1. A method of operating a computing device comprising a hardware platform, the hardware platform comprising at least one physical processor and a first hardware component, the first hardware component comprising a hardware timer on the physical processor, the method comprising: operating the at least one physical processor to: execute computer-executable instructions implementing a computer operating system executing as a guest in a virtual machine; and execute computer-executable instructions implementing a user mode component executing on the computer operating system that performs an operation based on a state of the first hardware component, wherein operating the at least one physical processor to execute computer-executable instructions implementing a user mode component comprises performing the operation, the performing comprising: obtaining a value of the state of the first hardware component, the value of the state indicating whether a timer type is implemented by the hardware timer; and obtaining translation information through an interface with a kernel of the operating system; and computing a translated value, according to the translation information, by computing a reference time according to the obtained value, wherein the computing depends on the obtained value.