Many of you have probably not heard of the Year 2000
problem. In a short version what we have is the inability of
a computer to show the year 2000 as different from 1900
because programmers many years ago tried to save a little
space by giving the date as mm/dd/yy instead of mm/dd/ccyy
where cc is the century.

If this is the first time you've heard about it, I can
guarantee that it won't be the last. As we draw closer to
2000 there will be a LOT of screaming.

If you search for "Y2K" (short for year 2000) in a search
engine you will find thousands of pages which will bring you
up to date on this problem, enough to put a real scare into
you, but that isn't the reason for this letter.

As fancy as my generic computer is, I thought I knew that I
had prepared for the change. I just ran a check program
which showed that I'm not as smart as I thought I was
(something my wife points out several times a day.) One
second after 12/12/1999 24:59, my computer changes to
01/01/1900 - and every time sensitive program I have, such
as Quicken, fails.

You need to check your computer, or have someone check it
for you. There are three clocks in a computer - if one fails
they all fail. My BIOS clock is the one that failed, even
though I obtained that in 1996. So I must install a new BIOS
chip, perhaps a new motherboard.

Some of you are shaking you heads, trying to understand what
I'm saying, and I apologize for the technical babble. The
important point is that, even though the saleman told you
the computer is "2000 - compliant" you had better check
anyway.

There is a FREE program for doing this:
http://www.survive-2000.com/products.htm#Products
called a "Clocks Verification Program." You need to be a
little bit computer literate to run the program, but the
direction are there for you. If you don't think you can do
it, find someone who can.

Why is it important when we are 17 months away from needing
it? Because the closer we get the more people are going to
panic, the higher the cost to upgrade, the less chance that
you will be able to find a computer tech to do it for you.

If you get your computer in shape, share the knowledge. Some
estimates say that as many as 80% of the computers now in
homes will fail. It might even mean that this listserv
program will fail, certainly any program that depends on
knowing the date will fail. Only your action can prevent
this problem on your computer.

This is a serious problem, one that will not go away. I urge
you to take action as soon as you can.

-
The Official PWP Dumpster Gang Hideout
http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/
The PWP WebRing
http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=parkie;list
The Parkinson Alliance
http://www.parkinsonalliance.net/