PCs Running Windows 98: Y2K Readiness Checklist

This page was last updated early during the year 2000 and some or all of its content may thus no longer be current or accurate.

PCs Running Windows 98: Y2K Readiness Checklist

Summary

Hardware	Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a minor hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year. There are a variety of methods available for finding and resolving this problem. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs Microsoft claims that Windows 98 has a built-in date correction capability that should be able to effectively correct many PC hardware Y2K problems. However, this capability has some limitations. In addition, the effectiveness of this capability has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. As a result, at this time we recommend that you resolve the Y2K hardware problems of your non-compliant PCs using a separate method, rather than relying on Windows 98's own date correction capabilities.
Operating System	Microsoft maintains that the "original" Windows 98 has fourteen minor Y2K issues. All of these issues can be resolved by installing Windows 98 Service Pack 1, which is available for downloading at no cost from Microsoft's Web site, and can also be obtained on CD for a modest shipping charge. If you're using Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), a newer version of this operating system which provides a number of feature enhancements and bug fixes, this product already incorporates all of Microsoft's Y2K fixes.
Application programs	Check for Y2K compliance.
Data files & data sharing methods	Check for Y2K compliance.

1. Hardware

1.1. Find and resolve Y2K hardware problems in your PCs running Windows 98.

Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year (such as 1980).

While this is generally of minor concern, an invalid date could nonetheless cause problems for certain application programs. A small fraction of these problems could potentially have serious impacts. As a result, it's preferable to find and resolve this problem before the year 2000 arrives. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs

describes how to do so. Here's a summary:

You can identify which PCs will be subject to this problem by checking with vendors or by using manual or automated software tests.

There are at least ten different methods you can use to prevent the problem from occurring on your non-compliant PCs. Among these:

Running an operating system, such as Linux and recent versions of Windows NT, that incorporates a date correction feature;
Leaving your PCs turned off over the century transition and using a specific procedure to manually set their dates when they are first started up during the year 2000;
Installing small software programs that automatically correct the date;
"Flash" updating the software in the BIOS chips in your recently-manufactured PCs to make these chips Y2K compliant;
Synchronizing your computers' dates over a network;
Upgrading PCs with BIOS add-in cards or other hardware.

Each of these methods has its own particular advantages, limitations, and drawbacks, which are described in the above document.

As a fallback, you can manually reset your problematic PCs to the correct date when the year 2000 arrives. After doing so, all (or nearly all) of your PCs should then continue to maintain the correct date throughout the year 2000 and beyond.

Limitations of Windows 98's date correction feature

Among the limitations of Windows 98's date correction feature:

It will be ineffective on a few PCs with non-compliant BIOSes.

Windows 98, like many other operating systems with date correction logic, can't effectively correct the date on a few PCs with horribly non-compliant BIOSes which can't retain dates in the year 2000 and beyond .
It could potentially leave an incorrect BIOS date unchanged on running PCs.

On PCs that are powered on at midnight on December 31, 1999, and whose non-compliant BIOS chips do not properly roll over the date (in real time) to January 1, 2000:

Windows' own software clock should roll over correctly, and thus nearly all application programs should be provided with the correct date. However, because Windows 98's date correction feature only works at boot time, we believe that a few programs which request the date directly from the BIOS, rather than from Windows, could obtain an incorrect date until the first time that the PC is restarted or power cycled during the year 2000.

Microsoft's white paper also discusses at least two other, relatively trivial limitations on Windows 98's date correction capabilities.

1.2. Don't rely solely on Windows 98's own date correction capabilities.

Microsoft claims that Windows 98 has a built-in date correction capability that should be able to effectively correct many PC hardware Y2K problems. This capability is described in Microsoft's white paper, Windows Operating System Interactions with BIOS and Real Time Clock . As Microsoft noted when we last checked that document on April 5, 1999:

Logic built into the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system will recognize [a BIOS-supplied date of] 1900 [specifically] as an error case and at boot up time will automatically set the date forward to 2000. ... Once the century [counter] has been changed from "19" to "20" the machine's BIOS and operating system should [thereafter] maintain the proper date.

Does Windows 98's date correction capability actually work?

On March 15, 1999, a representative from a reputable Y2K tools vendor privately communicated to us that in the vendor's rollover tests on seven PCs with non-compliant BIOSes running Windows 98, the OS failed to change invalid dates on any of these PCs.

