Spring Forward - Microsoft "Daylight Savings" help page

[Morrigoon]

Remember, tonight (technically tomorrow morning) at 2am, you need to re-set the clocks to 3am!

Here's the page Microsoft has set up to help you reset your computer (which expects daylight savings three weeks from now)

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

[mousercise]

Remember, tonight (technically tomorrow morning) at 2am, you need to re-set the clocks to 3am!

Here's the page Microsoft has set up to help you reset your computer (which expects daylight savings three weeks from now)

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

And if you have a PDA that runs on Windows Mobile you will also need an update for that device.

[Hakuna Makarla]

what? I thought you just go in and change it your self. why have to go to the site to do it. just go to the clock, and set it ahead. right? I did any ways

[flynnibus]

The big problem is people (including Microsoft) waited too long to update.. creating tons of bad scheduling info.

Having your clock automatically update isn't a big deal. The big problem is SCHEDULING/CALENDAR systems that created bad data before the Windows OS or applications were updated. That's the real crux.

For anyone that has a calendaring application (be it outlook, your website, your pda, anything) check your events. Applications that allow look ahead booking that take DST into account would have all created bad data before you upgraded Windows or the Applications (depending on what they use for their DST Source)

[flynnibus]

what? I thought you just go in and change it your self. why have to go to the site to do it. just go to the clock, and set it ahead. right? I did any ways

It's important that your software knows when the change happens. Your computer would have been automatically updated about 2 weeks ago to make the change if you had automatic updates turned on in Windows and had your computer set to automatically adjust.

The big deal is applications that relied on Window's DST rules that allow creating an event that happens at a specific time in the future. Events created to happen in the next 3 weeks (the period between the new and old DST start dates) would have been created to start at the wrong time.

[Hakuna Makarla]

It's important that your software knows when the change happens. Your computer would have been automatically updated about 2 weeks ago to make the change if you had automatic updates turned on in Windows and had your computer set to automatically adjust.

The big deal is applications that relied on Window's DST rules that allow creating an event that happens at a specific time in the future. Events created to happen in the next 3 weeks (the period between the new and old DST start dates) would have been created to start at the wrong time.

ok, so what do I do Flynn ? please help ok

[Hakuna Makarla]

I went to windows updates and they say I am all up to date.

[flynnibus]

I went to windows updates and they say I am all up to date.

Then all you have to do is self audit yourself to look at any applications that you use that are date sensitive. Things like calendars, appointments, date/time things. Look through them, and verify things still show at the time you expect them to be. Check your software vendor's website for any DST updates and apply them. But even after applying updates, you must still verify your times for events.

Unfortunately there is no 'magic wand' solution. Depending on the application and how it stores data the ONLY method to garuntee correct data is through human inspection.

The biggest impact is going to be felt in worlds where people use calendaring applications.. such as Outlook, Notes, etc. Only IT groups that pushed the patch out long ago are going to not feel a big impact. The initial fixes have been out since November, but Microsoft didn't make it automatic until about 2 weeks ago.

[Hakuna Makarla]

thank you. I did go to the site, and tried it, but it said I had no installs, and was fine. it also wanted me to update to service pack 2? not sure what that was but I tired and nothing happened. it just said to manually install updates, when I tried that it said I had them all.

[flynnibus]

You should have SP2 if you haven't installed it already. The warning you got may have been because you had multiple things checked? SP2 must be installed by itself, not along with other updates

[Monorail Man]

it also wanted me to update to service pack 2? not sure what that was but I tired and nothing happened.

I can confirm that you're only running on SP1. You should be running Service Pack 2, because without it, your computer is in serious risk.

1. Head here and install SP2: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

2. Just follow the instructions, it's easy.

3. Then, make sure adter you reboot that Automatic Updates are turned on. If they are not, you will get a prompt after installing SP2.

4. Automatic Updates will download any updates since SP2 was released.