There are a lot of devices in our lives that have a built in clock, your car, the oven, the VCR or DVR, your cell phone, and your computer just to name a few. Well this year some of the devices that changed time by themselves will not work right.
Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time (DST) will be extended in the United States. DST will start on March 11, 2007, which is three weeks earlier than usual, and it will end on November 4, 2007, which is one week later than usual. This results in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than in previous years. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period.
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Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center where you can find more information. If you have MicroMetric server maintenance we have installed all of the needed patches on your servers. You will still need to look at the workstations or give us a call and we will make sure they are ready. Below are the basic steps to for upgrading your system.
One of the fist patches that should be applied is the Microsoft patches for Windows XP, and for Windows Server 2003. The patch for Windows XP can be downloaded
here (the version for 64bit XP is
here), and the Windows Server 2003 patch can be downloaded
here (the version for X64bit server is
here and the version for Itanium 2003 systems is
here).
These are standard Microsoft patches that can fully fit in with your standard patching methodology. It can be deployed via WSUS, or many other patch distribution packages. It can also be installed by an administrator without the need for a reboot, which is very useful in shops where patches are applied manually. You will want to check to make sure this patch (KB931836) is set for distribution, as it is not listed as a critical update. If you only typically push or install critical updates then you may need to manually add this patch to your systems.
It should also be noted that the patch for Windows XP requires XP SP2 to be installed, if you have not already done so.
If you are still running Windows 2000 you will have to do a bit more work for the time change. Microsoft has released KB article
914387 which outlines the process you must go to for the change. There are two methods by which you can change the time zone for Windows 2000 (Professional and Server). The first is to download the
TZEdit tool from Microsoft. Once installed, you can run this tool (it installs by default to c:\Program Files\TZEdit\) to manually create and change your time zones. This method will require you to manually change every computer. While this is not a major task if you only have a few Windows 2000, it can be quite daunting if you have a large number of systems to update.
The second method provided by Microsoft for updating Windows 2000 is a combination of a registry edit and a VBS script. These are both available
here, though you must copy the text for each of them and save them locally with the proper file extensions (.reg and .vbs respectively). You must then import the registry settings change (by double clicking the .reg file you created), then run the vbs script to perform the update. This process can easily be automated.
Now what to do if you are running Windows 95, 98, or ME? Again you have two choices to solve the problem. These are not supported by Microsoft but will fix the problem. Choice one is to manually change the time twice a year, once when Daylight savings starts and once when it ends.
1. Open Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel)
2. Double-click on the Date/Time icon
3. Uncheck the Automatically adjust clock for daylight savings changes. This will keep you from having to change the time again when daylight savings used to start.
4. Change the Time ahead one hour.
5. Click OK.
6. Close the control panel by clicking the X in the upper right corner.
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The Second option is to install some third party software to solve the problem. There is a way that the average user can handle this situation and still have the computer automatically change time for daylight savings. The method involves downloading and installing two very small free programs in your computer. It will work with Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003(server). Here are the steps to follow:
1. Open your browser and go to:
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp
2. Scroll down until you find the program named �Zone Manager', and left click on it.
3. Scroll down to �Download' and download Zone Manager and save it to your hard drive (a folder named �downloads' might be a good place) in a location you can easily remember. If you do not already have Visual Basic Runtime v 6.0 installed on your system (you will need it to run Zone Manager) you can also download and save it to the same location on your hard drive from this same page.
4. Close your browser.
5. Be sure you are logged on as an administrator privilege account if your system requires it to install programs.
6. Open and install Visual Basic Runtime v 6.0 on your system (if you already have VB 6.0 installed on your system, ignore this step). Reboot your computer.
7. Open and install Zone Manager on your system.
8. Reboot your computer.
9. Go to Start | Programs | Karen's Power Tools, and select Zone Manager by left clicking your mouse.
10. On the lower left of the page, left click the button named �Edit Zones'.
11. Under the tab for Windows Built-in Time Zones, find your local time zone and left click on it to display the built in Windows settings.
12. Left click the �New Zone' button to create your new custom time zone, type in what you want for a name, and be sure the box is checked to �Enable Daylight Savings Time'. Set �begins' for the second Sunday in March, and set �ends' for the first Sunday in November.
13. Review your settings to be sure they are correct, and then left click the �Save Zone' button, followed by the �Save All Changes and Close' button.
14. You should now be back on the main program page. Here, you left click the �Save Shortcut to Zone' button followed by the �Exit' button.
15. You now have a new desktop icon labeled �Activate�..' that looks like a red box with a white K in the middle of it. When you double left click it with your mouse, your computer will be changed over to the new custom time zone you created.
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If you followed the instructions above, you now have installed your new custom time zone that will change your computer time for you in 2007 to accommodate the new daylight Savings Time settings. You will have spent about 15 or 20 minutes, and you didn't even need to become a programmer.
For more information about daylight savings changes to Microsoft software visit Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center and Preparing for Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007. Here you will find information about Changes needed to be made to Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.
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