Still Worried About Y2K? Some Tips on How to Correct Possible Glitches
2000 has arrived, but it’s not too late for procrastinating PC owners to fix the few Y2K-related software glitches their machines might encounter.
Experts stressed Friday that the vast majority of PC owners are unlikely to encounter any problems with their machines. Don Jones, director of year 2000 readiness at Microsoft Corp., said, “People who have done nothing [to prepare their PCs] are probably going to be pleasantly surprised.”
Still, PCs are not immune to the Y2K problem, and experts say most glitches can be taken care of by following a few simple steps.
The so-called Y2K problem stems from programmers’ early practice of recording years in two digits instead of four to save disk space, creating the potential for some computers to be confused by a “00” date. PCs made before 1996 are believed to be the most vulnerable.
The first thing to check after booting up your PC is its clock, experts say. On machines running Microsoft Windows software, that can be done by double-clicking the clock that appears on the task bar. If the date displayed is anything other than 2000, type in the correct year.
Some experts recommend the added precaution of making sure the computer’s operating system is using four digits to display the year. That can be accomplished by double-clicking the Regional Settings icon in the Control Panel window. The date style should read “mm/dd/yyyy.”
Before launching any programs, experts urged consumers to make backup copies of important files on a floppy disk or other storage device.
Once that is done, computer users should make an inventory of the software they use, and then check the Web sites of the software makers to see if they have found any problems with their programs. If so, most software companies are supplying free “patches” that can be downloaded.
IBM has assembled a Web site, https://www.pc.ibm.com/year2000/software.html, which offers extensive year 2000 information and has links to most major software makers. Microsoft is distributing a free year 2000 resource CD, available at most software retailers or by calling (888) MSFT-Y2K. Through Blockbuster Video, Microsoft has also distributed a free video that offers instruction on making sure a PC is Y2K-compatible.
It is important to check with software makers, “even if your software appears to be functioning properly,” said Dan’l Leviton, a software architect at Symantec Corp. “It’s worthwhile to go to the vendor’s Web site because you don’t run a comprehensive test just by running the program.”
Intuit Corp.’s Quicken 98 software, for instance, only encounters Y2K problems when consumers use its online banking functions, Leviton said. Intuit has posted a patch for the problem on its Web site, https://www.intuit.com/corporate/year2000.
People who use spreadsheets or other programs that make calculations with dates will have to take the added step of examining individual files to make sure they use four-digit date fields, Leviton said.
In the unlikely event of an overall system failure, experts said consumers should first report the problem to the computer manufacturer or to Microsoft by calling the companies’ tech support, whose phone numbers are usually listed in user program manuals.
Many experts say that the more serious threat to PCs are viruses designed to create problems that appear to be Y2K-related. Experts urged consumers to use updated anti-virus software.
Most household appliances, such as VCRs, are expected to be immune to the year 2000 problem. If worse comes to worse, Leviton said, “it’s after Christmas, and there are lots of good sales on new PCs.”
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