Quick Overview 
The inability of most computer programs to distinguish the year
1900 from the year 2000 poses substantial risks to all companies. The majority of computer
operating systems and programs currently in use have six-digit date fields (YYMMDD), which
represent, for example, December 31, 1999, as 991231. And the six-digit field, with only
two digits for the year, is the basis for all date-related calculations within most
computer systems today.
The fundamental problem posed for these systems by the arrival of
the year 2000 is that they have no way of expressing a date past year-end 1999. The date
000101 will be interpreted by them as January 1, 1900. The year 2000 problem is pervasive
and complex. Virtually every organization will have its computing operations affected in
some way by the rollover of the two-digit year value to 00.
All businesses, service providers, and vendors need to address the
risks associated with the coming millennium. A lack of planning could result in the
extended or permanent disruption of computer operations because of either the problem
itself or the cost of fixing it.
Time is critical. The year 2000 cannot be deferred and neither can
commitments to action and funding. EVERYONE is affected, whether it processes information
internally, through service bureaus, or both.
What To Do
- Inventory all equipment; every PC and piece of network hardware,
every custom and commercial application in use.
- Gather information from hardware and software vendors.
- Implement compliance testing to identify problems.
- Back up all data and prepare contingency plans.
- Determine whether you will modify, upgrade or replace—
- BIOs flashing or replacement on all network equipment, PCs, laptops.
- Upgrade software to latest releases or alternative products.
Hardware
PCs built before 1984 are generally okay because they were not
equiped with a Real Time Clock (RTC), although the century register will need to be
manually reset to 20.
Apple Macintosh computers are Y2K compliant. They will work
properly until the year 29,940. (Note: Some Mac applications are not compliant. Contact
software vendor.)
The Basic Input Output System (BIOS) chip is not the source of the
problem but it is part of the problem. It is the easiest part to fix.
Operating Systems
Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 will recognize an incorrect date and
will automatically change the date to 2000.
Older OSs such as DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 and Windows95 will
assume the date is January 1, or January 4, 1980, which is the earliest date they can
handle. Windows NT 3.51 can recognize dates prior to 1980 but cannot correct to 2000 on
its own.
Regardless of OS, you must make sure that your BIOS and RTC report
the correct date.
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