We don't have any more details than this. Furthermore, there is a potential for conflict of interest affecting the test results, as this vendor's company sells a commercial product which essentially competes with Windows 98's own date correction capabilities.

However, for now, until we have the opportunity to do our own testing and/or to obtain others' test results, it's probably prudent to use some other method as your primary means of correcting a non-compliant PC's date when the transition to the year 2000 arrives, and to regard Windows 98's date correction capabilities as a backup method.

2. Operating system

2.1 Check Microsoft's Web site for the latest updates to its Y2K compliance statement for Windows 98.

Over time, Microsoft has made revisions to its Y2K compliance statements for Windows 98 and many other Microsoft operating systems and applications. As a result, it's probably a good idea to schedule one or two checks, later in 1999, to see whether Microsoft might have once again revised its Y2K Product Summary for Windows 98 . By doing so, you can keep up-to-date regarding any newly-identified problems and fixes.

Another way to find the Microsoft's Y2K compliance statement for Windows 98

If the direct link to the Y2K Product Summary for Windows 98 should later be moved or otherwise doesn't work, you should be able to navigate to this statement via Microsoft's Year 2000 Product Guide Web page.

On that page, scroll down to the subhead "Search for Microsoft Products." In the list of products below, scroll down to the category "Operating Systems". You may need to scroll down a bit further to see and click the name "Windows 98". Then click the "Perform Search" button. This will generate a list of compliance statements for various releases and language versions of Windows 98.

2.2 Determine if your PC is running the "original" Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition.

There are two versions of Windows 98:

The "original" Windows 98.

Most PCs running Windows 98 on the UC Berkeley campus are likely to be running the "original" version of this operating system.

To resolve Y2K issues in this OS, you will need to install the Windows 98 Service Pack 1 . (An alternative option is to install Microsoft's low-cost upgrade to Windows 98 Second Edition, below, which also incorporates Service Pack 1.)
Windows 98 Second Edition (SE).

This newer version of the Windows 98 operating system was released to PC manufacturers in May 1999 and became available as a retail product in June 1999. Its new features are described in Microsoft's What's New in Windows 98 Second Edition .

Windows 98 SE includes many feature enhancements and bug fixes, including Service Pack 1, which incorporates all of Microsoft's Y2K fixes.

How can you determine which version of Windows 98 your PC is running?

To view which version of Windows 98 your PC is running:

From the Start menu, select Settings->Control Panel.
Open System.
In the System Properties window, click the "General" folder tab.

The "original" version of Windows 98 will be listed as 4.10.1998. If you have this version, you'll need to apply the Windows 98 Service Pack 1 to bring the Windows 98 operating system to Y2K compliance.

If you've updated the "original" Windows 98 with the Windows 98 Service Pack 1 , the version will be listed as 4.10.2000. And if Windows 98 Second Edition is installed on your PC, the version will be listed as 4.10.2222.

2.3. (Optional) Install Microsoft's Windows 98 Service Pack 1 to resolve Windows 98's minor Y2K issues.

The following instructions were current as of July 23, 1999. If Microsoft should subsequently release a revised Y2K compliance statement for Windows 98, it's possible that these instructions might be out of date. Be sure to check Microsoft's latest Y2K compliance statement for updates, if any.

The following instructions apply only to the "original" Windows 98, rather than to Windows 98 Second Edition. (For details, see Determine if your PC is running the "original" Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition .)

In December 1998, Microsoft publicly identified an assortment of eleven minor Y2K issues in Windows 98, which had been previously classified as Y2K compliant. In April 1999, Microsoft identified three additional Y2K issues, for a total of fourteen issues. These issues are detailed in Microsoft's Y2K Product Summary for Windows 98 .

These issues are quite minor, so it may not be imperative that they be corrected, at least on some UC Berkeley campus PCs. Nonetheless, we suggest that you consider resolving them on all of your PCs which are likely to be affected by at least one of these issues. And it is entirely reasonable to consider correcting these problems 'across the board' by updating Windows 98 on all of your department's PCs.

Before installing any updates or patches which may alter your computer's operating system software or application programs, and before making any changes to your critical documents (data files), be sure that you have a complete, current backup of your computer's data.

