previous year ends, which makes the required changes in the clocks so that another DTS cycle doesn’t start. The same update can also set some new timezone rules for the following year if needed. Once the customers install the latest Microsoft update before the current DST cycle ends, DST’s start and end date will be00s, which is disabled in your country.