Straight Talking

Every man and his dog has heard of the Millennium Bug and Year 2000rm of software or computers that have been pre-tested. But can you trust the retailer's word? (Y2K) Meltdown. Even the firms making computers and the shops selling them cannot agree on the scope of the problem and the best way to test for Y2K compliance. Small wonder a caller to a radio phone-in programme worried that his car would stop working at midnight on New Year's Eve 1999.

The root issue is fairly easily explained. Every computer has a battery-powered real-time clock (RTC) which keeps a running check on the day and date even when the PC is switched off or unplugged. To save on memory space the RTC has usually stored only the last two digits of the year (i.e. 97 for 1997). The first two digits, which tell the century (19 for 1997), are written into the CMOS memory which stores vital information regarding the PC, such as what type of hard disk it uses or how many floppy drives are connected.

On New Year's Eve 1999 the RTC will show 99, then at midnight switch to 00. So the PC thinks it is 1900. The OS may recognise the 1900 date as a nonsense and change it to 1980, the year when IBM and Microsoft started the PC revolution. Other software on the PC will then start giving 1900 or 1980 dates to new information entries which mix and muddle with any data that genuinely dates back to the eighties.

No two computer systems, except maybe Macs, will behave in the same way because there is now an infinitely variable mix of hardware, firmware and software in use. Awareness campaigns are fuelled by consultants who make a nice living out of Y2K fear, newspapers who see meltdown as a sexy story, and politicians and civil servants anxious to be seen to be doing something, so we now have widening hysteria. We need to know whether our existing PCs are Y2K-compliant, and if not, how not. We can decide which of the many software and firmware fixes on offer to use.

Ninety-Nine 2000 is one of many companies selling Y2K test-and-fix software.

What appealed to me was its simple message: PCs should handle the change from 1999 to 2000 in exactly the same way that they handle change from 1997 to 1998, or 1998 to 1999. PCs have BIOS (basic input and output software) which is permanently stored in a ROM chip to control boot-up when the PC is switched on. Newer BIOS versions recognise the RTC change from 99 to 00 and switch the CMOS century date to 2000 instead of 1900. Sometimes, the BIOS can't be updated. Patch software can do what the BIOS has failed to do, but only when the PC is on.

On some systems, automatic updating will only happen if the PC is switched off when the RTC changes from 99 to 00, and is then switched on again to let the BIOS do its job. If the PC is on, the BIOS cannot take a hand and the date changes to 1900. The PC causes chaos in whatever tasks it is running, until the user shuts down and manually resets the date.

The biggest risk is to mission-critical PCs such as network servers which are never switched off and will run thinking the date is 1900. It sounds deceptively easy to run a DIY check on compliance - just change the date to 2000. But changing the date inside Windows may not make it stick. When the PC is switched on again and re-boots, you are likely to see April 1st, 1980. The trick is to get under Windows and re-set the date using the DOS date command, but not everyone knows how to do this. It also seems easy to check for automatic rollover: change the date to 11.55 p.m. New Year's Eve 1999, switch off for ten minutes and see whether it has changed to January 2000. Be careful with these tests, unless you work from a floppy boot disk that bypasses any startup batch files like Undelete/Trashcan clearout or diary cleanup. If the PC re-boots from its hard disk, it may delete entries and safety files which appear three years out of date.

Comet is now testing with software, called Prove It 2000, from Ninety-Nine 2000. Those that pass are labelled "Proven 2000", and Fujitsu, Mitac, IBM, Commodore and Olivetti are all supplying PCs that pass the test.

It checks whether OS software or apps like spreadsheets can cope with dates after 2000. "If it can't, there is nothing you can do about it," says Ninety-Nine's CEO, Richard Coppel. "Just put the money on one side and use it to buy new software towards the end of 1999."

Dixons says it has tested every model in stock and guarantees they are compliant or easily upgraded. Ninety-Nine 2000 says it has tested the models Dixons sells and found various PCs that fail. Says Dixons spokesman Steve O'Brien: "We are not aware of Ninety-Nine 2000 or the test, but we get five or six offers of new software every week. We are absolutely confident and stand by our guarantees of compliance." If the trade can't agree on Y2K testing, what hope has the consumer?

Barry Fox is at 100131.201@CompuServe.COM.