Y2K redux?
A change in daylight saving time that will cause clocks to spring forward on March 11 – three weeks earlier than usual – could cause glitches in computer systems of all kinds, technicians are warning.
As part of a 2005 energy law, daylight-saving time will start three weeks earlier and end one week later, beginning this year. Congress made the switch in daylight-savings – the first in 20 years – hoping that more daylight hours would translate into national energy savings.
If not addressed, the change in daylight savings will throw the internal clock off by an hour in all computers and IT systems programmed before 2005, said Eric M. Shorr of PC Troubleshooters Inc. in Warwick.
The problem is not so dire as that of the Y2K bug some experts said threatened to crash computer systems worldwide in 1999, but the daylight-saving glitch will create disruptions for any business that ignores the issue, Shorr said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be like a Y2K thing, where there’s an impending disaster. But it’s important to make sure your machines have the correct time,” he said.
In addition to scheduling errors, the daylight-saving bug could cause errors in automated billing and payroll programs and could wreak havoc in financial and medical databases, Shorr said. Computers also could be frozen out of their networks, he said.
“Businesses that have e-mail servers, businesses that synchronize data, backup systems that run at a certain time – all of these things will be off by an hour, which can affect data,” Shorr said.
Businesses can protect their computers by consulting their technical support teams or service vendors or by contacting the companies that built their machines and networks, Shorr said. Most of these companies already have instructions on their Web sites about what patches or manual fixes should be installed to prevent problems.
PC computer systems that use Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Vista are unaffected by the change in daylight saving time, Shorr said. But older Windows systems need to be updated.
Microsoft users may have received a patch to reprogram their computers already in the form of an automatic update. Those who haven’t can download the patch at Microsoft’s Windows update Web site, Shorr said. However, Windows users operating anything older than the most recent version of Windows XP will need to manually adjust the clocks in their computers.
Installing patches on e-mail servers, firewalls and other network features may be too complicated for untrained technicians, Shorr said. “Some systems are a little more difficult to update, which may require calling your computer consultant to take care of.”
In any event, Microsoft Corp. has issued a warning that, for three weeks starting March 11, all appointments should be confirmed to guard against errors caused by network calendar programs.
