A
Y2K Computer Advisory
message posted to the
year2000-ucb
mailing list on November 12, 1999.
For potential Y2K problems on your computer, what should you focus on? Here are our top three:
1. Custom-written software that uses dates in any significant manner can
destroy data - or just stop working - if Y2K fixes are needed but not made.
You probably don't have any of this software on your computer at home, but
you might use it at work. For more information, see
Custom Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems
.
2. Serious Y2K problems can result from any situation where computerized data with dates goes between two different programs. Examples include downloads from a mainframe or a departmental server, or exporting data from a database and importing it into a spreadsheet. Again, you're more likely to do this at work than at home. Regardless, if you do exchange data, make sure that all the year information is in YYYY format (1999), not YY format (99).
3. The off-the-shelf (commercial) programs that are most likely to handle a lot of dates - and thus most likely to have serious Y2K problems - are spreadsheet programs, database programs, accounting and financial software packages, and statistical programs. If you have one of these program that is more than a year or two old, it probably requires a Y2K fix. Examples - and both Windows and Macintosh programs need fixes - include FileMaker Pro, Quicken, Quickbooks, Excel 2.0 through 97, and Access 2.0 through 97.
To identify and fix such problems, you generally go to the vendor's web site
(www.specific-vendor.com), and click on the "Y2K" or "Year 2000" link (if
there isn't one, look for "Support" or "Products"). Then find the specific
software fix ("patch", "service release", "upgrade", etc.), and download and
run that fix. For more information, see
Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Resources for Identifying Y2K Compliance
Should you worry about other types of off-the-shelf programs, such as word processing packages, web browsers, e-mail programs, and graphic programs? They're not unimportant, but they shouldn't be a top priority. Start with spreadsheets, databases, financial, and statistical software; then look at the rest.
Feedback and questions regarding this Y2K Computer Advisory are welcomed, and should be sent to y2k-advisories-feedback@uclink.berkeley.edu.