Display System Time

Hi all, I am using Visual Basic C++ 2008 Express Edition to do coding.

I am doing a program to read some text in a text box and send it through a serial port (RS232) to another computer terminal which would also have a program to receive the sent serial data.

As I would need to determine the delay time, i would need my program to show the time when the first bit of data is being transmitted out of the transmitting terminal and also to show the time when the receiving terminal has finished receiving the whole stream of data.

I tried using datetimepicker in the windows form but realised that the time would not be updated when i send the data out.

I am wondering if there is a function that can allow me to get the system time at the moment the data is being sent out and also when the last bit has been received.

Does anyone know how to retrieve the system time using VB.net ? Thanks