. . Club No. 1094
. . . . Club No. 1094
. .
Call to Order:
Speaker:
What Year is it?
This is the question you will need to ask your items that have embedded chips.
| It'sthe year 2000! |
I believe competent professional the world over will have taken most the steam out of Y2k by the Year 2000. However, it is unfortunate that they are spending thousands per computer system, when it should cost under $100.00 per system.
Y2k (Year 2000 Bug) is not "The End of the World" as we know it! It is not "Dooms Day" and it does not mean death to your computer system.
Questions to consider
concerning your items.
1) Does your product or item know what year it is? If it does not
know what year it is now, you will not have a problem with it
when the Year 2000 comes.
2) If it knows what year it is, how many digits does the year
use? Two or Four? If it knows the year and it was not purchased
this year -- fix it.
3) Does it know when leap year is?
Many item can be removed from your list of concerns with the
simple question, does this item know what year this is.
The Y2k problem is simply the use of two digits for the year
instead of four digits, hence not having the ability to
differentiate between centuries, i.e. 1900, 2000, or 3000.
SBA - What is the year
2000 problem
The year 2000 problem started decades ago when early computers
had very limited memory and storage space. Programmers saved
space where they could by storing the absolute minimum amount of
data necessary for business functions. One place they saved space
was the date, in which years were represented by their last two
digits. So, 1946 was represented and stored as 46, 1967 was
stored as 67, and so forth.
Reducing years to two digits works well as long as the century does not change. As the next century approaches, however, computers that still maintain years as two digits may not recognize that the year 2000 is greater than the previous year. Although a computer may recognize that 99 is greater than 98 (as in 1999 and 1998), it may not recognize that 00 is greater than 99 (as in 2000 and 1999) and may consider it 1900.
and why is it so
important?
Data processing systems used in all types of businesses rely
heavily on dates and date processing. If the computer code does
not recognize that one date is greater than another, it may not
be able to process properly and may produce erroneous results.
For example, if a loan is entered into a program with a start
date of 1998 and a payoff date of 2005 (98 and 05), the program
may subtract 98 from 05 resulting in a term of -93 years, rather
than 7 years. This problem may put a business at risk because it
could effect its cash flow, inventory, taxes, interest
calculations, financial forecasting, customer relations, and many
other areas.
How big a problem?
This worldwide problem not only affects mainframe
computers and their programs, but also personal computers and
every piece of hardware that contains a microchip, including:
manufacturing control systems
telecommunications
money transfer and other financial systems
gas, water, and electrical utilities
stock markets
transportation
national defense
home computers,
security systems, and appliances
Beyond your own business computer systems, there is also the
"business supply chain." You buy goods and services
from some businesses, and you sell goods and services to others.
If your trading partners fail, your cash flow can suffer
critically.
In 1996, the Gartner Group estimated that the year 2000 problem would cost $600 billion to fix. Later estimates by Lloyds of London have been as high as $1 trillion. Economist Ed Yardeni has estimated that there is a 70% chance of a global recession because some businesses will be unable to deal with their year 2000 problems. And, unlike most projects, the final due date can not be changed with the year 2000 problem - the year 2000 will arrive whether we are ready or not.
No "silver
bullet"
According to Peter de Jager, an internationally recognized expert
in the year 2000 problem, there is no single solution, no
so-called "silver bullet." Because each system
processes dates in different ways, each system must be assessed
and corrected.
You can't do nothing
If you do nothing to fix this problem, your business may fail.
Worse, because the year 2000 problem is a foreseeable problem,
the officers and directors of your organization could be held
personally liable in shareholder suits.
The Federal Reserve recognizes that small businesses are the backbone of the economy and wants to ensure your business's continued good health. With estimates predicting that 1% to 7% of US businesses will fail because of the year 2000 problem, the Federal Reserve is encouraging all businesses to address the problem as early as possible.
Your business is at
stake
Imagine if you were unable to retrieve your accounts receivable
records, or if one of your customers placed an order with you in
late 1999 for delivery in early 2000, and that order was lost.
Imagine if you could not correctly calculate the taxes or
insurance premiums to be withheld for your employees, or if your
inventory records were lost.
