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From...
Is your system ready for the year 2000?
July 15, 1998
Web posted at: 12:20 PM EDT
by Scott Dunn
(IDG) -- By now you've heard all the jokes, read the analyses, and listened to the doomsday predictions about what will happen to computers everywhere when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999. But what about the PC that's sitting on top of your desktop? What dread calamity is likely to befall your own system at the dawning of the new millennium?
The good news is that Windows 98 and NT 4.0 don't have any known problems with the Year 2000 (also known as Y2K). And even earlier versions of Windows won't suddenly go berserk when the milestone is reached--at least not as a result of the date. But you may discover a few quirks lurking in Windows as you enter the new century. And beware: The tips listed here do not cover Y2K in individual applications. For help with that, see "Year 2000: Impending PC Disaster?" link (below).
Upgrade Your Copy of File Manager
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If you use File Manager -- whether in Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or early releases of Windows 95 -- expect to see some funny-looking dates for files created after January 1, 2000.
Windows 95 users can find out whether their File Manager is Y2K-ready by choosing Start, Find, Files or Folders, typing winfile.exe, and pressing Enter. Make sure Details is checked on the View menu so that you can see the file's date. If the file date is earlier than 3/11/97, your version of the operating system has the garbled-date problem. To upgrade your copy of File Manager, download w31filup.exe for Windows 3.x, wfwfilup.exe for Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or w95filup.exe for Win 95 from Microsoft's support Web site (see link at right), then follow the links to the Updates and Utilities section for your version of Windows. If you're using Windows 3.x, move the downloaded file to an otherwise empty directory. In all Windows versions, double-click the .exe file to extract the files and instructions you need (Windows 3.x) or to start the upgrade installer (Windows 95).
Correct Bugs in DOS Commands
If you use the DOS prompt in Windows 95, you'll notice other minor glitches. For starters, the Dir command will display only two digits to represent the date in file listings. And in the Date command, if you try to set a new date using only two digits from 00 to 79, you'll get an "Invalid date" error message. The work-around is to use four digits when setting a new date with the Date command (unfortunately, dates prior to 1979 are considered invalid).
For a permanent solution to the Dir and Date problems,
download and install win95y2k.exe from Microsoft's
support site, as explained above. This upgrade isn't
without quirks, though: If, after upgrading, you use the
Date command to specify a date using only two digits
from 00 to 79, Windows will assume you mean a year
between 2000 and 2079. If you specify a two-digit date
from 80 to 99, Windows will take it to mean a year
between 1980 and 1999.