Re: DST information

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
Date: March 9, 2007 5:14:34 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, Ip ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: DST information

Dave:

For IP, if you'd like. This is the message that our ISP has sent to  
all of its customers regarding Microsoft products and the Daylight  
Saving Time transition.

--Brett Glass

-------------

LARIAT users:

This weekend, due to legislation recently passed by Congress,  
Daylight Saving
Time will kick in earlier than usual. Besides inconveniencing many of  
us by
forcing us to get up while it's still dark (grumble, grumble), this  
change may
cause problems for users of Microsoft products, particularly  
Microsoft Windows
and Microsoft Outlook.

Users of newer Microsoft products should be able to find information  
on how to
deal with the change at the links we've provided below. However,  
Microsoft has
announced that it is refusing to provide help for some of its older  
products
-- such as Windows 98, 98SE, and ME. Fortunately, we've found a third  
party
fix for these operating systems which you should refer to anyone who  
needs it.
(See the "Microsoft Windows" section below.)

Users of devices such as smart phones and PDAs that run Windows will  
also have
to update to make sure that their appointment calendars work  
properly. Because
these devices run highly customized versions of Windows, it's best to  
contact
the manufacturer of your device for details. (Note: If you're running  
a smart
phone or PDA based on PalmOS, which is not made by Microsoft, there's  
a free
update at

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/dst_palmos.html

which you can "sync" into your PDA or phone.)

The instructions below, which are grouped by product, will help you  
to ensure
that your computer's clock is set properly and that you don't miss
appointments due to problems in Microsoft software. Good luck, and  
enjoy the
"extra" hour of daylight!

--Brett Glass, LARIAT.NET


Microsoft Windows

If you run any version of Microsoft Windows other than "Vista" (which  
was
released recently enough to have a fix included), be sure to visit  
Microsoft's
Daylight Saving Time site at

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

and follow the instructions there. Users of Windows XP who have  
automatic
updates turned on will probably have their computers updated  
automatically.
But many people who run Windows XP prefer to download or install updates
manually (and for good reason; automatic updates can interrupt your  
work or
cause malfunctions).  So, if you run XP, be sure that the DST update  
has been
installed on your machine before this weekend.

All other users -- including business users and users of Windows  
2000, NT, and
Windows 98 -- may require manual updates. (I just helped a company to  
patch
about 2 dozen Windows 2000 machines manually.)

If you run Win2K or NT, there are two ways to update your computer.  
The first
is to go through the laborious procedure described at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387

to update all of the time zone information in the Windows Registry.  
(Microsoft
could have provided a simple program to do this, but didn't.) The second
method -- which is best used if you don't ever expect the computer to  
be moved
to another time zone -- is to run Microsoft's TZEdit utility  
(available at

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/8/a/ 
58a208b7-7dc7-4bc7-8357-28e29cdac52f/tzedit.exe

on Microsoft's Web site). This utility lets you change the start and  
stop
dates of Daylight Saving Time for each time zone individually.  Use  
it to edit
your local time zone so that DST starts on the second Sunday of March  
and ends
on the first Sunday of November. Then, click on the clock in the  
Taskbar and
shift your computer to a different time zone and back. This will  
cause the
change to take effect.

Microsoft's Web page does not even mention what to do if you're a  
user of
Windows 98, 98SE, or ME. That's right: it just plain doesn't  
acknowledge the
existence of those operating systems, even though millions of users  
are still
running them on machines that simply can't run XP or Vista.   
Fortunately,
while Microsoft has left you high and dry, you can find a third party  
fix at

http://solprovider.com/articles/win98timezones

This fix comes in the form of a ".reg" file which updates the Windows
Registry. Download and "run" it, then double click on the clock in the
Taskbar. Change the computer's time zone to a different one (it  
doesn't matter
which, just so you change it) and "Apply" the change. Then, repeat  
the process
to switch back to the correct zone. Your computer will be patched.

Microsoft Outlook

We at LARIAT do not recommend the use of Microsoft browsers or e-mail  
programs
due to security problems and other flaws. However, many of our  
customers do
run them. In fact, in some cases, they MUST run them because the  
organizations
for which they work require it.

If you use Microsoft Outlook to keep a personal or organizational
calendar, you should visit Microsoft's Outlook update page at

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102086071033.aspx

Unfortunately, if you are not running the very latest version  
(Outlook 2007),
Microsoft requires you to manually download and run an update utility.
Microsoft also recommends that you check all of your future calendar  
entries
-- again, by hand -- to make sure they're OK.

Also, if you run Microsoft Outlook, be careful that you have no long  
term
activities (e.g.  conferences or multi-day projects) scheduled which  
overlap
the transition, or errors will occur. The blog entry at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiad/413460966/

shows what will happen when you try to open such a calendar entry.


Microsoft Entourage (for Mac users)

The Daylight Saving Time update for Microsoft Entourage can be found at

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/ 
mac/download/Office2004/Office2004_1133.xml


Microsoft Exchange Server

If your office runs Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, it doesn't need an
update. But if it's running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2, get  
the patch at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926666

If you're running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1, go to

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931978

instead.

Unfortunately, if you're running Microsoft Exchange Server 2000,  
Microsoft
will charge you $4,000 for support unless you upgrade to a newer  
version.


Other Affected Microsoft Software

Other affected Microsoft software includes:

Windows Server 2003
Windows Embedded for Point of Service
Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
Windows Sharepoint Services
Microsoft SQL Server
Groove
Office Live Meeting
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Windows Services for UNIX
Visual SourceSafe
Windows CE and Windows Mobile (including versions that run on cell  
phones and PDAs)
Visual Studio
Visual C++ (may require recompilation of software you've created with  
the
 compiler)

For more on updates for this software, see

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



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