Daylight Savings Changes
February 2007
While not as cataclysmic as the Y2K bug, this change could cause quite a few headaches. The
change could impact time-sensitive applications like calendars, time clocks, payroll, shipping.
Software vendors are releasing windows-based patches to correct the difference, for computers,
PDA's and Windows-based cell phones. Otherwise, they will have to deal with electronic
clocks that may be off by an hour, for three weeks starting March 11, and again for a week
in the fall when they move back on November 4 instead of October 28.
The good news is that patches are available, the bad news is that you will have to apply
them manually. Unless you have a computer running anything older than the most recent
version of Windows XP, known as Service Pack 2. Owners of older operating systems
need to go into the control panel and unclick the setting that tells the machine to automatically
change the clock for daylight-saving time. They have to make the change themselves on March
11th.
Servers will also need to be updated manually. Microsoft has an interactive Guide that
will help you determine what patches you need.
Microsoft advises heavy calendar users to go online and download a small program known as "tzmove.exe" — Time
Zone Move — that can retrofit all previously booked appointments to the new daylight-saving
rules. Other vendors offer similar tools for their systems.
Novell has also issued a patches for its products, and has a resource page for users.
Once your computers are reporting the correct time, you can tackle your VCR's.
Please give us a call if you'd like assistance with locating the necessary patches for your
network or applying them.
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