The
Office of Administrative Systems reminds faculty, staff and students that it
is their responsibility to initiate actions required to make personal computers
year 2000 ready. With fewer than 100 days left before Jan. 1, 2000, work should
be well under way correcting any problems that may exist.
Users also should verify that the most recent software updates that correct Y2K issues are installed. The following components all should be checked for year 2000 readiness and updated if necessary: hardware, operating system, software applications and data.
Because Macintosh computers and operating systems were designed from the beginning to be year 2000 ready, software applications and data are the main concern for owners of this system. Macintosh users should check the date setting in the Macintosh operating system to make sure it uses a four-digit year. Apple computers that predate the Macintosh may need to be replaced.
The University has software available for pre-testing PC hardware, which can be downloaded from http://www.psu.edu/Year2000/action/intro.html on the Penn State year 2000 Web site. Information also is available on this page concerning Unix computers. After the hardware is tested, most operating systems on the PCs require updates from vendors. There is more step-by-step guidance on the Web at http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/year2000/PCFixes.htm
To ensure that all PCs obtain the date correctly after Jan. 1, 2000, the University will provide Yr2000 Start-up Disks (or documentation on how to create the disk) throughout the University. Windows users should insert the Yr2000 Start-up Disk into their computers and boot their systems from the disk as the first thing they do in the new year.
The Yr2000 Start-up Disk will start a version of DOS, and allow the user to set the date and time. Information about creating the disks is available on the Web pages listed above and will be posted in all of the Penn State computer labs in late fall.