# Windows "date modified"  question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-date-modified-question/29973>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-date-modified-question/29973 "2000-08-19T16:42:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-date-modified-question/29973/1 "2000-08-19T16:42:00Z")

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My mp3 directory is getting pretty big - about 800 songs. Sometimes I just want to hear the songs I most recently downloaded without having to search through 800 files to find them. So I switch the view in Windows Explorer to “date modified.” Problem solved right? Wrong. It says the file I downloaded yesterday was created in 1997. Apparently it’s the creation date of the file on some remote system. Well, I want to know the date of creation on MY computer! I really can’t think of too many advantages that having the remote creation date would offer. Why does Windows do things this way? Is there any way to change it?

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-date-modified-question/29973/2 "2000-08-19T16:58:59Z")

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windows keeps three dates: created, modified and accessed. You can change them (and the other attributes) using a program called “properties plus”. You right click on the file and you get the option “properties plus” where you can change them.