For general backup advice, see the Berkeley Computing and Communications articles
Ask Dr. Micro: How can I back up the files on my computer

and
Simplify your life with the UCBackup service

In late June 1999, Microsoft consolidated its various Windows 98 Year 2000 updates, together with "bug fixes for Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.0" into Windows 98 Service Pack 1 . The Y2K updates incorporated into Service Pack 1 include:

The Windows 98 Year 2000 Update, released in December 1998, which resolves the first eleven Y2K issues which Microsoft identified in Windows 98;
The Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2, released in June 1999, which resolves the three remaining Y2K issues which Microsoft identified in Windows 98.
The Outlook Express Year 2000 Update, which resolves a minor Y2K problem with version 4.0.1 of Microsoft's e-mail program, Outlook Express.

and
Internet Explorer Service Pack 2, which resolves Y2K problems with version 4.01 of Microsoft's Web browser program, Internet Explorer, in addition to including other bug fixes.

You can obtain and install Windows 98 Service Pack 1 in two ways:

By obtaining a CD from Microsoft, and installing Service Pack 1 from the CD.

You can order a Windows 98 Service Pack 1 CD in the USA, at the cost of a $5.00 US shipping and handling charge per CD, via Microsoft's Windows Update Web page.
By downloading and installing Service Pack 1 over an Internet connection.

If you have the Web browser Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4.0 or later (which is installed as a standard component of Windows 98), you can both download and install Windows 98 Service Pack 1 over the Internet.

You can initiate this update either by selecting "Windows Update" from Windows 98's "Start" menu, or by using Internet Explorer to visit the URL http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ .

You can then click "Product Updates", which will display a Product Catalog of available updates. From the Catalog, you can click the checkbox next to the "Windows 98 Service Pack 1" option, then click the Download button.

If a Windows Update dialog offers to "determine what components are installed on your computer," it's probably a good idea to click the "Yes" button in this dialog. By doing so, the Product Catalog will show you only those updates which are appropriate to your computer. Otherwise, you'll be presented with a larger list of all available updates.

UC Davis's Windows 98 Compliance Instructions Web page provides the following tip for installing the original Windows 98 Year 2000 Update, which is a component of Windows 98 Service Pack 1. These instructions may also be germane to installation of Service Pack 1:

Because the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update updates your system files it is recommended that you disable any anti-virus software that is running. If you choose not to disable this software please accept the changes made to the IO.SYS file when prompted by the anti-virus software during installation of the update or after restarting your machine.

Alternative to installing Service Pack 1

If for some reason you prefer not to install Windows 98 Service Pack 1, you can still obtain all of the necessary Y2K fixes for the Windows 98 operating system by individually applying Microsoft's four Year 2000-related updates:

Windows 98 Year 2000 Update.
Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2.
Outlook Express [version 4.01] Year 2000 Update.

and
Internet Explorer [version 4.01] Service Pack 2.

As noted at left, you can initiate these updates either by selecting "Windows Update" from Windows 98's "Start" menu, or by using Internet Explorer to visit the URL http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ , and then selecting "Product Updates".

In addition, Microsoft offfers direct links for downloading these updates - primarily intended for corporate and institutional users - from Windows 98 Update: Windows Download .

2.4. (Optional, but recommended) Change Microsoft Windows 98's default short date style to display dates with full, four-digit years.

Many personal computer operating systems are set "at the factory" to display dates with two-digit years, such as "05/13/29". These dates are century-ambiguous; they could reasonably be interpreted as falling within either within the 20th or 21st centuries.

It is usually beneficial to change your operating system's "short date style" to display dates using four-digit years, such as "05/13/1929" or "05/13/2029". When you do this, your application programs that use this display format will also start displaying dates with four-digit years. This can help you in three ways:

You can now see immediately, when you enter dates with two-digit years, whether your program has assigned these dates to the 20th or 21st century.
In some circumstances, this can help prevent dates with century-ambiguous two-digit years from being exported to text files or copied to the Clipboard.
With a few application programs, this may enable you to enter a wider range of dates.

For details, see Changing Your Operating System's Default Date Format To Use Four-Digit Years

.

As a related measure, we also recommend that you follow the practice of entering dates with four-digit years, such as "05/13/1929" or "05/13/2029". For details, see Why You Should Enter Dates With Four-Digit Years Whenever Possible

Here's how to change Windows 98's default short date style:

From the Start menu, select Settings->Control Panel.
Open Regional Settings.
Click the Date folder tab near the top of the Regional Settings Properties window.
In the "Short date" section of this window, select or type a short date style which uses four digits to represent the year.