The year 2000 problem may affect your business in countless ways. Your personal computers may reset themselves to the year 1980 or 1900 because the microchip (bios) that maintains the clock/calendar does not recognize 2000 as a valid year. A photocopier that records the count of the number of copies made in a day may stop working in the year 2000 because the microchip may fail to recognize that "00" is a valid year. A security system may fail to operate properly and might allow unauthorized access to your buildings. A preprogrammed fax machine used to send announcements to your customers may stop working after 12/31/1999. A voice mail phone system may fail to record messages from customers or suppliers. A preprogrammed money transfer from a savings into a checking account to cover checks to your creditors may not take place.
Reports of year 2000 problems are already surfacing in the media. In early August 1997, the owners of a grocery store chain in Michigan sued the manufacturer of their cash registers because the terminals would not recognize credit or debit cards with an expiration date of 00. The owners claimed they had lost thousands of dollars worth of business because the terminals rejected customers with valid debit/credit cards.
It's NOT just a data
processing problem
The year 2000 problem is a business problem. The decisions to
spend the money, time, and resources are business decisions. The
costs of making your organization compliant may be substantial,
so the decisions on what to fix and what to risk not fixing need
to be made at the highest levels.
The Cure for the Y2k
bug
By now, anyone who reads the paper or watches television should
be well and truly confused about whether Jan. 1, 2000, will find
the computerized world in flames and civilization destroyed, or
merely a little off-kilter and shaken.
The original space-saving decision to use only the last two
digits of the year in computer programs is coming back to haunt
us as we approach the year 2000 -- which many programs will
interpret as 1900.
What exactly is the Year 2000 problem? The Year 2000 problem (often referred to as the Millennium Bug)? . When the new millennium hits us on 1 January 2000, dates will be read by non-compliant computers as 01/01/00. The year will be indistinguishable from 1900 or 3000 and many computer hardware and software will either seize up or operate according to the wrong date.
Until recently most computer codes stored dates in the
dd/mm/yy format, i.e. 30 June 1998 is stored as 30/06/98.
What century will you be in when the clock reaches "0"?
Governments and businesses the world over are scrambling to fix the problem, which involves literally millions of lines of computer code. It's a huge, expensive undertaking, a race against time that many will win and some will lose.But what does all this mean for regular folks who don't happen to control vast computer networks or oversee national monetary policies? What should they be doing to prepare themselves?The problem breaks down into two main areas: things we have direct control over and things we don't. If the automated teller machines don't work for a week, you can't get in there and fix them, but you can make sure you've got enough cash on hand to get you through. At home, you can make sure that all your electronic devices are ready for the year 2000 -- "Y2k compliant," in the jargon of programmers -- and that you sail as smoothly as possible into the future.USA TODAY'S Elizabeth Weise takes a walk through a typical consumer's home, pointing out some appliances and systems to look into.
I have been very concerned recently to see how my friends and clients have been handling the Y2k problem. They have been killing a gnat with an atomic bomb. They bought $3,000.00 and $4.000.00 replacement computers to handle this problem. RIDICULOUS !
Since our goal here at The Computer Technician is to get all of our customers "Y2k Compliant" by the beginning of 1999, we have seen many computers. We have seen few hardware (bios') that were old enough to not be compliant. So far, we have seen a total of one that was old enough to not be Y2k bios compliant. It also was simple to remedy.
As I stated in previous communications with you, the entire problem can be taken care of with software. Y2k is a "Media Scare!" The only problem is if you don't have it taken care of. The cost is so small that it cost no more than a simple service call on each computer.
Y2k Upgrade is in Three
Distinct Stages . . .
1) The BIOs must be tested and software upgraded if necessary.
2) The Operating System, Windows 98/95, Windows 3.0, 3.1 and 3.11
must have a
MS software patch. If running MS Dos, it has to be upgraded to
ver. 6.22
3) When the operating system is MS-Dos, patches must still be
added to Windows programs.
4) We do a software scan for software that will cause a date
conflict, but we generally leave individual software programs to
you to handle. You simply need to contact your program
manufacturer for the most recent upgrade version.
It was recently discovered that Windows 98 is not Y2k compliant—Windows 98 needs a Y2k upgrade to become fully Y2k compliant.
We do have software that will scan the computer to identify programs that are not compliant. But I am confident that you already know which programs will be a problem, such as Peachtree Complete Accounting, DacEasy, Quick books, Quicken, etc. You simply need to contact the program manufacturer for an upgraded version.
Note: Everything needs to operate with four digits for the year and also needs to be able to recognize leap years.
