Take A Stand! O N L I N E

"Discerning the Times in the Light of the Word"

Guide to Fix Your PC for Y2K

By Eric Barger

Greetings!

This guide addresses three areas.
- Hardware
- Software
- Internal settings

I am sending this note as a personal alert to you that after months of dealing with it I *THOUGHT* I had my Y2K problems solved on my PC's. I was wrong.

Christmas eve I ran "Norton 2000" on my lap top to see if indeed my hardware was compliant according to Norton. Yes, it was compliant, as I had fixed it previously with "Verifix 2000" (see my home page at http://www.ericbarger.com for a banner link to their product).

However, in reading the Iomega info that came with Norton 2000 I decided to go to Microsoft's site and get their Y2K Product Analyzer for Microsoft software to see if my Microsoft applications were all up to snuff.

I *THOUGHT* I was ready, but of the 36 Microsoft products I have loaded, 12 of them were * NOT* Y2K ready and needed upgrades from the Microsoft Web Site. Most notably, Windows '98 (that I had upgraded just 3 months ago), Internet Explorer, Power Point and Office '97 all needed help.

I spent over 6 hours downloading "plug ins" updates and fixes, many of which automatically loaded themselves without further assistance once the downloads began.

So if you *THINK* you are Y2K ready on your PC but have not first remediated your hardware and then checked your software in the last 90 days, *THINK* again.  We know of some PC's being sold *brand new* just 6 months ago that were *not* compliant.  So, in my view, all PC's should be checked and certainly all software too.

Now that I have frightened some of you with this post-Merry Christmas news....here is where you begin.

If you are not certain that your PC's *HARDWARE* is compliant go to my site and click on the Verifix 2000 banner down toward the bottom of my home page.  There you can download a free test and if needed, fix your actual machine hardware.

Next, go to this address on the Microsoft web site:

http://computingcentral.msn.com/guide/year2000/msy2k/learningmore/analyzer.asp

Download and run the analyzer. This will tell you in simple terms what Microsoft software needs fixed, what's OK for the Year 2000 and how to get all your Microsoft software ready for next Friday's date change.  Click here for information about interpreting Product Analyzer results.

I am loading the entire text of the Iomega info page "Your Step-By-Step Guide to Help Prepare Your PC for Y2K" (less the logo's and frills). I found it very helpful and also contains many other software manufacturer's URL's for Y2K fixes.

You can find it at: http://www.ericbarger.com/Iomega_step_by_step.htm

(PS...my AOL software was not compliant either. I went to "keyword: upgrades and since I preferred to stay with AOL 4.0 for now, instead of going up to 5.0, I ran their test and fixed this as well.)

You should check *EVERY* software application that you are running for Y2K fixes.  This can be done by simply finding the web site(s) of the maker(s) of the particular software you use and looking for their "Y2K Compliance" or "Y2K Downloads" section to see if  you need to do anything (i.e., upgrade your software, download a newer version, get a fix or "plug in", etc.).

One more *VERY* important thing.

Though my machine is Y2K compliant it was *NOT* actually set for a four digit year field and thus could have had problems in the rollover next Friday night.

There is the possibility for MS Windows to crash, unless you do this simple exercise below. I know that I had not thought of this and my desktop computer and lap top would have failed Jan1, 2000.  Why Microsoft hasn't vigorously addressed this I simply do not understand.

This is simple to do, and is *VERY* important.  There has been some controversy about this but don't skip it.  Click here for more about this.

-----------------------------------------
Click on "START".

Click on "SETTINGS".

Double click on "Control Panel".

Double click on "Regional settings"
icon (look for the little globe).

Click on the "Date" tab at the top
of the page. (last tab on the top right)

Where it says, "Short Date Sample", look and see if it shows a "two digit" year format ("YY").  Unless you've previously changed it (and you probably haven't) -- it will be set incorrectly with just the two Y's.. it needs to be four!

That's because Microsoft made the two digits setting the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT. This date format selected is the date that Windows feeds *ALL* application software and will not rollover into the year 2000. It will instead roll over to the year 00.

Click on the button across from "Short Date Style" and select the option that shows, "mm/dd/yyyy" or "m/d/yyyy". (Be sure your selection has four y's showing, not just "mm/dd/yy).

Then click on "Apply".

Then click on "OK" at the button.

Easy enough to fix. However, I am told by those much brighter about hardware applications than I that computers that have not addresses this internal setting in the installation of Windows will fail Y2K rollover.

A little time and effort and you'll have no problems seeing your PC into the Year 2000 glitch free.

Please feel free to pass this email along to anyone and everyone you know.

I send this with my best Christmas greetings and wishes to you and yours as we enter the next year - Compliant - and ready to serve the Lord!

Eric Barger
Take A Stand! Ministries
http://www.ericbarger.com

Copyright Eric Barger1999

This guide is to be distributed completely free of charge.  No profit is to be made from it whatsoever.  The author assumes no liability for any use of the information herein by any other party.  Nor does the author guarantee any of the remediation ideas or fixes presented herein or through any source recommended such as the Microsoft Corp, etc.

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