For example, if your department and/or those with whom you exchange data have standardized on the style "MM/dd/yyyy", which would represent May 13, 2029 as "05/13/2029", you can instruct Windows to use this style by:
- Selecting the option MM/dd/yyyy from the pull-down menu to the right of the "Short date style" field;
  
  or
- Typing MM/dd/yyyy directly into that field.
Click OK.

Caveats

If you change your operating system's default date format to use four-digit years:

A very small number of programs could exhibit undesirable side effects.
You may encounter display and printing problems with certain programs and data files.
This could potentially cause problems when sharing data with other programs that aren't expecting to receive dates with four-digit years.

For details, see Changing Your Operating System's Default Date Format To Use Four-Digit Years

.

More information

It is desirable that you and your department, as well as others outside your department with whom you share data, standardize on a common date format which uses four-digit years.

There are two primary standards you might consider using within your UC Berkeley campus department to represent dates with unambiguous four-digit years: mm/dd/yyyy (a de facto standard in the USA) or yyyy-mm-dd (an International standard, ISO 8601). These methods would represent May 13, 2029, respectively, as as either "05/13/2029" or "2029-05-13".

Nearly all programs should work well with either of these date formats. Nonetheless, there may be a few application programs which cannot properly handle dates entered in one or both of these four-digit-year formats.

Standards for Representing Dates

2.5. (Optional) Leave the Regional Settings' "two digit year" setting at its default values.

If you've opened the Regional Settings control panel to set the short date style, you may also have noticed the option "When a two digit year is entered, interpret as a year between:"

Unless your department has some specific reason to standardize on another set of values, leave the default (standard) values of 1930 and 2029 unchanged.

More Information

In conjunction with the latest versions (2.30.00.xxxx and higher) of Microsoft's OLE Automation Libraries , this "two digit year" option in Windows 98's Regional Control panel sets the "pivot date" that Windows and some application programs will use when deciding how to handle century-ambiguous dates with two digit years (such as "05/13/29").

Based on Windows 98's default settings, dates with two-digit years from "00" through "29" will be assumed to fall within the period from "2000" to "2029". Dates with years from "30" through "99" will be assumed to fall within the period from "1930" through "1999".

If you change these default settings, you run the risk that, when you or someone else enters a date with a two-digit year on your PC, that date could be assigned to a different century than when the same date is entered on a different PC.

2.6. (Optional) Update the OLE Automation Libraries, if necessary.

A potential problem in Windows 95, NT 3.5.1, and later versions of Microsoft Windows is that certain Windows Service Packs and application programs install different versions of the files associated with the OLE Automation Libraries. These Automation Libraries tell the Windows operating system and many application programs how to interpret century-ambiguous dates with two-digit years, such as "05/13/29", as either May 13, 1929 or May 13, 2029.

As described in The Windows Automation Libraries Determine How Dates Entered With Two-Digit Years Are Handled the date-handling behavior of these libraries has changed three times over the years. If you install a program that overwrites your current Automation Libraries files with a different version of these files, the way that Windows and many of your application programs interpret two-digit dates might suddenly change.

Of particular concern, versions of the Automation Libraries prior to 2.20.00.4054 will always interpret two-digit dates from "00" through "99" as falling within the period from "1900" to "1999", which will probably not be desirable when the year 2000 arrives. For this reason, you might want to check to make sure that you're using version 2.20.00.4054 or higher.

Microsoft's White Paper
The Automation Libraries and the Year 2000 , describes how to check your version of the OLE Automation Libraries:

Click the Start button, select the Find menu item, and click on "Files or Folders..." In the "Name & Location" tab, type (without quotes) "oleaut32.dll" in the field titled "Named." Select the drive in the "Look in" field that your operating system lives on (usually (C:) ). Click "Find Now." When the file shows up in the box below, right click on the file and select "Properties." Click the right hand tab that says "Version."

3. Application programs

3.1 Check custom-written programs for Y2K compliance.

Custom-written (or "customized") application programs have been written "from scratch" or else extensively modified to perform a customized set of tasks for a specific customer. Some campus departments are running such applications, which typically have been created by departmental programmers or outside consultants. Often, these programs were built using programming or scripting languages, database management systems, or client/server tools.

