Y2K - The cost-effective solution to tackling "The Millennium bug"

Frequently Asked Questions
==========================

***** Which Operating Systems does Y2K work under ? *****

Y2K will run on a PC under any version of DOS, Windows 3.x,
Windows 95 and Windows 98. It will not work under Unix or Linux,
or on any hardware that is not IBM compatible. Windows 98, NT and
2000 apparently do the same job that Y2K does in that they will
detect that the century rollover has not occurred in the BIOS
clock and correct it, so Y2K should not be needed on machines
running one of these O/S, but only if you have installed the
latest service packs from the Microsoft website. A freshly-
installed copy of Windows 98 does not include this functionality,
and so would benefit from the installation of Y2K if the BIOS is
non-compliant.

***** I've downloaded Y2K, now how do I run it ? *****

DOS & Windows 3.x

Under Windows, use the File Manager to locate the directory into
which you downloaded Y2K, then double-click to run it. Under DOS,
change to the relevant drive and directory (using the CD or CHDIR
commands) and type Y2K then press <Enter>.

Windows 95/98

If you downloaded it to your desktop, you should now have an icon
for Y2K somewhere alongside "My Computer", "Recycle Bin" etc..
If not, open up the Windows Explorer and navigate to the
appropriate folder. If you're not sure where it downloaded to,
click the "Start" button and select "Find", "Files or Folders"
then enter the filename as Y2K.EXE, look in "My Computer" and
click "Find now". If you've downloaded okay, an icon will appear
in the lower panel which you can then double-click. Y2K will then
perform the relevant tests then displays the results.

***** How do I install it ? *****

When you register, you will be issued with a serial number which
can then be used to activate the Y2K installation function. When
you next run Y2K on a non-compliant machine you will be prompted
to enter your license details. Alternatively, you can run Y2K with
the command-line switch /REGISTER.

***** I've installed Y2K, but it still reports that my machine is non-
compliant *****

Installing Y2K doesn't actually cure the Millennium Bug, what it
does is to rectify the problem that the bug causes before it
wreaks havoc with your applications. So your BIOS will always have
the bug, but with Y2K installed it's effects will be neutralised
and your machine will behave normally. 

***** I've installed Y2K, but another program reports that my machine
is still non-compliant *****

The problem with using one vendor's software to test anothers is
that neither exactly knows how the other works. Some packages use
the same technique as Y2K, setting the date and time to 31st
December 1999 23:59:59 then waiting 2 seconds and checking the
century, which is sufficient. It does not, however, take into
account any software which may be set to run when your system
fires up on the big day. Others take the somewhat more
complicated approach of changing the date then rebooting the
machine automatically before checking it again, which is
perfectly legitimate if rather long-winded. In this case, they
deliberately bypass your normal system startup files (CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT) in order to prevent them from running any
programs which might interfere with the testing process. This
is a sensible thing to do, but unfortunately completely removes
Y2K's effect because it normally runs as the first line of your
AUTOEXEC.BAT, and it is only in this way that Y2K spots and
corrects the date rollover problem.

***** How will Y2K affect my Novell Netware workstation ? ***** 

On DOS-based workstations the Novell LOGIN program normally
synchronises the date & time with the currently-connected file
server, which means that the effects of Y2K.EXE will immediately
be reversed if the date on the server has not been corrected -
the workstation will be set back to 1980 again. Worse still, even
if you're using brand new machines with a millennium-compliant
BIOS that don't need Y2K.EXE installed, these may also be
affected if you're using an older server. However, Windows 95
workstations that use the built-in Netware client (rather than
Novell's own 32-bit client) do not automatically synchronise date
& time with the server, so they will benefit from the installation
of this utility. Whatever O/S you're using on the workstations,
the date on the server can be corrected by running the FCONSOLE
supervisor utility & selecting the "Status" option.

***** Which clocks does Y2K test - a technical explanation *****

There has been some confusion over how many clocks "exist" in a
PC due to the way in which they're accessed through software.

The first, which exists all the time (assuming the battery is
not dead) is the BIOS clock. This is stored in the CMOS non-
volatile RAM, which is maintained by the power from the battery.
The CMOS is just a small area of memory which holds a variety of
very important information about the PC, such as what sort of
hard & floppy disk drives are attached to it. You can look at the
value of the BIOS clock by going into the BIOS setup utility
(usually by pressing DEL) when the machine fires up. Because
accessing and updating the CMOS is only ever done by BIOS routines
(as motherboard configurations vary), the terms BIOS and CMOS are
always closely linked.

From a programming perspective, the clock value maintained in CMOS
memory can be accessed in two ways. The easiest and most common
method is to use what are called Interrupt calls to the BIOS.
However, the value of the bytes in the CMOS memory can also be
interrogated directly using what are called I/O ports, albeit
in a rather more long-winded manner, and this manner has also
changed occasionally over the years (such as when IBM introduced
the PS/2). No-one would normally bother with this second technique,
as the guys who wrote the BIOS routines in the first place have
already done all the hard work so a programmer would just use
the BIOS routines instead. But from the point of view of someone
who doesn't realise they're exactly the same thing, this could be
seen as two separate clocks, which is why the apparent distinction
is made.

The "Real Time Clock" is exactly the same thing, just another
name for it. The reason this term is used is to distinguish it
from the processor's own internal "clock" which regulates sending
of digital signals between the various peripherals inside the
machine. It's just a term that a non-techie picked up on and has
managed to get into circulation.

The other genuinely distinct clock in a PC is the one maintained
by the Operating System. The O/S clock is "created" and initialised
to the current value of the BIOS clock whenever the machine is
switched on or the O/S is reset (but thereafter it's updated and
maintained by the O/S) so it's ability to correctly process the
century rollover is only relevant if the PC is to be left switched
on over the crucial night. Anyway, from the results of the tests
we have conducted, the clock in DOS version 3.20 was apparently
afflicted in the same manner as some BIOSes but it's very unlikely
that this is still in use anywhere (it can only cope with 640K of
RAM and 32Mb hard disks).

***** The BIOS clock passed, but the O/S did not. What do I do?

Y2K does not try to correct the problem in the O/S, but this 
probably will not affect you anyway. You only need to be concerned 
if you normally leave your PC switched on overnight, running 
automated processes. If it is off over the New Year, the O/S clock 
will be set from the BIOS clock next time you switch on so the O/S 
rollover will never happen & you are in the clear.

***** Any other questions *****

If you have a more complicated question or problem, please mail it to
y2k_support@harlend.com.
