Microsoft and the Year 2000

Gonna party like it's 1999

The Year 2000 problem has its origins in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, the computing power equivalent to today's average scientific calculator would fill an entire house. Computing power was also expensive, data storage was scarce, and programming costs were comparatively cheap. In order to save power and storage processing, programmers decided to delete the number 19 (the first two digits of the four-digit year) from all of the date fields. This shortcut seemed like a pretty safe course of action at the time. These same programmers probably never dreamed that the applications they were writing would influence events 30 and 40 years later.

Going PC

When PCs were developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the century marks were again left out of the design. Early PC BIOSes were unable to support century dates, as was MS-DOS. However, abbreviated dates still didn't seem like much of a problem. No one ever expected the same computers and programs to be running at the end of the millennium. Those early design limitations stayed with PCs as they evolved from XTs to modern Pentium IIs. Even as recently as 1996, you could buy new PCs that didn't properly support the rollover to the new four-digit millennium year. While PC makers and software companies have worked hard to prepare for the rollover, it's your job as a network manager to make sure that your network is ready.

Time is (not) on your side

The four major areas that you must consider when checking your network for Year-2000 compliance include:

• The hardware on your network
• The operating system on your workstations
• Your application software
• The operating systems on your servers

Most hardware vendors are addressing the Year 2000 problem in one way or another. Some provide patches and fixes while others address the problem by suggesting that you purchase new hardware.

If your network is configured like most, you have machines from several different vendors and dozens of different models. If the vendors are still in business, you should contact their technical support groups for information on how they're addressing the rollover.

If your servers and workstations came from a major manufacturer, such as IBM or Compaq, you can find Year 2000 information at their Web sites. As a matter of fact, IBM's Web site includes a fully searchable database where you can enter the model number of your workstation and find out whether IBM has certified the workstation or has plans to bring it into compliance. If many of the systems on your network are IBM clones, you may be in trouble. Most PC clones are based around BIOSes from either Award, AMI, or Phoenix. If the BIOS on your PC is dated prior to 1995, chances are the workstation or server isn't Year 2000 ready. You should contact the maker of the computer or the maker of the BIOS to find a solution. Naturally, any application that wasn't designed to be Year-2000 compatible--and that deals with date or time information--may be susceptible to errors. This is especially true if you use many old character-based DOS applications, such as Lotus 123 or Dbase III.

Even if the operating system on your client workstations is designed with the Year 2000 in mind, running non-compliant applications on these systems might get you in trouble. Check with the application's vendor to see whether the application is compliant or if there's a patch or upgrade for the product that will bring it into compliance.

Your network operating system software can be just as vulnerable to the Year 2000 meltdown as any other software. Any area of the operating system that deals with time/date issues can be affected by the century rollover. This can include such things as time synchronization, user expiration dates, user access times, and domain synchronization. Fortunately, Microsoft is aware of the Year 2000 problems that face its operating systems and applications and has worked to make them compliant.

NT Server 4.0 and the Year 2000

When Microsoft designed Windows NT 4.0, it did so with the Year 2000 problem in mind. When developing software as complex as Windows NT, however, a few Year 2000 bugs may creep into the product. As of the date of this article, Microsoft hasn't finished testing Windows NT 3.51, so we'll only discuss problems with NT 4.0. Microsoft has identified the following problems with Windows NT 4.0 and the Year 2000:

• You can't set Feb. 29, 2000 as a valid date to expire an account using User Manager and User Manager for Domains. These utilities don't recognize 2000 as being a leap year.
• The Date/Time applet in Control Panel may jump ahead one more day than expected. The server's system date is correct but the applet displays the date wrong.
• When the properties of Office files are modified from the Shell, only 2-digit years are allowed and they're assumed to be in the 1900 century.
• The date entry fields in the Date Modified tab of the Find Files or Folders utility show non-numeric data if the year is greater than 1999.

You can find more information about these problems and download fixes for them by going to Microsoft's Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center at www.microsoft.com/technet/year2k/product/user_view72430EN.html.

You'll also need Microsoft's Service Pack 6 for Windows NT to make your NT Server Year-2000 compliant. Service Pack 6 also includes other bug fixes and new features. If you haven't already installed it, do so now. You can obtain Service Pack 6 by going to Microsoft's web site at www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/SP6/allSP6.asp.

The Year 2000 fixes and Service Pack 6 apply to Windows NT Workstation 4.0 as well as Windows NT Server 4.0. They don't apply to version 3.5x. Windows NT's basic design takes care of the rest of the Year 2000 date issues. The WIN32 API upon which Microsoft based Windows NT can handle dates well into the next century. Rather than just 2 characters, NT uses 16-bit fields to define date ranges for its FAT16 file system and WIN32 runtime libraries. This allows dates up to 2108 and 2099, respectively. If you use the NTFS file format, you're in luck. NTFS uses a 64-bit date format, which lets it last for many centuries. Chances are you won't encounter a date problem if you use NTFS.