We can generally Y2k upgrade each computer system in less than a half hour and it generally cost $60.00 per system upgraded in our office, $75.00 per computer system on-site in Uptown Beckley, ($90.00 per computer on-site outside of Uptown Beckley. Price is subject to change depending on the time it actually takes to perform the upgrade. In every case so far, it has taken us under an half-hour.
Now doesn't $60.00 sound better than $3,000.00? Please don't
kill a gnat with an atomic bomb!
It is just a Media Scare! It is only a problem if you don't
handle it.
InventoryTo start, follow the same steps as everyone from IBM to
the Mayo Clinic: Make an inventory of everything that might be
affected by the so-called "millennium bug" and then do
the three Rs of Remediation: Repair, Replace or Retire.Walk
through your home and garage, taking note of everything that uses
electricity. The list will be long, but the good news is that on
it will be few things to worry about. While many of the
electronic products throughout our homes have clock functions to
keep track of the time it takes to make a pot of coffee, wash a
load of dishes or pop a bag of popcorn, most of them don't have
calendars, the source of possible Y2k problems.
Does your device know what year it is?
The only home consumer electronics most people need to worry about are most newer VCRs and older computers: the VCRs because only the new ones keep track of what year it is, and the old PCS because they're less likely to know that 1999 is followed by 2000. Also, some older date-stamping cameras and camcorders might have trouble. But most newer models are generally Year 2000 compliant, says Elaine Kolish of the Federal Trade Commission, whose Bureau of Consumer Protection has been looking into possible difficulties consumers might face.To find out if your VCR is compliant, set the date to Dec. 31, 1999, 11:58 p.m., and wait two minutes to see what happens. If the date flips to Jan. 1, 2000, you should be fine.If it doesn't, there are several ways the error could show itself. The date might read Jan. 1, 1900, 1999 or something else entirely.An incorrect date doesn't mean an appliance won't work. Cameras and camcorders will just get the year wrong. That probably isn't a problem for most people, notes Kolish, though she adds, "if you were counting on filming baby's first steps or a graduation or wedding, you might want the right day."Chances are, if your VCR is an older model, it won't make the switch. Come year 2000, you could lie to it and tell it's still 1999. Given the number of blinking clocks on VCRs across the country and the fact that most of us just record a day ahead anyway, most people will probably be able to do everything they've been doing, well into the 21st century. If you have any doubts, contact the manufacturer.
As we draw nearer to New Year's Day 2000, companies are posting Y2k information on their Web sites and making information about product readiness available by fax and mail. If you don't get satisfaction, yell loud and long, urges Kolish."Consumer complaints can be a valuable source of push. Manufacturers may be underestimating the value of this information to consumers," she says. ComputersWith computers, it's very important to make sure your system is ready for 2000. Those bought in the last year should be fine, though it never hurts to check.Older computers can be checked with testing programs available at your local computer store. Symantec, maker of the popular Norton Utilities, is releasing Norton 2000 this month. Look for more programs to hit the stores as we get closer to the millennium. (The Federal Reserve Board has a Web page on the topic at www.bog.frb.fed.us/y2k/pctesting.htm.Free programs are also available through the National Software Testing Lab at www.nstl.com/html/ymark_2000.html or from Viasoft at onmark.viasoft.com).These programs are safer than simply forwarding your computer's internal clock to Dec. 31 of next year, because if your computer isn't Y2k compliant and gets confused, it might be difficult to get it back to a correct date. Also, some software programs might interpret the 18-month leap as evidence that your warranty has run out.Users of Apple computers don't need to worry about any of this; since the introduction of the original Mac in 1984,
Apple's machines have been fully Y2k compliant. But for those who have questions, the Apple Web site has a section (www.apple.com/macos/info/2000.html) with full information and two testing methods.Computer softwareA bigger problem is likely to be software. Some programs are offering free upgrades or patches online, some are working on them, others require you to buy the latest release.Microsoft's Y2k page (www.microsoft.com/y2k) lists every program the company sells. Not surprisingly, Windows 98 is fully Year 2000 compliant. Windows 95 is compliant "with minor issues," and requires a downloaded patch, according to the site. Those still running Windows 3.1 will have to download a patch, and look for problems associated with Leap Year 2000, which 3.1 can miss in certain circumstances, the site says. Note also that as older machines tend to be running 3.1, the machine itself might not make the shift into the new century.
