 For 20 years,
we have been starting daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April and
ending it on the last Sunday in October but 2007 and future years will be
different. And computers and clocks may be adversely affected.
The United States Congress has implemented an Energy
Policy Act which extends daylight saving time. This law takes effect on March 11, 2007 when daylight saving time will
start three weeks earlier than usual. In 2007 daylight saving time will end in
November, one week later than in previous years.
While computers usually adjust their clocks for daylight
saving time automatically, your current computer may not be smart enough to
know about this new law. Only computers with the new Windows Vista operating
system are assured of automatically updating to the new time correctly.
If your computer is running Windows XP with Service Pack 2
or Mac OS X 10.4.8 or newer, Microsoft and Apple have issued updates that will
take care of the problem provided that you have the updates installing automatically.
You can also install the patches manually by downloading and installing them
from the Microsoft or Apple website. If you use any time-sensitive software
programs, check the website of the manufacturer for patches and/or updates.
If you have an older computer system, you will have to
turn off the automatic time update feature and reset the time manually on March
11 and again on November 4th for 2007. This can be done by right-clicking
the clock on the bottom right of the Windows toolbar. You will have to do this
again in future years if you keep the same computer system.
If you rely on your computer to schedule appointments or
to tell the time, this time change might only make you late for an appointment.
It could, however, also impact you adversely if you make an online bank deposit
late, miss the last call on an online auction, or post a stock trade at the
wrong time.
If you have clocks that set the time automatically you
will also need to check them to make sure that they have updated themselves correctly.
Clocks that update themselves by coordinating with the atomic clock will update
correctly, but some clocks have pre-programmed chips. If the clock was manufactured
before the Energy Policy Act was passed two years ago, it will not update
correctly. If you find that your clock has the wrong time you will have to
reprogram it for a different time zone to compensate for the time change from
March 11th to April 1st and October 28th
through November 4th or the dates for the time change for the
current year.
While this time change won’t pose a big problem for the
average computer user, airlines and other large companies are working as they
did for Y2K, making preparations and corrections now to make sure that the
scheduling of flights, appointments, and other timely occurrences proceed
smoothly through the time change.
This is one case where being aware of the situation, may
save you some time and trouble. Be sure to double-check the time on all your
clocks this March 11th, including your computer and your cell phone.
And be kind to all those who are an hour late for your appointment. It could
have happened to you, if you hadn’t read this article!
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