Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?

Subject: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: annamill
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 10:33 AM

Hello everyone,

I've had a couple of people write and ask me how to prepare their PC's for Y2K. I don't know how to answer as I'm a mini-programmer. That doesn't mean I'm a tiny copy of anything ;-) I work on VAX or STRATUS mini-computers. If anyone else has such a question, please be sure to post the make, model and speed of your cpu. (386, 486, pentium, pentium 2 or 3) What year is your computer and how long have you had it. I ask that anyone that can help, please try. Other than that all I can suggest is to find software that is compatable with your PC to make it Y2K complient.

Oh, I forgot to mention what Y2K stands for. Computer space is measured in 16ths and generally a "page" of memory is 1024 bytes. This is one K. Down through time this has been basterdized to mean 1000. I think that started in the NY Times classified help wanted for programmers. This job pays 75K. Takes up less space. So, in computereeze, 1K has come to mean 1000 when in reality it means 1024. Sooo, Y2K actually means Year 2048, but we use it for Year 2000. Tra La!

Thanks in advance.

Love, Annap

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: SeanM
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 01:03 PM

Several websites out there have "Y2K" compliance checks available for free... I know there used to be one on the McAfee site (McAfee Homepage). Good hunting.

M

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 01:18 PM

Thanks, Annap for creating this Thread.
Sean, I'm going to check out that site of yours.
Greatly appreciated,
Bonnie

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 01:36 PM

Annap, not sure of K as opposed to k but k is an abbreviation for which means 1000 and according to my dictionary, is derived from the greek chilloi. I am probably wrong on this but I was under the impression that the bastardisation came from the computer programmers and 1024 is used to fit the binary system - ie 2^10 = 1024 and is therfore far more convenient in computing than 1000 which is approx 2^9.9658...

Mindyou K is also stands for Kelvin - hope we don't get into a heated debate!

Jon

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 08:32 PM

here is another site to do a Y2K check on your machine...

click

and here is a whole page of entries at Black Stump scroll down to Year 2000

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From:
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 08:59 PM

Or get a Mac - they're good for another 1000 years!

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 10:25 PM

actually, I think MACs are good for many thousand years...27635 or some such...now, if they just had some programs.......

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Escamillo
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 12:09 AM

Beware of those "free" test programs that run for a while, then tell you that "this machine is partially compatible with the Y2K, and to be completely fixed, you should run the Professional version of this program, which you can purchase for only 49.00 dlls at our Web Site xxxxxx......"
A very simple test is the following:
- Restart your PC and modify the current date in the PC-MOS Setup, Page Standard Functions, to read December 31 1999, 23:59:30
- Shut it down completely and wait 30 seconds
- Restart normally, then the date and time should be January 1 2000, 0:00:xx (xx approximately the time elapsed since you changed the date)
If this test does not work, your PC may still be compatible, since although it did not cross the century while being down, could obey the date you tell it and continue working: simply redefine again the date to January 1 2000, use it for a while, then shut down/restart and possibly it will remain in the 2000.
CAUTION: IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A CMOS SETUP IS, OR CANNOT REACH TO IT, DON'T USE THIS METHOD, CALL SOME RELIABLE TECHNICIAN TO TEACH YOU TO DO SO. (There are too many things in the CMOS that you could set wrong)
Yours, Andrés (stop the millenium ! I'm still in the 70s!)

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 12:26 AM

I've yet to find anything I needed to do on a computer I couldn't do on a Mac! Checked out any of the Warehouse sites (MacWarehouse-type sites)? There's no shortage of software in the Mac world. And they're stable, easy to use, and zippier than ...oh, never mind. But they sure don't get as many viruses, and they don't get Y2K bugs, and they don't support monopolists, and.... oh, never mind!

Amos

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 12:53 AM

Amos, how many Y2K bugs are there? Is every Mac program Y2K safe as well as the machine itself?

I don't really know where I stand on that score with my PC. All I know is I went through the changing dates to see what happened as Escallimo suggested almost a year ago and that side is OK on mine.

Jon

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: SeanM
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 01:37 AM

The problem with just updating the system date is that not everything in your computer runs off of that... not to mention that if you aren't ready for it, and your computer checks something against a site that isn't compliant, you can run up against the wall there.

I've been hearing from sources I trust that any problems for the average home users should be negligible. As far as what the bugs are, well, get out of the home and they're too many to count.

A sewage treatment plant was running a 9/9/99 check a few months ago, and during the test, a completely unconnected discharge valve blocked. The systems being tested were registering as everything being fine, but one of the defects was that apparently the valve malfunctioned on September 9th. The security system was checking for defects on the preset check date that doesn't exist. Net result was a couple thousand gallon sewage spill.

That is the kind of thing that people are expecting. Most (if not all) of the REALLY big problems have sooooo many techies sitting on them that even if something did go wrong, it'd be fixed very quickly. The most realistic appraisal I've heard is to expect a certain amount of phone outage (due to the thousands of people flooding online and calling to ensure that the world didn't end), and a small amount of annoyance as regional systems work the bugs out.

M

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: lloyd61
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 09:35 AM

Garrison Keillor says that a few graves at the "Lake Wobegon" Cemetery are not Y2K compatible. It seams that a few wives are still living and their Graves Stones read "1908 - 19 "

I am not Y3K compatible, I will be dust by then.

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:35 PM

Click here for a Y2K site provided by quicken/Intuit. It has a number of helpful links. Click here for Microsoft's Y2K site, which is exceptionally helpful.
Using a free scan program from Microsoft, I found that a number of programs on my computer needed Y2K patches. The patches were also free, and quite easy to use. Better to fix 'em now, instead of trying to undo the damage later.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Help: How do I prepare my PC for Y2K?
From: Bert
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 02:54 PM

I don't think that there are going to be many problems with the PC (or Mac) itself or the operating system. Any problems that arise will most likely appear in added software, particularly anything that uses a date for any reason. So if you have any databases or address books out there that contain a date field then you will need to take a look at them individually.

As Escamillo says, set your machine date forward and see what happens. When performing this test don't do any serious work. Try saving and retrieving files with each piece of added software that you have. Only work with test data that you can safely throw away. Then if things go wrong you won't lose your good stuff.

It might also be wise to back up all of your important data before the end of the year (but you do that regularly anyway, don't you)

Bert.