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Unofficial Win2K Daylight Saving Time Fix

Saturn2003a writes "Microsoft has stated that they will not be offering a patch for the new US Daylight Saving Time for Windows 2000 and earlier. Only customers with an extended support agreement can get a Hotfix from Microsoft. To get around this, IntelliAdmin has created an unofficial patch (source code provided) that will fix Daylight Saving Time on Windows 2000 and Windows NT machines."

37 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. My fix? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I use Zulu time.

    I haven't had an issue yet.

    1. Re:My fix? by dsanfte · · Score: 5, Funny

      I used to do that too, but I found all the spears and animal skins cluttered up the server room.

      --
      occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
  2. Yeah, right by zr-rifle · · Score: 4, Funny

    but what about us DOS users?

    --
    Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
    1. Re:Yeah, right by 0racle · · Score: 3, Funny

      vas is dos?

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Yeah, right by Aqua_boy17 · · Score: 5, Funny
      vas is dos?
      I think it's from that german movie "DOS Boot".
      --
      What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
    3. Re:Yeah, right by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

      There is a patch available at Here

      It also fixes lots of other problems with DOS that people have struggled with.

      Yes, DOS is still useable and in use today by lots of important devices.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. and it's.... by celardore · · Score: 4, Funny

    About time too!

    (Sorry...couldn't resist)

    1. Re:and it's.... by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think it's about time that we just split the difference, adjust the clock by half an hour, and leave it there.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    2. Re:and it's.... by Steve001 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The problem with not adjusting the clock is that there are forces that are working to move the clock both forward and backward. In the book "Spring Forward - The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time" by Michael Downing, he covers the issue. The back cover of the book lists those who support and oppose Daylight Saving Time (DST).

      Some of those in support of DST:

      • Golfers
      • Major League Baseball
      • Barbecue industry

      Some of those opposed to DST:

      • Farmers
      • Hollywood movie studios
      • Television and radio broadcasters

      Although it is said that setting the clock back (causing the sun to set one hour later by the clock) saves energy, the savings is offset by the fact that more energy is consumed by people having longer to do things that consume energy, such as driving.

      As a solution to the problem, another poster suggested setting your computer to ZULU time. Expanding on that, I think the best way to handle the issue is to use ZULU time for the time, and Julian dating (counting the number of days from the beginning of the year) for the date, for the master clock in the computer. That way, instead of having to tinker with the clock and calendar during the year, all you have to do is tell the system how many days are in the year (365 or 366).

      This would get rid of both the confusion with the differing number of days in the month and concerning Daylight Saving Time. The local date/time would simply be referenced from the master date/time in cases (such as autodating letters) when you need your local time/date. But all of the computers interal workings are referenced from the real date/time stored in the master clock, which is not adjusted. The local date/time could be easily adjusted via a separate setting (ala "local time/date is ZULU + 10 hours"). That could easily be set and updated as needed.

      A problem I see with a fix that is created to this is that it is likely to be a short-term fix for this specific problem. If the law changes and DST is changed once again will we face the same problem? It is much like the problem with Y2K, I wonder if we will have the same problem with Y2.1K?

  4. Well... by minvaren · · Score: 3, Informative

    I suppose that's one way to say, "hurry up and migrate to XP^H^HVista."

    Fortunately, the corporate users with a domain will still have a DC as an authoritative time source, and can just adjust the time on one server to keep everyone else in sync.

    --
    Big! Strong! Wow! Tada-O!
    1. Re:Well... by silas_moeckel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Are you sure? Last I knew it used sntp to send around time data thats all in UTC with the local machines converting it to local time. I could be completely off though been a long time since I was forced to run windows.

      --
      No sir I dont like it.
  5. clocks by erbbysam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Think of the millions of clocks worldwide with automated systems b/c there authors didn't think that daylight savings time would change... sorta reminds me of something I saw in a "How not to program" book "don't set pi as a constant, you might have to update it".
    I work for a large clock company and there sending out many (20+) people throughout the country to reprogram the clock controllers so that there DST tables can be automatically updated in the future, nothing like more summertime :D.

