Free y2k Fix.. any one installed yet?

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I was just wondering if anyone has downloaded and installed the free y2k fix from y2khistory.com... I have downloaded it but am waiting to see if anyone else has installed it... scared I guess cause I'm kinda new to puters. Thanks

-- Allene (allene7@yahoo.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

I donwloaded the Microsoft fix for Win95 and installed it with no problem, so far.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), December 17, 1999.

Be *very* careful about installing files from unknown sources on your computer. Running something that you aren't absolutely sure is ok makes you extremely vulnerable to viruses.

What part of your system do you want to be sure will work in Y2K? There are several levels of "compliance" and not all tests check them all.

If you need to update Windows, use the links from Gary North's site with Windows Explorer. If you want to check your pc's BIOS you can test it yourself by setting your computer's system clock to 12/31/99 at 11:59 pm. Give it a minute and see what happens. I'd bet that it would work just fine. If it doesn't, just manually reset the year to 2000.

Assuming your computer is off for the rollover (a good idea, including unplugged) about the worst you'll have to do is reset the date on 1/1/00.

Hope that helps, and *really* beware of software from unknown source.

-- Gary S. (garys_2k@yahoo.com), December 17, 1999.


Gary S:

Because of the nature of my work, the important stuff is done on Macs. I do have machines running Windows 98 [Pent II's & III's]. My experience is not the same as yours. They need help. Go to the Microsoft site, read what they have to say, and download the patches that relate to the things that you do. Also look at patches for applications. None are conpliant. In my opinion, it is best not to install any patch that doesn't deal with a possible problem. You may introduce new problems. Microsoft is helpful in this respect.

Best wishes,,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), December 17, 1999.


Allene,

First goto http://www.cai.com/ go to downloads and click on inoculate IT personal edition.. you'll have to register... This is a really nice, and free virus scanner.

Now you're ready to test and fix any Y2k related problems... goto

http://www.packardbell.com/y2k/pb/remedy.asp

This will test for, and fix any problems. It's about half way down the page... look for Y2000RTC DRIVER SOLUTION.... click on the blue link " Precise Publishing Y2k Test and RTC driver"... you might want to print the instructions right under the link.. or not :-)

Then to get an independent test of the fix you just did, goto

http://www.zdnet.com/vlabs/y2k/testy2k.html

I used this to varify that the packbell site really fixed my 'puter... last time I used this it said I had fatal problems... after the fix from the above site..... it says I'm clean :-)

Somewhere around here I have a download site for a program that will look thru most of your software and test it for Y2k compliance and give links to any fixes you might need, altho the 2000 pak from micro sucks.. uh, soft, fixed all but some minor issues.... hope this helps,

-- CT (ct@no.yr), December 18, 1999.


K... here's the download site for the softwear checker http://computingcentral.msn.com/guide/year2000/msy2k/learningmore/anal yzer.asp

-- CT (ct@no.yr), December 18, 1999.


ATTENTION! IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THIS, DO IT NOW! NOW NOW NOW!!!

Make backups of all critical data you have on your computer. If you have downloaded applications or software or whatever that you can't find any more or don't think will be findable, back that up too. App updates? Sure, back them up so you'll not need to download them. Drivers? Go find the newest drivers for your hardware and back them up.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER THAN A FLOPPY DRIVE TO BACK UP YOUR DATA, TAKE A COUPLE HUNDRED BUCKS OUT OF YOUR POCKET/ACCOUNT/PIGGYBANK/WHATEVER AND GO BUY A ZIP DRIVE AND TEN-PACK OF BLANK ZIP DISKS NOW. NOW NOW NOW! If you don't like Zip drives, go get whatever you prefer. Best bet is a CD-R recorder as CD-Rs are more durable and less sensitive to moisture, etc. than Zip disks are, hold more, and are cheaper. But, the recorder will cost you a good bit more, especially if you go SCSI.

Computers are not important - it's the DATA on them that is important. Protect the data, back it up.

On a personal note, I develop software among a myriad of other comuter-related things. I have a Zip drive, a Jaz drive, and a CD-R recorder. I use the Zip and Jaz for backing up updates to software, datafiles, sourcecode being worked on, etc. frequently during the day. Once a month (approximately) I burn CD-Rs of my data organized by basic category, such as sourcecode and development-related, applications and app updates, drivers, games, and so on. Every update to my apps and drivers is stored as well. I back up most of my 35+ gigs of total hard drive space onto five CD-Rs. I can be back up and running from a TOTAL loss of everything in a day. My personal record for repartitioning and reformatting all HDs, reinstalling two OSes (Win98 and NT Workstation) and having all apps back in place and set up was four hours.

If you own a computer, you should own a backup drive of SOME sort (and no, the floppy dirve does NOT count as a viable backup device), whether it's a basic Zip drive or tape drive or something more extravagant like an Orb or Jaz 2 or CD-R/RW recorder. And you should use it. Often.

With Y2K looming less than two weeks away, you need to take care to protect your data NOW. If you wait, you might lose it and if you lose it, you might not have any way to get it back if you don't make a backup copy. If Y2K doesn't end up being so bad that it won't matter, you'll be up the proverbial creek.

O d d O n e, who knows first-hand how expensive downtime and lost data can be...

-- OddOne (mocklamer_1999@yahoo.com), December 20, 1999.


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