What Is it?

As stated in "2007 Time Zone Update for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems," at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388:

Starting in the spring of 2007, daylight saving time (DST) start and end dates for the United States will transition to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DST dates in the United States will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November).

Although I became aware of this change several months ago, I expected it to appear as a critical update, which would ensure that it was installed in the normal course of things as part of a normal patch distribution. Therefore, I was astonished to learn yesterday that it is listed as an optional update on Windows Update, which you or I might easily have missed until well after the changes are slated to go into effect.

The Daylight Saving Time settings discussed by this article affect the setting of the system clock, which , in turn, affects such things as date stamps on files stored on your local hard disk, time stamps on email messages sent from your computer, and calendar appointments in Microsoft Outlook, Novell GroupWise, and other calendar programs. In short, anything that depends upon the time of day might be adversely affected unless you update your computer.

What Should You Do?

As with yesterday's bulletin, the action required depends on the version of Microsoft Windows you use.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

A supported update of the time zone tables, which are kept in the Windows Registry, is available for the following versions of Microsoft Windows.

• Visit the Windows Update Web site at http://update.microsoft.com/.
• Click the Custom button to select from optional and high-priority updates for Windows and other programs.
• When the list of updates is presented, scroll down to the Optional Software Updates section, and check the item labeled "Update for Windows XP (KB928388)" or "Update for Windows 2003 (KB928388)" (depending on your version of Windows).
• Click the "Review and Install Updates" link and proceed with the installation.

If you have many computers to update, including machines that are not normally connected to the Internet, the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388 contains links to download packages for all supported versions of Windows that need the update.

Windows Vista

Since these updates are included in Windows Vista, there is nothing to do.

Older Windows Versions (Windows 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95)

Since the article says nothing, whatsoever, about earlier versions of Windows, all of which have reached the end of their extended support commitments, it is fair to say that users of older versions of Microsoft Windows are on their own.

If you are still using an older version of Microsoft Windows, and cannot upgrade, please seek professional help.

References

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388 is Microsoft Knowledge Base article, "2007 Time Zone Update for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems."
• http://update.microsoft.com/ is the regular Microsoft Update Web site.

David Gray, MBA, Chief Wizard WizardWrx, formerly P6 Consulting
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