One of the great things about Arizona is that we do not observe daylight saving time. Another great thing is that we get our own time zone all to ourselves, which can be set on your devices so they always show the correct time.

You may notice that twice a year, when the rest of the country changes their clocks, your computer clock shifts too, and now it is wrong.

The fix is to set your time zone away from Pacific or Mountain Time and specifically to Arizona. Pacific and Mountain Time both change for daylight saving, so a computer set to either one will be off for half the year.

Windows 10 and 11

  1. Right-click the clock on your taskbar, usually in the bottom right corner.
  2. Select Adjust date and time (on Windows 10, it says Adjust date/time).
  3. If the time zone drop-down is grayed out, turn off Set time zone automatically first.
  4. Under Time zone, use the drop-down menu and select (UTC-07:00) Arizona.

macOS

On macOS Ventura and newer:

  1. Click the Apple menu in the top left corner and open System Settings.
  2. Click General, then Date & Time.
  3. Turn off Set time zone automatically using your current location.
  4. In the Closest city box, type “Phoenix” and pick Phoenix - U.S.A. from the list. The time zone will show as Mountain Standard Time, which is correct for Arizona.

On older Macs (macOS Monterey and earlier), the same settings are under System Preferences > Date & Time > Time Zone. Click the lock in the bottom left corner and enter your password to make changes.

Your clock should update right away and stay that way. No more confusion in the future.

Still an hour off?

Security camera recorders, smart thermostats, and other devices can have the same problem. If one of yours is still showing the wrong time, I can help, remotely or on-site anywhere in the Tucson area.