WHAT IS THE MILLENNIUM BUG?

Put simply, the Millennium Bug is a problem that your computer will experience on January 1^st 2000.

Inside your computer, there is one particular chip, called the Real Time Clock chip, which records and remembers the date, and the time. Every time you turn on your computer, the operating system asks this chip for the correct date. Because sending day, month and year dates is complicated, your computer converts the day month and year to a single number which is easier to handle. The single number it uses is the number of days since January 1^st 1980 that have passed. (This is when BIOS was invented).

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME?

The result of this will be that when your computer asks the RTC for a date on boot-up, it will try to count forward the number of days since 1^st. January 1980 up to whatever day in January 2000 you turn on your computer, but it will think it's 1900. As you CANNOT count forwards from 1980 to 1900 (only backwards) your computer will be issuing illegal commands and system error messages left, right and centre! Also, because this all happens BEFORE boot-up, you cannot input a date manually via Bios or Cmos either! What a pickle!!

Even if you manage to boot up, and input the correct date, the RTC chip will still record "19" instead of "20". Your computer will be using something called an INFERED DATE, which basically means that as soon as your system refers back to the RTC chip, it will note the different dates, get confused and probably stop.

In addition to the hardware bug it is probably worth mentioning that some software programmes also have date references written into them which will cause problems.

However, the industry by and large has been really much better about solving this aspect of the problem than they have over the hardware issue, probably because it's allowed expensive upgrade programmes to be sold to all the registered customers whilst stopping the unregistered users dead in their tracks! (Sorry, I'm just a big cynic at heart!)

WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO TELL ME IT'S ALL RUBBISH?

Many people wrongly believe that the solution to the Millennium bug is to simply input the correct date, but this is not true, as explained above. These people tend to think that this is all one big money-making hoax by the industry, and simply refuse to believe that their computer, and their business, will stop dead in the new millennium. I politely refer to this as the Ostrich syndrome, bury your head in the sand, it'll all go away……sorry, all you'll get, like the ostrich, is a sharp kick up the butt!

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

The solution is to put a small "patch" TSR programme on your hard drive which intercepts the "19" reference from the RTC chip BEFORE it enters your computers system, and change it to "20". HOWEVER, before you do this, you must test your computer to make sure that it is capable of being upgraded in this way. Some older computers, (like some IBM desktop 286's) CANNOT be upgraded and will only be good for the scrap-heap in the new Millennium.

CAN EUROBYTE HELP ME?

EuroByte computers can supply both the test programme, and if suitable, the patch, and if you would like further details, please get in touch. It's cheaper than your business stopping, or having to buy a new computer.

Oh, and if you're one of those people who are thinking "well, it's miles away yet" remember that the Government of the UK have suggested that if you're not fixed by the Millennium, you should assume that you won't be able to get anyone to sort you out for the first TEN to TWELVE WEEKS of the year 2000, simply because there will not be enough people like us to service people like you!!