The latest Y2K prank to circulate by email purports to reveal a "quick fix" for non-compliant installations of Windows 95 and 98. But, while it's true that there are minor compliance issues for Windows, they cannot be resolved by following the pointless instructions below.
| Subject: Easy Y2K Fix please read
I received this today and am passing it on to those of you who might want the information for yourself or friends. For those of you running Windows, this is a fix for a small Y2K problem. After running this quick little test, much to my surprise, I learned that my computer would have failed on 01-01-2000, due to a computer clock glitch. Fortunately, a quick fix is provided, should your computer fail the test. TEST: Double click on "My Computer." Double click on "Control Panel." Double click on "Regional Settings." Click on the "Date" tab at the top of the page. Where is says "Short Date Sample," look and see if it shows a "two digit" year? Of course it does. That's the default setting for Windows95, Windows98 and NT. This date setting is the date that feeds application software and WILL NOT roll over in the year 2000. It will roll over to 00. Click on the arrow button across from "Short Date Style" and select the option that shows mm/dd/yyyy. (Be sure your selection has four "yyyy" showing, not two.) IMPORTANT: Click on "Apply" and then on "OK" at the bottom. It is easy enough to fix, yet every single installation of Windows worldwide is defaulted to fail the Y2K rollover. Now you know how to prepare your computer. Make a copy of these instructions and in five minutes, your computer will be ready to roll over to the year 2000. |
Don't bet on it. All anyone will accomplish by following these instructions is to modify how the date is displayed by Windows. According to Microsoft, "Windows will store and calculate the date as 4 digits, independent of the date display selected by the customer."
See 'Windows 95 and Windows 98 Year 2000 email hoax' on Microsoft's Website for more information.
Unfortunately, there will be people who believe this message and assume they
can make their computer Y2K compliant just that easily. It's got the potential
to cause problems for a few folks, which makes it rather less amusing than the
"double leap year" hoax. If you feel a need to send this message somewhere, make
it the trash bin. That's where it'll do the most good.
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I know most of you are on Win98, but the following is for those who still have Win95 machines. This will fix many of the Y2K problems embedded in the OS, that the above will not fix. At the end, I also included a link that will walk you through how to test your BIOS and Real Time Clock.
Read Me First
In an ongoing effort to address possible issues associated with the Year 2000, Microsoft has identified several minor Year 2000 issues within Windows® 95. This update addresses these known issues which are associated with generating dates on your computer on or after January 1, 2000. The known issues cover leap year calculations in particular circumstances, the handling of some date/time settings, and incorrect logging of on-line calling.
Before You Install the Windows 95 Year 2000 Update
Close all running applications before installing the Year 2000 Update.
Also, because the Windows 95 Year 2000 Update updates some system files, it is recommended that you disable any anti-virus software that is running. If you chose not to disable this software please accept the changes made to the Command.com file if prompted by your anti-virus software during installation of the update or after restarting your machine.
Note: This download is not intended for use on computers running Microsoft Windows 98.
System Requirements
*Please note: amount of disk space required includes the setup files and the amount of space necessary to run installation.
How to Download and Install
After the Installation of the Windows 95 Year 2000 Update
Please make a new Emergency Startup Disk that will reflect the changes made.
If you do not have a startup disk, do the following:
Product Issues fixed in the Windows 95 year 2000 Software Update:
SHELL32.DLL - The "Find File" or "Folders Dialog" Date tab displays the year in YY format. This format results in non-numeric displays for years greater than 2000. For example, entering 03/20/2003 will display as 03/20/C3. However this does not effect the search. When searching for files changed within a certain date range, enter a 2-digit or 4-digit date and the search will be performed based on the dates entered.
COMCTL32.DLL– When Regional Settings from Control Panel is set to use two digits for years, the Date/Time Picker function may not return the proper date. To ensure proper handling of dates: set Regional Settings to 4-digit date handling.
WINFILE.EXE- Windows File Manager does not display or sort dates beyond the year 2000 appropriately. When using Windows File Manager to view the contents of folders, and users have selected to view "all file details", the dates of files created in the year 2000 and beyond may appear as follows:
- January 1, 2000 would appear as 1/1/;1
- February 3, 2023 would appear as 2/3/>3
- March 5, 2036 would appear as 3/5/=6
COMMAND.COM- The DATE command (internal to COMMAND.COM) does not appropriately handle 2-digit dates from 00-79. Entering 2-digit dates within this range returns the message "Invalid Date".
VDHCP.386- Winipcfg/all - IP Leases obtained on or after 3/01/2000 are reported as having been obtained the previous day. The system date is displayed correctly but the DHCP client reports an incorrect date.
TIMEDATE.CPL–Time and Date control applet - When the date is set to February 29 the applet will display the 29th day on years other than leap years when using the tumblers to scroll the year ahead or back.
DIALER.EXE- Phone Dialer applet - The show call log option doesn’t display date correctly after successful completion of telephone call. If date is adjusted to the year 2000, the date will display as 100, 101, 102, etc.
MFC40.DLL and MFC40U.DLL: Programs using one of these DLLs to represent dates may interpret a year 2000 or later dates incorrectly. For example, 02/05/2000 may get represented as 02/05/100. Microsoft has updated these DLL's to prevent this from happening.