Small Y2K Fix for non-Mac Users

[Sackett]

The information below was sent to me by a friend. Because I use a Mac I have no way of knowing if it is correct. If you use a pc, you may find it useful.

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Got this from a friend of mine and it worked for me---Mike

To all, please check your computers as follows:

Even if your PC is Y2K compliant, here's a setting you might want to check:

For those of you running Windows this is a fix for a small Y2K problem. Almost everyone should do...

Click on "Start."

Click on "Settings."

Click on "Control Panel."

Double click on "Regional Settings" icon.

Click on the "Date" tab at the top of the page.

Where it says, "Short Date Sample", look and see if it shows a two "digit" year (mm/dd/yy or m/d/yy).

That's the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT. This date RIGHT HERE is the date that feeds application software and WILL NOT rollover in the year 2000. It will roll over to 00.

Click on the "Short Date Style" pull down menu and select the option that shows four-digit year (mm/dd/yyyy or m/d/yyyy). (Be sure your selection has four Y's showing, not two)

Then click on "Apply" and then click on "OK" at the bottom.

Easy enough to fix. However, every single installation of Windows worldwide is defaulted to the 2-digit year.

Please feel free to pass this on to your family, friends and associates.

 

[G35MN]

This is 100% correct.
Very nice job on the steps I might add.

I'm a Network consultant and have done this to over 85 machines in the last two weeks.

So spend the time and do it to your Windows computer now.

 

[Dennis]

It doesn't hurt anything to do this, but I don't know if it proves or achieves anything. According to an article in the paper, doing the above only changes the display - the computer was using the entire date internally all along. (Supposedly that's how it knew what to display when you did the above.)

The same article said to save and backup everything and try changing the date on your computer to some date in the year 2001. It was very clear to pick 2001 rather than 2000.

Then see if your computer functions properly with the 2001 date.

The article also stressed that this only checks your hardware. (There was some techno-babble about BIOS - Bill's Idiotic Operating System, I suppose...)

For Heaven's sake, take this post with a grain of salt because:
1) I can not find the danged newspaper article.
2) I have absolutely NO idea what the heck they're talking about.
3) I have absolutely NO idea what the heck *I* am talking about!!!

I await a sound thrashing for being so ignorant of "computers", but I bought this danged machine to DO something - not as a damnable part-time job with its upkeep and well-being! When I buy a hammer, it's to pound a nail (or something ) - not to begin a lifetime study of forestry and metallurgy!

I just DID things on my Apple \\. This Hewlett-Packard IBM-clone requires more damned stroking than a herd of lonely cats (which I also despise!) Even when it's on idle (okay, "suspend"), half the time the hard drive is spluttering about something.

I'm beginning to "warm" to this rant, so I'd better stop while I still can! (Heavy breathing, muttered curses, vulgarities, and unending rants heard here!!)

(WAIL!) Oh, Woz! Why have you forsaken us???

[This message has been edited by Dennis (edited December 30, 1999).]

 

[Coinneach]

Mickeysoft has publicly refuted this "fix." Winders handles dates internally with 4-digit years. The 2-digit years are for the convenience of people who don't want to admit that we're not in the first century AD any more.

Dennis, Woz was more involved in the tech side of Apple. Jobs (mis)handled the biz side. If they hadn't gone proprietary, they'd have a significant cut of the PC market.

I first learned to program in AppleBASIC on a ][+. Sweet little machine. Wish I still had one.

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"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it."
-- John Hay, 1872

 

[Futo Inu]

I did that, too, for good measure, though my computer guy said "Win 98 is compliant, not 95", so I upgraded to 98. Simple as that. We'll see...

 

[G35MN]

About two weeks ago I had one of my users who was trying to print out his calendar from Microsoft Outlook 97. He was trying to print from Dec 6th 1999 to end of January 2000. The program has two boxes a start date box and an end date box. The program errored out saying the end date can't be before the start date. The computer was seeing the end date as 1900 not 2000. Did the above date fix and it work as expected.

Microsoft says you don't have to do this fix, but I saw first hand an error it caused buy not doing the fix. So go for it. Won't hurt anything at all.

[This message has been edited by G35MN (edited December 30, 1999).]

 

[Dennis]

G35MN,

Thanks! Just goes to show we can't believe everything it says in the newspaper.

Thanks again! I was called stupid by a "computer genius" who agreed with the paper. I can't wait to go after him. (heh, heh, heh. You've created a monster!!!)

 

[lp]

Not all non-Mac users are Windows users.

 

[Hueco]

Yeah...that's right! Go Linux go! (now all I have to do is get up the guts to install it. Just haven't had the time since I...since I...oh shoot.)


Hueco


[This message has been edited by Hueco (edited December 30, 1999).]

 

[lp]

Not all non-Mac, non-Windows users are Linux users

 

[Hal]

lp,
Yep, thank heaven for CP/M

Now if I could only find an 8" Drive for the old Xerox PC, I could dump this GEOS.

 

[lp]

Sorry RAE, I only run modern operating systems.

Never played with CP/M, but I ran MS-DOS 3.2 a decade or so ago.. Does that count?