I found this extract from a newsgroup on the internet about Windows compatibility with Y2K. “Send this one to your friends. After running this quick little test, much to my surprise, I learned that both of my computers would have failed on 01-01-2000 due to a computer clock glitch. Fortunately, a quick fix is provided, should your computer fail the test:

TEST
Double click on “My Computer”.
Double click on “Control Panel”.
Double click on “Regional Settings” icon.
Click on the “Date” tab at the top of the page.

Where it says, “Short Date Sample”, look and see if it shows a “two digit” year. Of course it does. That’s the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT. This date RIGHT HERE is the date that feeds application software and WILL NOT rollover in the year 2000. It will roll over to 00. Click on the button across from “Short Date Style” and select the option that shows, mm/dd/yyyy. (Be sure your selection has four Y’s showing, not two) Then click on “Apply” and then click on “OK” at the bottom. Every single installation of Windows worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover. How many people know about it? How many people know to change that? What will be the effect? Who knows. But this is another example of the pervasiveness and systematic nature of the problem”.

Is the above information and remedy correct? I would be very grateful for any help.

I do not think that this remedy is correct because if you look in the ‘Regional Settings’ control panel ‘Date’ tab again you will notice just above the ‘Short Date’ section in the ‘Calendar’ area it says: ‘When a two digit number is entered, interpret as a year between…’ followed by two dates (as in years). You can also edit these years. For instance, mine reads by default ‘1930 and 2029′; this means that the two digit abbreviation for the year 1930 which is ‘30′ will be interpreted as being the year 1930 and the two digit abbreviation for the year 2029 which is ‘29′ will be interpreted as the year 1929. I suggest that you change the values to read ‘1990 and 2089′; this means that your computer be able to recognise all two digit year abbreviations for the year period 1900 to 2089. If you need to go back or forward more years than the range which is specified, you can always change the values. Although this may seem very complex it is very simple. I suggest that you go into the ‘Regional Settings’ control panel and see for yourself. So in response to your original question, no. Doing what is explained in that newsgroup post will not remedy any Y2K compliance problems with Windows 95, 98 or NT.