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Now Is the Time to Ensure That Your Desktop Computer Is Y2K Compliant The Lab has been gearing up its computers for a smooth transition into the year 2000, which poses a serious threat to many of the world's computers. Computing Infrastructure Support (CIS) has a thorough Y2K information site which outlines the problem and has resources to combat the Y2K bug. Lab employees who use computers are responsible for making sure their desktop systems, including hardware, operating systems, applications, and data files, are Y2K compliant. The Lab has created a Y2K web site to help you with your testing and remedial action. For standalone PC users at the Lab, an all-in-one utility called Centennial 2000 is freely available for download from the CIS page. The program has facilities to test Y2K compliance of both hardware and software; specifically, it examines the system clock, the BIOS, and Excel and Access files on Windows 95/98/NT machines. Detailed, step-by-step instructions for installation and use of the software are also available. Centennial 2000 is able to test various types of data files to see if the information inside the files is Y2K compliant. For example, it can look into Excel spreadsheets to see if the dates inside are properly formatted for Y2K. For the most part, newer spreadsheet and database applications handle dates properly and should have no problem handling the Y2K transition. Even if you use modern applications, your files are not guaranteed to be free of Y2K problems. A more insidious problem comes into play when data files generated by modern software--such as Excel 97--are exported to different formats for use by other applications which may not interpret exported dates properly. Centennial 2000 keeps this problem in check by alerting the user of unspecific or vague date information present in the user's files. Some PCs were tested using Centennial 2000 over the network. You can check to see if your machine was tested and what the results are. If your PC wasn't tested or you would like to test your data files for Y2K compliance, you should go to the following site for instructions: http://www.lbl.gov/ICSD/CIS/y2k/y2ktest/ Here are Y2K resources for other computer systems: Macintoshes Apple computers have long been designed to hurdle Jan. 1, 2000, without a hitch. You can find more information at: http://www.apple.com/about/year2000/index.html Sun workstations Information is at: http://www.sun.com/y2000/sunscan/ Linux The Linux Y2K information is available at: http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/zdy2k/stories/0,6158,2218229,00.html For more information, please consult CIS's Y2K Information Page. If you have other Y2K questions you can send E-mail to y2k@lbl.gov |
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