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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/