As with most operating systems, much of the operating system's reliability from a Year 2000 standpoint depends on your underlying hardware. Check with your hardware vendor to make sure your server and workstation are Year-2000 compliant.

Windows 9x and the Year 2000

Chances are you're running Windows 95 or Windows 98 workstations on your network. Although Windows 98 is fully Year-2000 compliant, the older versions of Windows 95 have a few problems. You should be aware of how Microsoft is dealing with Year 2000 issues for Windows 95. Microsoft has identified the following Year 2000 issues with Windows 95:

• Windows 95 stores all dates internally as 4-digit dates because its use of MS-DOS file system APIs is an exception. MS-DOS file system APIs use a year offset from 1980 to store dates. When a program gets a date from an MS-DOS API the program must add 1980 to the date.
• MS-DOS's DATE command accepts dates in both 2-digit and 4-digit formats. If the user enters a 2-digit value less than 80, the Date command assumes the first two digits begin with 20.
• Explorer (EXPLORER.EXE) supports 4-digit dates but you must set it in Control Panel in your Regional Settings.
• Windows File Manager doesn't display dates beyond the year 2000.
• COMMAND.COM doesn't display 4-digit dates.
• The DATE command doesn't correctly handle 2-digit dates from 00-79. If you enter a date such as 09-30-65, the command returns the error "Invalid Date".
• The Find File or Folders utility's Date tab displays incorrectly for years greater than 2000. However, this doesn't affect searching.
• The Find File or Folders utility can't search for files changed in the previous months or years for dates past 12/31/1999. The Find command incorrectly identifies all files as changed.

Microsoft hasn't issued formal patches for the Year 2000 problems related to the Find Files or Folders utility. Although it may do so in the future, for now, Microsoft recommends you install Internet Explorer 4.0 which fixes this problem. Be aware that fixes for COMMAND.COM are included in Windows 95A and Windows 95B. Overwriting COMMAND.COM with the version in the patch file won't cause you any additional problems however.

DOS/Windows 3.x and the Year 2000

DOS and Windows 3.x have been around for a long time. DOS itself has been around since the dawn of the IBM compatible era. Windows 3.x started the whole GUI revolution on IBM compatibles. With both products installed on over 75 million machines, they'll both still be around by the turn of the millennium. As a network administrator, you still may have them on workstations on your network. If so, you should be aware of the Year 2000 issues related to these older operating systems.

Microsoft is only supporting DOS 6.22 with Year 2000 information. In any case, DOS is such a simple operating system, so the Year 2000 problem doesn't really impact it much. Most of the Year 2000 problems related to DOS deal with display issues. Some of the more common Year 2000 issues Microsoft has found with DOS 6.22 include:

• MS-DOS recognizes dates beyond the year 2000. It won't display the full year, but it will sort files correctly if you use the DIR/OD command.
• If you enter a 2-digit date, DOS assumes assume that the date entered is in the 20^th century.
• If you enter a 2-digit date from 00 - 79, the DATE command returns an "Invalid Date" error message. However, 4-digit dates work fine.
• DOS file system APIs use a year offset from 1980 to store dates. When a program gets a date from a DOS API, the program must add 1980.
• MS-DOS can't display a 4-digit date using the DIR command.
• MSBACKUP creates a catalogue of the backups using a YMMDD format. Therefore, MSBACKUP treats years 1998 and 2008 as if they were made on the same date.
• MSBACKUP's overwrite warning incorrectly displays the date for backups created after the year 2000.

Windows 3.x was also created a long time ago. Not as long ago as DOS, but still in computer terms, quite a ways back. Fortunately, however, because Windows is so old and relatively simple, its Year 2000 problems, like those of DOS, are mostly display based.

Additionally, because Windows 3.x's file system is DOS-based, its Year 2000 problems are also mostly DOS-based. The only exceptions to DOS's Year 2000 limitations are:

• You can't set the date to 02-29-2000 in the DATE/TIME control panel applet using the mouse. You can, however, enter the date using the keyboard. Also, Windows 3.x will roll to February 29 correctly as long as you don't access the DATE/TIME applet on February 29, 2000 and date.
• Microsoft Windows' File Manager displays an incorrect date if the file is created with a date of 01-01-2000 or later.

Microsoft hasn't prepared any patches to fix the problem related to the DATE/TIME utility in Control Panel. You can, however, download a fix for the File Manager problem. If you run either Windows for Workgroups 3.11 or the non-workgroups version of Windows 3.1, you can download the patch from support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q172/7/07.ASP?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB.

Microsoft Office and the Year 2000

With a 90+% share of the office application suite, you're probably running some version of Microsoft Office on your network. Application programs are most vulnerable to the Year 2000 problem, especially spreadsheets like Excel and databases like Access. The oldest version of Microsoft Office, version 4.x, has the most problems with the Year 2000. Based on Windows 3.x, Office 4.x includes Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0, and Access 2.0. Of these applications, Microsoft has only determined Access 2.0 to be completely non-compliant . That's because Access 2.0 only recognizes 2-digit dates as being in the 20^th century. You must use 4-digit dates in your Access 2.0 databases if you want to be Year-2000 compliant.

