Microsoft won't fix this Windows 11/10 glitch as it's "by design" and not important

Microsoft has said that a clock bug on Windows 11 and 10 won't be fixed by the company as it's not important

Recently, a veteran Microsoft engineer described one of the massive challenges on Windows 95, which was dealing with compatibility problems. The issues were so big that apps would straight up not work, and even haters would probably admit that the user experience on Windows 11 has never been as terrible.

Speaking of the user experience, Microsoft today confirmed in a newly published support article that it will not fix a visual glitch, and the reason for not doing so is that the bug is "by design," plus it's also not important to fix.

For those wondering what I am talking about, the Redmond giant has admitted that the OS's Secure Lock Screen clock does not show the correct time to users and has explained why that is. The Secure Lock Screen can be summoned using the Ctrl + Alt + Delete combo keys, and it brings up the security screen that allows a person to lock the desktop, switch user, sign out, change a password, or open Task Manager.

The company explained that this behavior is intentional as the Secure Lock Screen refreshes its clock on a fixed 30‑second cycle rather than aligning with minute boundaries; this means the time displayed here updates 30 seconds after an actual minute change. The Secure Lock Screen runs under the Winlogon secure desktop and follows its own refresh schedule, and that's unlike the user lock screen (Win + L), which updates correctly at each minute change.

While the display may look inaccurate, Microsoft has stressed that this is purely a visual quirk, as the underlying system clock remains precise with no impact on various synchronization functions, event logs, and such. These are fetched directly from the Windows kernel system clock, and hence the issue does not require any fixing.

You can find the support article here on Microsoft's official site.

Source

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Posted Friday 10 April 2026 at 5:06 am AEST (my time).

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