The Times They Are A-Changin’
By Wayne Maruna
Bob Dylan must have been prescient when he first sang those words back in February of 1964. For the times they are literally a-changin’ here in 2007, and the changes affect your computer. You see, in August of 2005 the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Policy Act which goes into effect in 2007 and lengthens the period under which Daylight Savings Time is in effect. Prior to this year, DST began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October. Under the new law, DST goes into effect on the second Sunday of March and extends through the first Sunday in November, giving us four more weeks of extra late-afternoon and early evening daylight.
Every Windows computer comes with the option to let the system automatically update the system clock for the change from DST to standard time and back, and the vast majority of people turn that option on. Windows uses pre-programmed calendars built into the operating system before the change in the law. So guess what? Left as it is, Windows will be three weeks late in adjusting to the change to DST. You can remedy this by manually updating your system clock, and adjusting it again three weeks later when Windows makes the one hour adjustment it was programmed to do according to the old set of rules. Commercial enterprises that rely on Windows-based programs for time sensitive date stamping could also be impacted. Even the date would be wrong for an hour each day around midnight.
Fortunately, Microsoft is aware of this and has issued patches for supported systems. Initially these patches are optional, and you can get them (as I have done) by going to the Microsoft Update web site and downloading the patch. Microsoft suggests that as the date of change draws closer, they will likely deem the update ‘critical’ and push it down to PCs that are set for automatic update.
That’s fine and dandy if you have a supported system. But in an effort to force people to upgrade to the latest operating systems (and thereby fattening Micro$oft’s revenue stream), they have been abandoning prior OS support on an accelerating basis. For example, if you never pulled down the free Windows XP service pack 2 update, you’re out of luck; SP1 users are no longer supported. Got Windows 2000? Sorry, the update is available only under Extended Hotfix Support. Windows NT? Not supported. However, all versions of Windows can be manually updated using something called the TZEdit.Exe utility (Time Zone Editor - you’ll have to Google for your operating system’s version of it.) However, this involves manually editing time zone entries in the Control Panel, something your average “my PC should work like my toaster” user is likely never to do.
Microsoft would like you to solve the problem by upgrading to their new Vista version of Windows. Problem is, the hardware requirements are stringent, peripherals like scanners may or may not make the transition, and certain software applications may not run under Vista. Microsoft offers a Vista upgrade advisor program you can download and run on your PC if you are thinking of making the switch. You can be directed to the program here: www.find.pcworld.com/54172 . When you run it, it will tell you if your computer is up to the task of running Vista. My main machine, a home-built PC based on an AMD 3000+ processor with 1GB of memory and a video card with 256MB of RAM, was solid on hardware except the advisor was uncertain about my Sound Blaster Live sound card – and that’s probably the most widely used sound card on the planet. It also said my Canon LiDE30 scanner would not work, but a check of the Canon website said oh yes it would, I just needed to download a different version of the CanoScan Toolbox. The Advisor said that my Nero Mix program would have to go, and the Nero website ducked the issue entirely, so I’m guessing that’s true. If you are thinking of ‘upgrading’ (and I use that term loosely) to Vista, by all means check out the Microsoft Advisor. It said my machine, which I think is fairly high powered, was more suited to their ‘Basic’ version of Vista rather than their Premium version. Well excuuuuuse me!
Conclusion? If you want Vista, plan on a whole new PC and skip the upgrade route for now. For me, this is definitely a not-worth-it scenario. Fortunately, my Service Pack 2 version of Windows XP is already patched for the DST implementation change. If I’m late for an appointment, I have nobody to blame but myself.