Some other Year 2000 Office 4.x issues that Microsoft has identified include:

• Excel 5.0 assumes that 2-digit dates fall in the range of 1920 through 2019.
• Using a format such as "Dec 98" in Excel 5.0 won't work after the year 2001. Because 98 is too large to be the day of month, Microsoft Excel assumes it's a year.
• Opening Microsoft PowerPoint 95 or Microsoft PowerPoint 97 files in Microsoft PowerPoint 4, using a converter such as PP7TRANS.DLL (16 bit) and PP8TRANS.DLL, will produce an incorrect date format.
• Microsoft Word's Table/Sort command interprets 2-digit years as being in the 20th century except for 00, which is regarded as 2000. If you want to sort dates in the 21st century, use the full four digits.

Office 95 shipped, as you could probably guess, in 1995. Being a few years younger and closer to the year 2000 than Office 4.x, you'd think that Office 95 has fewer Year 2000 problems. Well, that's partially true.

Office 95 has many of the same 2-digit problems as Office 4.x, especially with Access 95. In Access 95's case, however, Microsoft provides a patch that you can download and install to make it Year 2000 compliant. To get the patch, download and install the MSVBVM50.EXE file from support.microsoft.com/support. This file allows Access 95 to correctly recognize 2-digit date shortcuts as falling between 1930 and 2029. Without the patch, Access assumes that all shortcut dates fall in the current century.

Other Year 2000 issues for Office 95 include:

• In Excel 95, if a user enters a date in mm/dd/yy format, Excel assumes that any year ending in less than 20 falls into the 21^st century. If YY is equal to or greater than 20, Excel assumes the year is in the 20^th century.
• The DATE function in Excel calculates a 2-digit year number as falling in the 20^th century.
• In Word 95, all 2-digit shortcuts for dates are assumed to be in the 20^th century with the exception of 00, which is interpreted as the year 2000.

The current version of Office, Office 97, handles the Year 2000 about the same as Office 95. Office 97's Year 2000 issues include:

• Access 97 assumes that 2-digit dates fall between 1930 and 2029.
• In Excel 97, if a user enters a date in mm/dd/yy format, Excel assumes that any year ending in less than 30 falls in the 21^st century. If YY is equal to or greater than 30, Excel assumes the year is in the 20^th century.
• The DATE function in Excel calculates a 2-digit year number as falling in the 20^th century.
• Word 97 assumes that 2-digit dates fall between 1930 and 2029.

As you can see, most of the problems with applications are due to using 2-digit dates. No matter what version of Office you run, you can save yourself a lot of hassle come January 1, 2000, if you convert those old Access databases and Excel spreadsheets into a 4-digit date format.

Internet Explorer and the Year 2000

If you use Internet Explorer 3.02 that came with NT Server and NT Workstation or Internet Explorer 4.0, you should be aware of two minor issues. First, if a web site uses a cookie with a 2-digit year of 00, Internet Explorer 3.02 will recognize the cookie as expired. Cookies with 4-digit expiration dates, or expiration dates before and after the year 2000, work correctly. Second, if a web server communicates a 2-digit year of 00 in its HTTP/1.0 header, Internet Explorer 3.02 recognizes pages on that site as expired and won't cache them locally. Browsing the site will work normally while connected, but Internet Explorer won't make them available for offline browsing. HTTP/1.1 headers, headers with a 4-digit year, or headers containing 2-digit years before and after the year 2000, work correctly.

In addition, if you use Internet Explorer 4.0, there's one more issue to consider. If you use Microsoft Wallet, an optional add-on for Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 4.0 won't allow the addition of a credit card with an expiration date in or beyond the year 2000. Wallet also won't allow you to add or edit your credit card information if the system date is in or beyond the year 2000. Hopefully, Microsoft will have fixes available for these products by the time you read this.

Finding out more

You can find out more about how Microsoft is addressing the Year 2000 problem by visiting to Microsoft's Year 2000 Resource Center Web site at www.microsoft.com/year2000. At this site, you can view the Year 2000 problems with almost all of Microsoft's current and recent applications, operating systems, and development tools. You can also view Microsoft's Year 2000 FAQ and their Statement of Compliance. If you click the Service and Tools link, you can connect to a list of many different hardware, software, and Year 2000 vendors. From that page, you can find out the Year 2000 strategies of other companies or find a consultant or vendor who can help you diagnose your Year 2000 vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

The turn of the millennium is rapidly approaching. As a network administrator, it's your duty to make sure that your network is ready. This includes not only making sure your hardware and network operating system is ready, but also making sure that your applications are ready. In this article, we looked at how some of Microsoft's major applications and operating systems deal with the Year 2000 problem.