  6. It's not like there are no other options by WalterGR · · Score: 5, Informative

    This knowledge base article from Microsoft describes how to use the Time Zone Editor utility (which you can download from that page) to adjust time zone settings.

    If you need to update several computers, it also describes which registry keys to export. You can then import those registry keys in a logon script or whatever.

    It's not like people/companies running Win2k are SOL.

    1. Re:It's not like there are no other options by Atzanteol · · Score: 4, Funny

      Grammar tip: "Effect" is a verb. "Affect" is a noun.

      Slashdot has enough trouble with grammar without you confusing things. :-P

      They can each be both, but the typical cases are "affect" as a verb, and "effect" as a noun. Linky.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
  7. Not Entirely Stuck by Cygfrydd · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to the article, Win2k users can use the tzedit utility to edit the timezones, ostensibly to alter when/how DST occurs. My initial impulse was to say "what bastards!" (as is often the case with M$ related silliness), but this is only slightly ameliorated by this workaround. Just roll out a bloody patch, guys.

  8. Re:GMT by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have all my clocks set to Metric Time.

    Remember this moment, people: 80 past 2 on April 47th, the moment Microsoft finally kicked Windows 2000 to the curb.

  9. DST in some countries changes every year... by random_dg · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the country I live in DST is on a different date every year, and is based on when some
    holiday happens to occur in the lunar calendar, so every year in our data centers we either
    change the clocks manually, or rely on the Domain Controller on changing the time for
    the servers and workstations in the domain.
    And we don't complain to Microsoft for not providing us a fix for it.

    -D

  10. So, the Y2K problem finally shows up by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 4, Funny

    I knew it was just a matter of time.

    --
    You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  11. There IS an official fix by slughead · · Score: 4, Funny

    Direct from M$:

    Move to Arizona, Hawaii, or anywhere outside the US.

  12. Re:Hm... by breser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nope, more like the US decided to switch to metric and people complaining that Ford won't replace their English unit speedometer with one that has more prominent markings for metric. In both cases, the product still works but external factors make it less convenient. With Ford you have to look at the smaller metric markings. With Microsoft, you have to manually update the clock for daylight savings time twice a year. Neither case is a malfunction.

  13. Re:My fix - avoid vendors that act like assholes. by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I dislike M$ as much as the next /. poster, but saying W2K is 'broken' in this case is a bit of a stretch. The gov't changed the rules governing daylight savings time; it's not like it *wasn't* right before.


    --
    People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
  14. who cares? by cashman73 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I live in Arizona, you insensitive clod!

  15. Re:New Daylight Savings Time rules? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Informative
    News to me. Got links or references to share on that? If it hadn't been for this story, I'd have not known about that, thanks.

    Well, it was passed into law in August of 2005, so it's been around for a while. Here's a link to the relevant bits. Following is the relevant changes:

    * In 2006, DST will begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April (April 2, 2006) and Standard Time will begin at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October (October 29, 2006), as under the current rules.

            * However, beginning in 2007, DST will begin at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March (March 11, 2007) and Standard Time will begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November (November 4, 2007).


    It actually got quite a bit of news coverage at the time. It's been on Slashdot several times as well.

    Cheers

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  16. Re:Hm... by LordSkippy · · Score: 4, Funny

    The US switching to metric? If I had mod points, I'd mod you funny for that line.

    --
    My karma is in a nose dive
  17. History? by nurbles · · Score: 3, Informative

    If Microsoft's patch will cause Windows XP (or Vista) to show the WRONG time for files saved near the DST change dates/times in years past, then it is NOT A FIX. This DST change has very, very deep effects on every single program that processes ANY dates/times before 2007 in the US. Program that went back before the current DST settings have already dealt with this (or decided to be wrong), but for those of us with no data older than Windows itself, we've never had to worry about this...until now.

    For example, a power company wants to compare the power usage trend for, say, 5-6pm (when a large portion of people get out of and home from work) during late March for the years 2005-2008. If their software doesn't know to account for two different DST rules, then two of those years will be comparing the wrong hour of the day. And, FWIW, I chose this example specifically because it lends itself much more to local time than to UTC.

