Looking for a technician to fix year 2000-related personal computer problems in the last three months of this year may be a little like looking for a roofer in a rainstorm.
Some Rhode Island computer service company owners said they have already noticed an increase in business so far this year, which they attribute in part to the year 2000 programming glitch. Company owners, such as Eric Shorr of PC Troubleshooters, said they expect the demand to grow as Dec. 31, 1999, draws closer.
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The problem – for those who may have been boycotting all forms of media for the past year or so – is that some computers are not programmed to recognize the year 2000 date change. Systems, which only recognize the last two digits of the year, may operate as if “00” means it’s the year 1900, or could shut down altogether.
Shorr, whose company is in Peace Dale, estimated sales for his company are up by about 50 percent. “The year 2000 has certainly helped the cause out. A lot of people who were sitting on the fence are really realizing they have to do something.”
PC Troubleshooters’ customers include small businesses and home computer users.
All the computer technicians interviewed for this story agreed that savvy personal computer users can probably fix most Y2K problems on their own.
“If the user is not comfortable doing upgrades and things on their own they should talk to a professional,” said Shorr, who charges about $85 for an on-site, PC exam.
But, he added, PC owners should assess their situation soon. Looking at the problem sooner than later could help PC owners avoid a year-end rush, should they need professional assistance, or give them time to budget money to replace software or hardware, according to Michael B. Smith, manager of information systems for The Lightship Group in Wickford.
Some personal computer users may be confused about whether they even have to address the problem, added Will Champagne, of Mike’s Computers in Westerly.
“There is so much floating around out there, people saying ‘oh this is a disaster’ and the other side saying, ‘it’s not so bad,'” said Champagne, adding he and fellow computer technicians struggle daily to keep up with new Y2K reports. “For home computing … it’s just going to be a pain in the butt.”
He tells customers with computers more than two or three years old to worry a bit more about having a non-compliant system. “If it’s a newer machine, two years old or so, I wouldn’t worry about it. That’s not to say it’s a guarantee, there’s always somebody out there that’s not going to make it,” Champagne said.
There are several steps that home computer users can take to begin investigating their computer’s status. Computer users can visit their computer manufacturer’s Web site and examine its Y2K disclosure statement to see if their computer model has been tested.
For example, many a Macintosh customer should be delighted to find a statement indicating its computers are Y2K compliant. Information on the Apple site indicates its computers have been programmed to recognize the year 2000 since 1984.
The Apple site boasts: “We may not have got everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end.”
There are several Web sites offering free test programs, which can be used to check whether a computer can handle the date change, according to Champagne.
Packaged test software programs, such as Norton 2000, can be purchased at retail outlets. Norton 2000 for instance examines a PC’s hardware and software, then produces a report indicating any upgrades or repairs that should be made, according to Shorr.
Hardware fixes can run from $60 to replace a BIOS chip, which holds information on date and time, to simply changing the computer’s clock manually, Smith said. He estimated than “less than 1 percent” of PC owners would have to buy new computers “and most of those computers should probably be scrapped anyway.”
Lightship got into the Y2K problem first by helping the U.S. Navy check imbedded processors in ship equipment, Smith said.
Even if the hardware components are rendered “Y2K ready,” it is possible and more likely that some software installed on the computer could be non-compliant, Champagne added. Again there are manufacturers Web sites and some prepackaged software to help out.
Smith said when they examine a client’s software, they check a database with information about 350 software products and their various versions to see if they’ve been tested. But, he added, PC users who really only use word processing packages or programs that don’t rely on figures are likely to avoid trouble.
Personal finance software, such as Quicken, and spreadsheet software, like Excel, could possibly have problems, because in those cases date and other calculations could be messed up, Smith said. On systems where finance or spreadsheet software has been pre-loaded into a computer, but is not used, there is a lower risk of problems, he added.
In some cases where software is non-compliant, the manufacturer will or has posted software patches on the Web, which can be downloaded and used to fix programming glitches. Microsoft, for instance, has posted an extensive patch on its Web site to upgrade its Office97 software.
Smith and Shorr both said there are no anticipated problems with most common e-mail programs and that Internet service providers are responsible for being Y2K compliant.
Since there are no absolute guarantees that hardware and software patches and fixes will work, Champagne advised making backup copies of important files. “You’ve got to practice safe computing,” he said.
