Daylight-saving time change could affect computers, electronics

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

"Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future."

Steve Miller Band

Daylight-saving time has slipped, it will now begin the second Sunday in March, March 11, and will end the first Sunday in November, Nov. 4. It used to be a simple matter to change a few clocks around the house but with the explosion of consumer electronics more and more devices have clocks, from VCRs to coffee makers. To be sure the one device that is affected the most is the computer.

For the majority of computer owners there is not too much to worry about according to the owner of ABC Computers, John Mott.

"It's pretty easy to fix on personal computers," Mott said.

Mott said he hasn't had any questions from customers yet but he has been preparing to talk to businesses about the changeover.

"Thus far I haven't had anyone come in with this," Mott said. "I am getting ready to call on the banks in town."

Mott said banks and businesses would be most affected.

"Banks, hospitals and other health care institutions, and businesses, especially those with a large number of computers or servers that have to be managed will have the most to do," Mott said.

For personal computers the fix depends on what operating system you are using. For the new Windows Vista operating system, the change has already been taken care of. For Windows XP and Mac OX 10.3 or later operating systems users can download patches to take care of the change.

For earlier systems such as Windows 2000, ME, Windows 98 and Mac OS 9.2 and earlier systems users need to make the change manually.

When making the change it is important to make sure to also change the setting to not have the system automatically update daylight-saving time or the computer will automatically change again when the first Sunday of April comes around.

With the change, users have to watch more than individual computers -- Web sites using Java may show incorrect times and online auction end times could be inaccurate.

Computers aren't the only devices that this affects. Cellular phones, personal digital assistants and other devices with clocks may need to be adjusted as well.