Word 97 is fully compliant, while Word 95 and Word 6.0 is
mostly compliant for both Windows and Macintosh. Patches are
available to fix "minor problems" in both.For users of
Intuit's Quicken financial programs, Quicken98 is ready, except
for the online banking segment, which the company expects to have
working soon, says spokesman Mark Heisten. Earlier versions of
Quicken are being tested, and Intuit expects to have computer
patches available in October that customers can download to fix
any Year 2000 problem. At Norton, maker of utilities and
anti-virus programs, a list of Year 2000-compliant software is
available at www.symantec.com/y2k/y2k.html. Versions 4.0 and
higher of the Norton AntiVirus program for Windows are compliant,
as are versions 5.0 and higher for the Macintosh. Norton
Utilities 2.0 and higher are fine for machines running Windows 95
and Windows 98, versions 8.0 and higher are fine for Windows 3.1
and DOS, and for Macs 3.5.1 and higher should have no problems.
Among Web browser programs, Netscape Navigator 2.02, 3.0 and
Netscape Communicator 4.0 and beyond are all compliant, according
to the company's Web site.Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 for
Windows and Mac is compliant. IE 3.0 is compliant for Windows
with some minor problems, according to the company's Web site,
while Microsoft is still in the testing phase for IE 3.0 for the
Mac.
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Professionals Preferred
Y2k Upgrades should be done by a professional! Unpredictable
problems can occur and vital areas can be missed.
A few days ago a local man with an IBM computer upgraded the BIOS, now the software will not load.
There are several very good Y2k fix programs, but each are not
compatible with some computers
-- Our favorite programs installed on one computer kept jumping
to the year 2006
-- Another very good program kept freezing the computer system.
Problems may occur that would require a professional.
Countdown checklist
Computers: Run a diagnostic program on your home computers to
make sure they are Y2k compliant. Diagnostic programs are
available at computer stores or for download at:
The Federal Reserve Board (ww.bog.frb.fed.us/y2k/pctesting.htm)
National Software Lab (www.nstl.com/html/ymark_2000.html)
Viasoft (onmark.viasoft.com)
Software: Check with manufacturers of frequently used software
programs to find out whether they are Y2k compliant. Operating
systems: Windows 98 is compliant, but Windows 95 and Windows 3.1
are not. (Patches can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site to
fix the problems.)
Apple says all of its computers made since 1984 are fully Y2k compliant. Web browsers: Netscape Communicator 4.0 and beyond are fully compliant; so are Netscape Navigator 2.02, 3.0.Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows and Macintosh are fully compliant. Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows has some minor problems. Internet Explorer 3.0 for Macintosh is still in testing; compliance uncertain.Other popular software: Intuit, makers of the popular financial software, Quicken, www.intuit.com/support/year2000Norton, maker of utilities and antivirus programs, www.symantec.com/y2k/y2k.htmlFinancial preparations: Make backup paper records of all your financial dealings. Include payment records for credit cards, bills and loans Have enough travelers checks or cash on hand to get you through a long weekend, more if you feel concerned your bank might not be year 2000 compliant.Automated home systems with embedded chips:
Check with manufacturers of garage doors, elevators, heaters and coolers. Find out whether they include calendar systems and, if so, whether they are Y2k compliantHome medical devices: Ask your doctor. Insist on an answer. (Note: Items such as heart monitors, pacemakers and infusion pumps don't have calendar functions, but computers that collect information from them might not be compliant.)Emergency kit: Put together a kit containing flashlights (with fresh batteries), food that doesn't need to be heated, and enough bottled water to get you through a few days, just in case the power in your area temporarily goes out.
Our Web site for Y2k
help:
"The On-line Computer Resource Center" http://hale.cjb.net
One again thank you ladies and gentlemen for inviting me to be your speaker for the evening.
Good Evening.
District Governor
Pat Thomas
Barboursville, WV
Board of Directors
Pres. Jan R. Datsko — Gene
Harvey — PP Jim Vaughan — Karen
Kostol
Bill O'Brien — PP, PDG Robert Sayre — Sam Ferris —
Brenda McNutt
PP David Riggs — Don Holcomb — Pros Gogo — PP
Robert McClure
Mel Hancock — Danny Hill
Chairman of
Programs
PP William H. File III (304)
253-3358
Club Bulletin
Scott Fazio — (304) 253-6425
— Fax (304) 252-5310
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