Custom-written programs are at considerable risk for Y2K problems. Some of these programs may not work properly in the year 2000, or may encounter problems when handling dates from the year 2000 and beyond. If one or more of these programs are of significant importance to your campus department, it is essential that you find and resolve their Y2K problems. It is also imperative that you begin your work as early as possible, as the process of identifying, fixing, and testing fixes to custom applications can often be very time consuming.

Custom Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems can direct you to resources to help you find and resolve Y2K problems in custom applications. In particular, you can obtain a great deal of assistance from the Web pages of the UC Berkeley campus's Year 2000 Departmental Customized Applications Subcommittee, which has identified a phase-by-phase process that can guide you in carrying out this work.

3.2. Check off-the-shelf application programs for Y2K compliance.

It appears likely that most commercial off-the-shelf application programs will work fine in the year 2000. However, some application programs are known to have Y2K problems or issues, ranging from minor to severe. If some of these application programs are important to your department or to your own research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their Y2K problems before the year 2000 arrives. To do this, we suggest that you:

Identify your critical application programs.

Prioritizing: Identifying Your Critical Computers & Software lists representative examples of critical tasks that your computer might be performing, which may help you identify your critical application programs.

To ensure that you're not overlooking any critical programs, Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems describes how you can use automated software tools to generate an inventory list of all of the programs installed on your computer.
Determine which of these applications are not Y2K compliant.

You can do this in a variety of ways, including:
- Viewing a list of the Y2K Compliance Status of Selected Off-the-Shelf Applications Used at UC Berkeley .
- Checking vendor Web sites, as well as lists and searchable databases of product Y2K compliance available on the Web.
  
  You can find a summary of these resources in Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Resources for Identifying Y2K Compliance .
- Using automated software tools which report on the Y2K compliance status of your applications.
  
  Software Tools for Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems lists some of the tools you might use for this purpose.
  
  The section on Inventory & compliance status tools in the document Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems discusses limitations you might encounter when using such tools.
Resolve problems with non-compliant applications.

Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems includes general checklists that can guide you through the process of resolving Y2K problems in non-compliant application programs.

If some of your programs have only minor Y2K issues, you might in some cases be able to continue to use these applications. However, most non-compliant programs will need to be patched, updated, upgraded, replaced, or retired.

4. Data files & data sharing methods

4.1 Check data files for Y2K compliance.

Data files, including spreadsheets and database files, can harbor Y2K problems. If some of these files are important to your department, or your personal research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their date-related problems before the year 2000 arrives.

The Berkeley Computing and Communications article Checking your data for Y2K problems

provides a overview, and the document Data Files: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems

describes in somewhat more detail how to check your data files to find and resolve Y2K problems. The following are some key points mentioned in both of these documents:

The primary areas of Y2K-related concern in data files are:

Custom macros, scripts, and user-defined functions.

Some spreadsheet and database files may incorporate custom-written macros, scripts, or user-defined functions which improperly handle dates.
Standard date functions.

Many spreadsheet and database programs provide standard date-related functions which are known to have Y2K-related "usage issues." Examples include Microsoft Excel's =DATE(), Microsoft Access's =DateSerial(), and Lotus 1-2-3's @YEAR().
Dates stored as text or numbers.

Dates stored in spreadsheet cells or database fields as text (e.g., "02/21/15") or integers (e.g., "990405"), may present risks when these values are converted to dates, or when they are compared or sorted.

In addition, we encourage you to take four specific steps to help keep Y2K problems out of your data files

in the future.

4.2. Check data sharing methods for Y2K compliance.

Data shared between application programs could in some cases present Y2K problems. You can find guidance on finding and resolving these problems in Data Sharing Methods: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems

.

Methods of sharing data which are at risk include documents exchanged via disks, e-mail attachments, and file servers; data copied and pasted via the Clipboard; and programmatic data streams between programs.

To find situations where you'll need to check your data sharing methods for potential Y2K problems, ask yourself three questions:

Do you export data containing century-ambiguous dates, such as "05/13/29", from any of your programs?
Do you import data containing century-ambiguous dates into any of your programs?
Do you share any files (such as spreadsheet or database files) containing dates stored as text or numbers, rather than as dates?

Find something unclear? Missing? Incomplete? Inaccurate? Or even praiseworthy? Send us feedback about this Web site!

This site is provided by the campus Year 2000 Departmental Computers and Administrative Equipment Subcommittee at the University of California, Berkeley.

Copyright 1999 by the Regents of the University of California.
Disclaimer: The University assumes no liability if the information on this page is used for other than University purposes.