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How will your home computer behave on January 1, 2000? How about the computer on your desk: how will it behave when you turn it on the day you return from the Christmas holiday? The University has spent some time and effort evaluating, upgrading, and preparing the main computer and network systems for y2k. Have you given any thought to the compliance of your personal computer systems? If you haven't yet prepared your computers for y2k, its not too late. First, read the next article on the Computer Center's checklist for getting your computer ready. Then go to the University's y2k web site at http://bama.ua.edu/~y2k. There you will find information to help you with the checklist, plus other tips and information links. Also look at the other y2k articles in this issue and the October issue of User News (online at http://bama.ua.edu/~usernews). And watch for the December User News for last minute suggestions and information about availability of the UA computer system over the holiday.
If you haven't yet taken steps to prepare your home and office computers for the new year, here is the Computer Center's recommended list of steps you should take:
1. Virus check your computer, with an up-to-date virus program. If you don't have a virus program, go to the Seebeck web page http://bama.ua.edu/~seebeck, click on the Software Library link, and download Dr. Solomon (for PC) or Virex (for Mac). (See the October User News for more information.)
2. Make a backup of your most important personal files, and be sure you know how to recover from the backup. If you don't do anything else to prepare for y2k, make a good backup! Then, no matter what else happens, you'll be able to recover your important data and documents. (See the October User News for more information.)
3. Set the default date display to show four digits for the year. From the y2k web page, click on 'Change the date display' for complete information. (Also see the related article in the October User News.)
4. Check your hardware and software against vendor lists for y2k compliance. If you need software patches or fixes, download them and install them. Go to the y2k Web page and click on the 'Hardware' and 'Software' buttons for more information and links to vendor compliance statements and download sites. Note: in some colleges and departments, the local network or computer support staff are responsible for installing software fixes. In other departments, the faculty and staff manage their own computers. If you are not sure what the policy is in your department, check with your network administrator or computer support staff, or call the HelpDesk at 348-2435 for information.
5. Review your applications and your data. Do you have data with date values where only two digits are used for the year, but software that requires four digits if the year 2000 is to be handled properly? (SPSS is one such program.) Do you use a program that requires you to declare how you want dates handled? (SAS does this, with the 'yearcutoff' setting.) Do you have data containing date values with two digits for the year, and will that affect the way your programs read/use your data? Do you have spreadsheets, databases, or other applications with date values or date calculations that need to be corrected? These are the areas where you are most likely to have problems in the new year. From the y2k Web page, click on the Methodology button for more suggestions on things to consider. (And don't forget to consider your applications and data on bama.ua.edu and any other computer you use.)
Finally, one word of caution: Some people think a good way to see if their computer will make it into 2000 is to set the date forward now and see what happens. User Service recommends that you NOT do this. (After all, you'll find out in a few weeks anyway.) Instead, spend the time making your backup and checking your hardware and software for compliance.
For more information about all of these steps, visit the Computer Center y2k web site at http://bama.ua.edu/~y2k or call the HelpDesk at 348-2435. The HelpDesk will be open through Thursday, December 23, 1999 and will reopen on Monday, January 3, 2000.
Remember, if you haven't changed your password recently on your bama.ua.edu account, you should change it now. To change your password, go to the HelpDesk home page http://helpdesk.ua.edu and click on the Password link, or go the Unix 'helpers' web page at http://bama.ua.edu/~unixinfo/helpers and select 'Change your password'. The computer center is requiring you to change your password this semester because of security concerns. If your account is new (since August 1) or you have changed your password recently (since August 1), you do not need to change it again. Otherwise, you must change the password on your bama.ua.edu account. Change it now, before we start sending you e-mail reminding you to do it.
Some accounts that have not been used in a long time have been designated as 'inactive'. If you try to log on your account and find that it is inactive, you will need to go to the Unix 'helpers' web page and change your password. This will reactivate the account, and give it a 'remote' shell. If you then need to use ftp or telnet, you will also need to go to the Unix 'helpers' web page for changing your shell. Note that you must be using a campus address (on-campus computer or campus dialup) to be able to use the Unix 'helpers'.
One of the things you need to check to prepare for y2k is the compliance of your software. The Computer Center has prepared a list of commonly used software, with links to the software vendor pages and y2k statements. To check the y2k compliance of your software, go to the Computer Center's y2k web site at http://bama.ua.edu/~y2k, click on the Software button, and select the software table.
From the software compliance table, chances are you will find that there are recommended patches or fixes for some of your software. (A patch or fix is a small program you download and run, that makes some changes to a piece of software. Usually you do not have to do anything to install them except run them, then reboot your computer if instructed.) For example, if you use Windows 95, there is a y2k patch available that is needed to make certain parts of Windows y2k compliant. Microsoft recommends that you install this patch. (A link to the patch download site is available from the software table.) If you also run Microsoft Office on your computer, there is a patch for that as well. Download and install the Windows 95 patch first, then the Office patch. If you use Windows 3.1, Windows 98 or Windows NT, there are patches for those systems as well. Check any other Microsoft software you are running, then check your other important software. If the software you use is not listed in the table, find the vendor's web site and look for a y2k statement. Every vendor of currently supported software has some kind of statement available.
If you use a Macintosh with OS 7.5.5 or higher, your operating system is already compliant; you do not need to install any patches for it. If you run Office 98 on your Macintosh, it is compliant as well. (Earlier versions of Office may have some compliance issues that affect you; see the notes in the software table.) Go ahead and check the other software on your computer for compliance.
In some cases, the table will say that only certain versions of the software are compliant. Sometimes this means the vendor has found problems with earlier versions and has decided not to fix them. Sometimes it just means that the vendor is not checking early versions. If you are running an early, unsupported version of some software, check the vendor's site to see if there is any information about upgrading. In a few cases, you will find that the vendor says a patch will be available later. There aren't many weeks left for these patches to appear, but you do need to keep checking that software, to find out what the expected problems are, and be ready if a patch or fix does appear.
Q: Why do I need to run a virus checker for y2k? I thought virus checking was something I should use all the time. Is there a special virus checker that will find and fix the y2k bug?
A: No, there is no special virus checking program that will identify the so-called "y2k bug." You need to go through the recommended steps, in particular checking your hardware and software and installing needed fixes to make sure you do not have a y2k problem. But you are correct that virus checking should be something you use all the time. Unfortunately, there are a number of people on campus who still don't "get it" where virus checking is concerned. There are faculty and staff who run virus checking on their office computer but don't do anything about their home computer (and regularly re-infect their office machine as they carry work back and forth). There are students who regularly infect their home computer because they never check the diskettes (or zip cartridges) they use in an unprotected lab computer. There are people who have a virus checker that came on the computer they bought two year ago but has never been updated (hence won't identify any of today's common viruses). There are people who have turned virus checking OFF because they think it slows down their work. (Wait until they see how slow a virus-destroyed hard drive is!) For every one who doesn't have or doesn't use an up-to-date virus checking program on all the computers they use (which is nearly everyone on campus) we are recommending that you start your y2k preparation by installing and using a good virus checking program. Then continue to use it all the time, and update it regularly.
Remember, dialup access is changing this semester. The new dialup access number is 347-1800. Access on this number does not require a logon script. All the modems that used to be accessed with the number 348-4300 have already been moved to the new dialup system. Some modems from the 348-4350 group have moved as well. The last modems in the 348-4350 group will be available until December 19, 1999. For more information on the dialup change, see the dialup section of the HelpDesk web site at http://helpdesk.ua.edu/internet/dialup or call the HelpDesk at 348-2435.