Preparing your computer for daylight savings time 2007

It's almost a tradition; we all sleepily set our clocks ahead an hour the night before the First Sunday in April, in a sometimes vain attempt to be on-time the next day as Daylight Savings Time kicks in for another year. But this year, if you change your clocks on the first Sunday in April you will already be three weeks late...

Why? Well it all started in 2005 when the US Congress passed the Energy Policy Act with for the first time in decades changed the start and end dates of Daylight Savings Time. The part of the reasoning was that by lengthening daylight savings time, the US would be able to save approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Old Law

Previously DST started on: First Sunday of April, would have been: April 1, 2007. Previous DST ended on: Last Sunday of October. would have been: October 28, 2007.

New Law

With the new law, DST will start on: Second Sunday of March, will now be: March 11, 2007. With the new law, DST will end on: First Sunday of November, will now be: November 4, 2007

So we all have to change our clocks 3 weeks early… big deal right? Well, it may not seem to be a big deal until you remember that for all the clocks that you had to change, there was always one you didn't; the clock on your computer.

The time on your computer is largely dictated by your operating system and it knows based on your time zone, whether you should be taking part in Daylight Savings Time. Not only that, but the code is written in such a way that it will calculate when Daylight Savings Time should begin and when it should end. All this so when you turn on your computer, it knows to make the necessary adjustments.

Not this year….

The changes put forward by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 will initiate daylight Savings Time a full 3 weeks before your computer is ready to do it automatically for you. This not only affects computers but any other electronic device that is dependent on timestamps. Accounting systems, cash registers, computer and network device logs, timed vaults, and alarm systems all will be susceptible.

What do we do about it? Well, it's not that difficult an issue to fix, but you have to do some research. If you don't have an internal IT department who can work through the fixes with the various vendors, it might not hurt to get some in to help guide you through the various hurdles to make sure all your systems are covered. Many of the main vendors have web sites dedicated to helping their end users fix and patch affected systems before it becomes a problem.

- Microsoft: http://www. microsoft.com/windows/tim ezone/dst2007.mspx

- IBM: http://www.ibm. com/support/alerts/ca/en/day lightsavingstimealert.html

- RedHat: http://kbase. redhat.com/faq/FAQ80_79 09.shtm

In some cases one of the easiest fixes is to configure your devices to point to external network time servers. Network Time Servers are designed specifically to provide other computers with the exact time and date. These servers are useful when you have a large number of devices to manage.

Take the time now to research and upgrade all your systems, as this will give you the time to contact the vendor if there are problems. Some of the older systems are not being patched, but often the vendor will provide solutions.

(Excerpt from OCC Legislative Watch Feb 13/07)