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Posted (edited)
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vvv
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EPOCH takes advantage of a funny flaw (feature?) in Microsoft Windows regarding date stamps on files. If a file has a date (date modified, created, accessed) set to December 31, 1979, the property will simply have no value. It essentially "blanks out" the applicable fields, as if they are non-existent.
 
This is due to the way Windows counts time in files. A given date is calculated from a number of 100-nanosecond intervals. I don't know much more than that, but apparently there's some strange bug where some seemingly arbitrary midpoint does not parse as a value. This value (I think) is January 1, 1980. No promises, though: it seems that my tests are different each time, lol. It may work for other dates, but I haven't checked every single day from then till now or before, so I might have missed one or two.
 
The script I've written is a simple one. Drag your files in the box, and it will erase all the dates using the method described above. Or, drop your files on top of the exe (or run them through a cmdline) and it will epoch your files with no gui. Multiple files are allowed both ways. For simplicity's sake, it won't spit out errors.
 
Please note this is hardly a useful script. Have fun destroying datestamps, though.
 
EDIT: Found out dates in XP actually go back to 1601, thanks to Kilmatead.
 
Current version (1.2): epoch.zip
 
Old (read "bad") versions:

Version 1.1: epoch.zip
Version 1.0: Deleted; had 14 previous downloads

 
-cb
 
P.S.: Yes, that icon is HAL.
Edited by cyberbit

_ArrayConcatenate2D · Aero Flip 3D · EPOCH (destroy timestamps) · File Properties Modifier · _GetFileType · UpdateEngine<new> · In-line Case (_ICase) <new>

[hr]

50% of the time, it works all the time. -PezoFaSho

Posted

Windows Timestamps are actually calculated via the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1st, 1601.  See this for an interesting explanation as to why the death of Tycho Brahe and the birth of Louis XIII associates our modern toys with the 17th century on a daily basis.  Maybe those steampunk lads are on to something,,,

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