WILL THE MILLENNIUM BUG EAT MY HOME COMPUTER?
USIA
15 October 1998
WILL THE MILLENNIUM BUG EAT MY HOME COMPUTER?
(Article on Y2K and personal computers) (1360)
By Peggy Hu and Steve La Rocque
USIA Staff Writers
Washington -- It doesn't matter if you spent $3,000 for a computer
system in 1992 or $2,500 for a better system in 1994, or just $1,500
for an even better system in 1998. The question lurks just below the
level of concern about how your child may be using the Internet. What
happens on January 1, 2000? Will the Millennium Bug eat your home
computer?
If you ask other home computer owners, you get a wealth of conflicting
opinions.
One computer owner, who has a Sager, says she thinks she will be okay
because she bought her computer in 1996 and she heard that computers
built after 1995 wouldn't be affected by the Year 2000 problem (Y2K).
She is a university student and uses the computer mainly for Internet
access.
Another computer owner has an Apple Performa. He doesn't have Internet
access, and his middle school daughter uses the Performa the most --
usually to play computer games or type up reports for school. He
thinks he will be able to turn on the computer on Y2K day, but that it
may not be able to do any computation work that involves dates.
A third person has two computers at home, and runs her own web page.
What will happen on Y2K day? "I have no idea," she said. "I think the
newer machine -- which we bought this year -- will be fine, but I
might not be able to turn on the older one after December next year."
So what do the experts say? What will happen to your personal computer
on that day?
Call it the Year 2000 Problem, Y2K or the Millennium Bug, it stems
from the tradition of using two digits instead of four to denote
calendar dates to save computer memory space and processing speed.
Hence, instead of writing 1995, the computer recorded it as 95; 1996
was 96; and so on.
However, as a result of this shorthand, many computers that currently
use two digits to keep track of the date will recognize "double zero"
as 1900 rather than 2000 on January 1, 2000. While humans keep
counting up, the computer loops back and starts the century over
again.
This error could cause computers to stop running or to start
generating erroneous data.
According to Microsoft's web site on Y2K
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/topics/year2k/2kfaq/2kfaq01.htm),
personal computers (PCs) can be affected by Y2K on six different
levels: hardware, operating system, runtime libraries, applications,
custom code, and data interfaces.
"The most common hardware problem is associated with the BIOS (Basic
Input/Output System) of the PC," Microsoft's TechNet says. "The BIOS
is responsible for providing the basic information which the computer
needs to boot (start up). It also contains one of the critical clocks
used by the PC."
A personal computer also keeps track of the date and time through a
battery-powered chip on the system board called the real-time clock
(RTC). The RTC stores century information in one location and the last
two digits of the year and other date and time information in another
location.
When a computer is turned on, the operating system uses the BIOS to
retrieve the date and time information from the RTC, then communicates
that information to software applications such as word processing,
accounting, or e-mail.
Although most date/time information can be updated in the RTC, the
century information is normally not updated, and in some machines
cannot be updated.
According to "Testing Personal Computers for Year 2000 Compatibility,"
a technical note released by America's central bankers, the Federal
Reserve Board (FRB) (http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/y2k/pctesting.htm), a
PC may have one or more of the following basic problems concerning
Year 2000 compatibility:
-- The century is hard-coded as 19 and cannot be updated.
-- The BIOS is programmed to reject anything less than 80 for the
year, thus making 00 for the Year 2000 an invalid date.
-- The BIOS does not automatically update the century byte when called
upon to update the RTC date.
Older operating systems -- including MS-DOS and its derivatives --
have additional problems achieving Year 2000 compatibility, according
to the FRB note. For example, MS-DOS does not recognize dates before
1980. This quirk, combined with an older BIOS, could mean that a
computer would read January 1, 2000 as January 1, 1980.
Other examples of operating systems include OS/2, UNIX, LINUX,
Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 98, and Mac OS. Some versions
of Windows 95 and earlier Microsoft operating systems may have a
problem, according to Microsoft. Apple claims that its Macintosh line
has been able to handle the Year 2000 since its introduction. Apple II
machines are another story, however.
Most operating systems vendors are offering software upgrades --
"patches" -- to deal with the problem. Check the manual that came with
your computer or the company's web site for further information.
Two other areas where the Millennium Bug may be lurking are in
applications or runtime libraries. Applications are software programs
that perform specific tasks such as word processing, accounting, or
database management. Runtime libraries are collections of programs or
files that activate applications. Either or both may contain internal
calendars or date codes that would cause the computer to miscalculate
the date.
"If a runtime library mishandles the date, it doesn't matter if the
application, operating system, or BIOS were designed properly,"
Microsoft says.
The effect is analagous to the complicated "word problems" you did in
primary school. You could get every part except one right, and the
answer would still be wrong. Similarly with a computer, a date error
at any level could mean the machine wouldn't function correctly.
Another area a computer can run into the Millennium Bug is in custom
code, a software program that has been created for a specific business
environment or individual.
"Many organizations have in-house or contracted programmers developing
custom applications that better meet business needs. Due to
non-standard programming practices throughout the software development
community, date handling is not consistent and will need to be
examined on an application-by-application basis," Microsoft says.
"An example problem in custom code would be if someone placed a
two-digit date in a text string and then based a calculation on that
date. The application would have no way of interpreting those two
digits as a date. As a result, the calculation could be wrong,"
Microsoft continues.
Even if an individual PC has resolved all of its own date problems, it
still may not function properly if it connects with another machine
that is not Y2K compliant. Examples of such data interfaces include
dialing into an internet service provider or simply connecting to a
network. Your computer could be affected by the Millenium Bug embedded
in those systems -- somewhat like getting a computer virus.
"The PC is just one step of many in some organizations' information
processing," Microsoft says. "The interfaces between the PC and other
platforms must be understood, inventoried, analyzed, fixed, and
tested, just like any other portion of the Year 2000 project."
So what are the experts advising the average PC user to do to guard
against the Millennium Bug?
Most computer manufacturers have established web sites informing
customers which of their machines may be affected by the Year 2000
Problem. Some of the sites also allow visitors to test their machines
for Year 2000 compliance or download BIOS fixes for older machines.
Following is a list of some computer manufacturers' web sites on Y2K:
Compaq: http://www.compaq.com/year2000/index.html
Packard Bell: http://support.packardbell.com/year2000/default.asp
Apple: http://www.apple.com/macos/info/2000.html
Dell: http://www.dell.com/year2000/index.htm
Gateway: http://www.gateway.com/home/y2k/y2k
Acer: http://www.acer.com/year2000/index.htm
So, is the Millennium Bug going to eat your home computer? It might if
you don't take steps to prevent it, but it's not a foregone
conclusion.