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Daylight-Saving Time Bug

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app103:
In 2005 a new law was passed that changed the start of Daylight Savings Time from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, in the US. This is 3 weeks earlier than it used to be. Canada will be following the US and will also be changing the date as well.

Software created before this law was passed has the potential for screwing up. And computers aren't the only devices that can be affected by this...your old VCR or wrist watch has the potential of having problems too. Any device that contains a clock that adjusts for Daylight Savings Time can be affected.

Some older operating systems that are affected are not longer supported and there is no patch available to correct it. (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2K) For these operating systems, you will have to turn off the automatic time adjustment and fix it manually when the change is supposed to occur.

For those running XP, there was a patch available that was sent out as an automatic update on Tuesday. You will need to have Service Pack 2 in order to receive this update.

Vista users are immune, as that operating system was created after 2005 and doesn't have this bug.

You can still be affected by this bug even if your operating system is patched, corrected, immune....other people may not have fixed theirs. Be very careful about trusting times for meetings and appointments from March 11 to April 1...confirm them and make sure everyone's clocks are synchronized, otherwise there could be problems with people showing up at the wrong time.

Also, avoid any type of transactions where the date is important within an hour of midnight, unless you know the system that will be recording the transaction is corrected. This means that your transactions could be recorded with the wrong date if you are not careful. Don't put off paying your car insurance till the last moment or you could find yourself with a lapsed policy.

Also be aware that any software that you use to update the time on your PC automatically, will need to be patched. Please check with the company that released that software for a patch or newer version. Most of these programs check with an official time server that gives the time in GMT and the software just subtracts time based on the date. If the date used in the software is wrong, your clock will be wrong.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/02/19/daylight.saving.bug.ap/index.html

Gothi[c]:
Yippee, y2k all over again.
Will we ever learn to make date-critical software flexible enough?

I guess not, because, who expects to have time- as we know it, disappear or change.
What will the software world do when tomorrow they decide to remove the month February from the calendar?

Stranger things have happened.

PlayPhil:
Daylight-Saving Time Bug - W2K Hack

Some older operating systems that are affected are not longer supported and there is no patch available to correct it. (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2K)
--- End quote ---

Well, there may not be a patch for these o/s's but you can hack W2K's TZ settings.

For those interested, the MS links are:

Using a GUI...

Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center for home users

Explicitly hacking the registry (not easy)...

How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007

I'm just in the process and cannot confirm whether they work or not. I don't see why not, but...

I'll post back when I get a chance.

Also new to this board. If posting a reg hack or a link to one is frowned upon, delete my post, no offense taken...

mouser:
I'm sure your post will be quite welcome by our win2k holdouts  :Thmbsup:
Welcome to the site Phil, glad to have you here.

Darwin:
Thanks PlayPhil! I'll be correcting my dad's notebook later on today and these links will be invaluable.

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