VERY IMPORTANT YOU CK THESE SETTINGS AND CHANGE THEM BEFORE<BR>FRIDAY!!!!!!!<P>You may have already received this and taken care of it. FYI in case you<BR>have not. I just did it. RML Y2K- adjustment- DO THIS! Here is a small<BR>adjustment you need to make to your system to be Y2K<BR>compliant. It takes 2 minutes to do. One of my techie friends sent me this<BR>note today. I started to ignore it because my PC is just a year old and was<BR>"certified" as Y2K compliant. But I decided it only takes a second so I ran<BR>the test. Low and behold, my computer had the wrong settings, so I would<BR>have had a problem on Jan. 1, 2000. Please consider running this test on<BR>your computers (office and home)before you discover it's too late!<P>You may think your PC is "Y2K" compliant, and some little tests<BR>may have actually affirmed that your hardware is compliant, and you may even<BR>have a little company sticker affixed to your system saying "Y2K<BR>Compliant"... but you'll be surprised that Windows may still crash unless<BR>you do this simple exercise below. It's easy to fix but something Microsoft<BR>seems to have missed in certifying their software as Y2K compliant.<P><BR>This is simple to do, and but VERY important.<P>Click on "START".<P>Click on "SETTINGS".<P>Double click on "Control Panel".<P>Double click on "Regional settings" icon (look for the little world<BR>globe), not the date and time icon.<P>Click on the "Date" tab at the top of the page. (last tab on the top<BR>right)<P>Where it says, "Short Date Sample", look and see if it shows a "two<BR>digit" year format ("YY"). Unless you've previously changed it (and you<BR>probably haven't) -- it will be set with just the two Y's...it needs to be<BR>four!<P>It's set with the 2 digit format because Microsoft made the 2 digits<BR>setting the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT.<BR>This date format selected is the date that Windows feeds *ALL*<BR>Application software and will not rollover into the year 2000. It will roll<BR>over to the year 00.<P>Click on the button across from "Short Date Style" and select the<BR>option that shows, "mm/dd/yyyy" or "m/d/yyyy". (Be sure your selection has<BR>four y's showing, not just "mm/dd/yy).<P>Then click on "Apply".<P>Then click on "OK" at the bottom.<P><BR>Easy enough to fix. However, every "as distributed" installation<BR>of Windows worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover... Pass this along<BR>to your PC buddies... no matter how much of a guru they think they<BR>are...this might be a welcome bit of information!<P>

This does nothing except change the way the date is displayed. It will NOT affect any software, including Windows itself.

Also, you need to make sure that Feb. 29 is on the calendar, since this is Leap Year.<P>My computer guy told me that even with a Y2K compliant computer, I needed to upgrade to Windows 98.<P>Also, I saw this a while back in an office supply store. You can purchase a new upgrade for your computer to make it Y2K compliant. I didn't have time to look it over, but I think it was a computer clock and was priced around $40.

Chris is right. It only effects the way it displays in your applications and on the screen. <P>The system clock is what keeps track of the time on your PC which is independent of the operating system. It is your BIOS that you need to worry about. The BIOS needs to be aware of the year. <P>As for your applications that need to store the date correctly such as MS Money, it is important for the application to store that information correctly in order for everything that depends on the date to be accurate.<P>------------------<BR>God Bless,<BR>Rob<P><BR>

If you want to see for yourself how modern operating systems track dates, do this:<P>Open Excel<P>Type in a date. A time too if you wish.<P>Excel should have correctly formatted the date if you used a standard date format.<P>Highlight the cell with the date in it.<P>Select the "Format" menu, then select "Cells".<P>Change the date format to a number.<P>For example, I typed Jan 1, 2000 in the cell, and Excel formated it to 01-Jan-00. After changing the cell format I got 36526.00<P>Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and NT all use a date system that simply counts forward from Jan 1, 1900. Each integer represents a day, and the decimal represents the time. The data is stored in a field equivalent to a "double" (32 bits), so it shouldn't run out of room until sometime in the middle of next century. By then I'm sure they will be using a 64 bit field and it will last until the sun blows up.<P>The Macintosh system is exactly the same, except for some reason they start on Jan 1, 1904.<P>Be wary of salesmen with a little knowledge and a yearning to remove money from your wallet. If your computer goes down, it won't be because of the standard date system. Unless you are running an old IBM mainframe using lots of COBAL programming.<BR>

F.Y.I. Windows 95 needs a patch that can be downloaded from Microsoft's website for free. Windows 3.11 needs an update as well; download it there, too. And, believe it or not, a patch is also required for Windows 98 - unless it's the Second Edition version. In any case, I hear that if your computer doesn't <I>have</I> to be on at midnight December 31st, just turn the thing off.<P>Macs, on the other hand, have always been compliant.<P>------------------<BR>Bobbie<P><BR>

only 2 days to go...<BR>

Professorg and chris are correct..<P>The BIOS is what the OS uses to determine date/time. That is why the date and time are already present when you install Windows for the first. If the bios is not updated you will just have a date that reads <P>January 1, 1900<P>And as nonplused stated unless you are using an old mainframe system more likely than not you won't notice a thing come Y2K.<P>If you are concerned with problems, look for inconsistencies with date sensitive matierials or with anything involving calculations that will use the date as on of the factors.<P>If you are still using older sofware packages<BR>such as older versions of Quatro Pro for example you will run into problems. Other than some of the things that I have already mentioned there should be very few problems with your home systems.<P>Also if you have an internet connection that is always on (such as DSL, ISDN, ect.) it might be a good idea to unplug your connection from the web ....just in case, you never know what might happen and it might be a good idea to isolate your computer from other systems.<P>everyone have fun<BR>Jason<P>P.S. Be safe......<BR>(the ER's will be busy enough, don't give'em any business)

Thank you for this post. anyone else have any good tips or links to post? <P>Happy Y2K, everyone....<P>I hope we all find our way back here after the first!!!<P>