Y2K is the name given to the Year Two Thousand "Millennium bug"
What is the Year 2000 Problem?
The current mess started over thirty years ago as a simple
cost-saving measure, used to record dates in a mainframe computer. A prudent economy
measure at the time, that through neglect has come back to haunt the computer world.
Simply, way back in the 1960's and 1970's decisions were made to write the date, in
computer programs, as 2 digits. 1970 was written as "70" the 19 being taken as
understood, by the system. The problem comes when the computer reaches midnight on
December 31st 1999. It will then see the date "00" and interpret it as
19"00".
The Y2K issue is a bit more complicated that
stated above, as it involves many programming styles on many platforms, with slightly
different failure points. We have compiled information on much of the variables on the
issue.
How does it affect my PC?
The greatest trouble will be encountered on mainframe
systems running older custom databases, PCs can encounter possible problems through
hardware, operating system, or software.
Hardware: Since the first of the Pentium
PCs, all of our systems hardware have been Year 2000 compliant. AMI, Award and Pheonix
BIOS as well as the Intel chipsets have all been Y2K compliant since the first Pentium
systems, and many 486 systems. If you would like to test your hardware for specific year
2000 compliance, visit NSTL online for
their free Y-Mark 2000 software.
Operating System: All of our systems ship
with Microsoft operating systems (Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0)
"Microsoft operating systems all store
and manipulate dates in four-digit formats. Additionally, the system clocks have been
designed to recognize the year 2000 as a leap year. Within the operating system, the file
systems have been designed to handle dates beyond the year 2000 as well. The File
Allocation Table (FAT) 16bit and 32bit versions used by MS-DOS, Windows, Windows 95 and
Windows NT recognizes dates up to 2108. The File Allocation Table for the Windows CE
operating system recognizes dates up to 2999. The Windows NT File System (NTFS) recognizes
dates to 29,601." - From the Microsoft
Y2K FAQ
Software: It is within
third party software that a PC is most vulnerable to a Y2K bug affecting an application.
While most primary software providers have implemented four digit date codes for most
recent versions of software, third party software and custom written applications should
be checked for Y2K compliance.
Even new software can be susceptible to
problems. An example would be a spreadsheet or database written in an older program and
then transferred into Excel or Access can still have two digit date codes internally, or a
third party add-on to Excel could have run time files not set up to handle Y2K issues.
Mcafee, a trusted name in virus software
for years has a Y2K compliance checking software available form their web site, called Toolbox2000.
This software tests many types of common data handling software to spot possible Y2K
problems.
How should I test my computer?
Testing Software: There are many types of
software that will test your system for Y2K compliance, and not all use the same method of
testing. You have to know what you are testing your computer for. Most computers on the
market today will fail tests that directly access the Real Time Clock instead of the BIOS.
These computers are not bad, the test is simply not a valid check for compliance.
We recommend name brand testing software from established
organizations, such as McAfee, Norton, or the National Software Testing Laboratory. While
other tests may claim to be more thorough, they can be misleading, and fail otherwise good
hardware.
The first step in choosing a testing method should be
understanding what needs to be tested, and for what reasons.
The Real Time Clock - The Real Time
Clock (RTC) is where the time and date are stored and updated on a PC when the power is
off. Most RTC's still store the year in a 2 digit format, but if you follow the date
through your computer, you will see why this doesn't matter:
- When the PC is powered on, the BIOS reads the two digit
date and time from the RTC
- The BIOS checks the date, and provides the century (19xx
or 20xx).
- The Operating System reads the date from the BIOS
- The Operating System provides further checks of Y2K
Compliance
- The Application (your program) reads the date from the
Operating System.
Some Applications read the date directly from the BIOS.
These programs will read the corrected date provided by the BIOS.
The BIOS corrects the two digit date by assuming that all
years below 80 are in the 21st century, and that all years above 80 are in the 20th
century. Using this reasoning, a two digit date of 99 would become 1999, and a two digit
date of 00 will be 2000.
There are applications that poll the RTC directly for the
date. These programs are asking for, and will receive a two digit date. This is considered
to be a flaw in the program, not a hardware program. Most software vendors will have
patches available for programs that contain this flaw. |
