Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "Conrad, Bart D"
for what it's worth,,,I was forwarded this memo and found it to be true.you may think your pc is Y2K compliant, and some simple tests may haveactually affirmed that your hardware is compliant, and you may even havea little company sticker affixed to your system saying "Y2KCompliant"... but you'll be surprised that Windows may still crashunless you do this simple exercise below..easy fix but somethingMicrosoft seems to have missed in certifying that their software is Y2Kcompliant...this is simple to do but very important.click on startclick on settingsdouble click on control paneldouble click on regional settingsclick on datewhere it says "short date sample", look and see if it shows a two digityear (yy)unless you've previously changed it (and you probably haven't), it willbe set incorrectly with just the two Ys...it needs to be four!!that'sbecause Microsoft made the 2 digit setting the default setting forwindows 95, windows 98 and NT..this date format selected is the datethat windows feeds all application software and will not roll over into2000. it will roll over to the year 00.click on the button across from "short date style" and select theoption that shows "mm/dd/yyyy" or "m/d/yyyy"(be sure your selection hasfour Ys showing, not just two Ys)than click on OK on the bottom.easy enough to fix, however, every "as distributed" installation ofwindows worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover.pass this along to your PC buddies...not matter how much of a guru theythink they are...this might be a welcome bit of information.regardsJoeCZion, Illinois________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Doug Page
fishin wrote:> > for what it's worth,,,I was forwarded this memo and found it to be true.> > you may think your pc is Y2K compliant, and some simple tests may have> actually affirmed that your hardware is compliant, and you may even have> a little company sticker affixed to your system saying "Y2K> Compliant"... but you'll be surprised that Windows may still crash> unless you do this simple exercise below..easy fix but something> Microsoft seems to have missed in certifying that their software is Y2K> compliant...this is simple to do but very important.The previous email about changing the short format date in Windows is ahoax. Read on to see what one of the contributing writers/editors atWindows magazine (Fred Langa) has to say about it and other Y2K issues.Windows' "Short Date Format" ScareI've gotten maybe 50 emails in the last week about a "new" Y2Kissue---maybe you got one too. The heart of the letter is something likethis: Every copy of Windows in the world has default settings that will make it FAIL on Jan 1, 2000!!!! I'm not kidding!!!! Check for yourself!!!! PASS THIS LETTER ON!!!!! TEST: Click on "START" Click on "SETTING" 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 (yy). That is 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, mm/dd/yyyy. (Be sure your selection has four Y's showing and not two.) Click on "APPLY" and then click on "OK" at the bottom.Alas, this note is mostly wrong--- in fact, Microsoft calls it anoutrighthoax. The worst part of the email is that it fails to distinguishbetweenthe way dates are calculated and the way they're displayed. The "dateformat picker" above affects only how Windows displays dates andinterpretsthe way you type in dates. It tells you nothing about the underlyingsoftware calculations or about your PC's date-keeping hardware.If your PC hardware is Y2K compliant and if you're running a newerversionof Windows and/or have applied the Y2K patches available (for free) fromthe Microsoft site, Windows will calculate Y2K dates correctlyregardlesswhether or not the date is displayed in two- or four-digit format.On the other hand, if you don't have a Y2K-compliant PC, or if youhaven'tapplied the Y2K patches, then changing the date-display format is justrearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic: Changing the format doesnothing except to give you a false sense of security.In fact, using four-digit dates won't do you any good at all if the restofyour version of Windows, or the rest of your software, or your PC itselfhas any of about five completely separate Y2K issues. This "set afour-digits date format and you'll be fine" approach is way toosimplistic. It's totally misleading. It's wrong.Fortunately, the real Y2K tests, and the real fixes, are ridiculouslyeasy:To fully address this issue (which has alarmed many of you; and causedothers to have false sense of Y2K security) I've made this the topic ofmyDialog Box column on the WinMag site this week.There, in more detail than I could fit in this newsletter, I'll give youthe full scoop on the "Date Format" scare, and why it can be perfectlyfineto continue using two-digit dates. I'll show you where to get free fixesand patches for any Y2K problems your copy of Windows may have, and I'llshow you a simple, free, five-minute do-it-yourself test anyone can dotoensure that your PC is fully Y2K-safe at every level.Y2K scares---and bogus emails--- abound. But don't be taken in: Come getthe facts, starting midday (EDT; GMT-4) Monday Aug 9, 1999 via the frontpage at http://www.winmag.com .________________________________________________________________________________