    So, to patch this correctly, Windows will need to know which set of [at least two] DST rules to use (based on the year) when translating ANY time from 'system' (i.e. UTC) to 'local'. I don't see that happening, so I don't think that even the XP and Vista users will have a working OS, at least in the sense of correct time translation from UTC to local in the USA.

  18. Oh dear. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used Windows to control all my time-related issues once. But after one BSOD all of a sudden it was 1955, my parents accidentally never met, and my future mom started hitting on me. Ugh...

  19. Re:I'll stretch it by EXMSFT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    download and install patches from a web site operated by the government

    And now for another episode of, "Good Idea, Bad Idea"

    Seriously... downloading patches from a website operated by the government?

  20. On the subject of gammer...it's not "savings" by darthservo · · Score: 3, Informative
    I can't believe /. has let so many comments slip by without notice.

    It's, "Daylight Saving Time," not, "Daylight Savings Time." It's not like we're, "savings teh 1337 daylights." (daylight is singular)

    At least the summary had it right.

    --

    Prove it.

  21. Re:My fix - avoid vendors that act like assholes. by tchuladdiass · · Score: 3, Informative

    But in the Solaris case, I was able to download the new timezone files from ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2007a.tar.gz and extract the contents (the only file I needed was northamerica), and ran "zic northamerica" -- all was taken care of.

  22. But they're still an asshole. by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    [I]I dislike M$ as much as the next /. poster, but saying W2K is 'broken' in this case is a bit of a stretch. The gov't changed the rules governing daylight savings time; it's not like it *wasn't* right before.[/I]

    It's not that W2K is broken that makes M$ an asshole in all of this. It's that they have a patch available for those who have paid for extended support, but they won't release it for the general public.

    Since the cost to produce the patch has already been absorbed by M$, the only reason to withhold the patch is to make people frustrated with W2K to encourage them to upgrade. When you can readily fix something, but you don't, so that people will upgrade, well, then, your an asshole.

    1. Re:But they're still an asshole. by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 4, Informative

      You don't need the extended hotfix to "fix" W2K. The official free solutions from Microsoft can be found here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
  23. Re:Hm... by breser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you're saying that in reply to an article about an unofficial fix for it?

  24. 1 question by manno · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where's your Honda dealer?

  25. official (sortof) fix by HappyDrgn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Microsoft has always had a supported way of making your own changes to your timezone settings. It comes in a program called tzedit.exe and has existed since windows 95 at least. This requires no downloads from third parties. Here's the instructions (taken from: http://www.dbaplace.com/2007-dst-change/#comments)
    Every version of Windows has a "resource kit", though Microsoft only supports Win98+ so you may need to hit old download sites for those ancient versions of Windows. You can download the resource kit from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/. Download this if you do not have it already.

    Once the resource kit is downloaded and installed search your disk drive for tzedit.exe and run it.

    Select your timezone from the list and click edit.

    You'll have two boxes "Start Day" and "End Day" change these from what they are to what they need to be for the new change.

    Click Ok, then Close.

    To make the settings take effect restart, or select Date/Time from the control panel, choose a different timezone, save and close then repeat selecting your correct timezone this time.

  26. Re:Umm... is this really a problem? by smbarbour · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is for anyone on a Windows network with mixed 2000 and XP installs using Active Directory. Kerberos (which Active Directory uses) will automatically deny access if the client's clock is more than 5 minutes off from the server's clock. If your server runs 2003 and your clients are 2000, or your server runs 2000 and your clients are XP, you will hit a problem.

    There is a reason why every system clock in an Active Directory system is synchronized. If the server's clock is off from Atomic time, so will all of the clients.

  27. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  28. Re:GMT by Kvasio · · Score: 3, Funny

    If someone has problems with your metric "80 past 2 on April 47th", I provide English date format
    "3 piglets, 1/16 of stone and a horn after Matins, on 3 Sunday after Xmas"