A scenario can come to pass where the wrong time is set on a DC, especially the PDC. All other DCs will accept this new date and time blindly and apply it, even if it is large quantities of time in the future or past. Naturally these can have pretty bad results.

These are the registry keys, the recommend value is 48 Hours, 0002a300

For more info see these.

http://blogs.msdn.com/w32time/archive/2008/02/28/configuring-the-time-service-max-pos-neg-phasecorrection.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;884776

Registry Entry MaxPosPhaseCorrection
Value Type DWORD
Subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config
Notes This entry specifies the largest positive time correction in seconds that the service can make. If the service determines that a change larger than this is required, it logs an event instead. Special case: 0xFFFFFFFF means to always make the time correction. The default value for domain members is 0xFFFFFFFF. The default value for stand-alone clients and servers is 54,000 (15 hours).
Registry Entry MaxNegPhaseCorrection
Value Type DWORD
Subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config
Notes This entry specifies the largest negative time correction in seconds that the service can make. If the service determines that a change larger than this is required, it logs an event instead. Special case: -1 means always make the time correction. The default value for domain members is 0xFFFFFFFF. The default value for stand-alone clients and servers is 54,000 (15 hours).

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