By Kilen Matthews    Back Home

If you are not a power user you may still feel the bite of the Millennium Bug or Y2K problem - even if you are just doing windows.

Both Windows 3.1 (Yes, I know some of you out there still have this running on some machines) and Windows 95 have some Y2K annoyances - called "minor compliance issues" by Microsoft. Thankfully, they are easily fixed.

The Y2K problems of DOS

• MS-DOS cannot display a 4-digit date using the DIR command. The DIR command is built into the COMMAND.COM file, which is what processes and acts on what you type at the old "C:>" prompt.
• MS-DOS will not accept 2-digit date changes for the years after 1999. You may only enter a 4-digit year to have it accepted by the MS-DOS DATE command (also built into COMMAND.COM). Anything but a 4-digit year date entry will result in an "invalid date" error.
• All dates are stored internally as 4-digit dates. The MS-DOS® file system API's (Application Program Interface) are an exception. MS-DOS file system API's use a year offset from 1980 to store dates. This means that when a program - written to run under MS-DOS - gets a date from an MS-DOS API the program must add 1980 to the year.

How will you know if you have a Y2K Windows 3.x problem? Check File Manager. The problem isn't a showstopper but it can be annoying.

Windows File Manager displays an incorrect date if the file is created/modified with a date on or after 01-01-2000.

Windows 3.1 Leap Year Problem - only if you touch it!

Under Windows 3.1, the date cannot be set to 02-29-2000 (29 February, 2000) in the control panel applet "DATE/TIME" using the mouse. Note that the system does correctly roll over to February 29. So if you do not touch the date/time control panel applet on 29 February, 2000, your PC will work and have the correct date and time.

Getting it Fixed

Y2KEgypt has set up a special page for the readers of PC World Egypt which includes all the files mentioned in this article. You can go to that web site to get the Y2K patches needed.
 

Fixing Windows for Workgroups 3.11

Download and install the following file for Windows for Workgroups 3.11 only:

WINFILE.EXE ver 3.11 updated 3/6/97 3:11a 170,496 bytes

The steps to do this are:

1. Download the file: wfwfilup.exe from http://www.y2kegypt.com/pcwegypt.htm *
2. Open File Manager, double-click the wfwfilup.exe file to unzip and extract winfile.exe.
3. Exit Windows.
4. Rename the existing file: winfile.exe in your Windows directory to winfile.old.
5. Copy the new winfile.exe file to your Windows directory.
6. Reboot.

(* Note: you may also get the file from the Microsoft File libraries at:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/WFWFILUP.EXE)
 
 

Fixing Windows 3.1

Download and install the following file for Windows 3.1 only:

WINFILE.EXE ver 3.10 updated 10/14/97 3:10a 146,864 bytes

The steps to do this are:

1. Download the file: w31filup.exe from http://www.y2kegypt.com/pcwegypt.htm **
2. Open File Manager, double-click the w31filup.exe file to unzip and extract winfile.exe.
3. Exit Windows.
4. Rename the winfile.exe file in your Windows directory to winfile.old.
5. Copy the new winfile.exe file to your Windows directory.
6. Reboot.

(** Note: you may also get the file from the Microsoft File libraries at:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/W31FILUP.EXE)
 
 

Y2K Issues for Windows 95

• Windows Explorer (EXPLORER.EXE) supports 4-digit dates but this option must be set in the Control Panel, Regional Settings.
• Windows File Manager (WINFILE.EXE) does not display dates beyond the year 2000.
• Windows 95 FIND command Y2K issues: The Find File or Folders dialog's Date tab displays the year in TWO-DIGIT (YY) format which causes problems for any year after 2000. Although the search function is unaffected, a confusing display may result. For example, a date entered as 08/22/2003 will incorrectly appear as 08/22/C3.

To fix your system

1. Download the file WIN95Y2K.EXE from http://www.y2kegypt.com/pcwegypt.htm ***
2. Double-click on the file in Explorer to execute it

It will extract and install the fix to Windows 95 for you.

(*** Note: You can also obtain WIN95Y2K.EXE directly from the Microsoft web site at:

or ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/WIN95Y2K.EXE. )

This file also contains updated versions of COMMAND.COM.

If you'd like to read more about this particular problem surf to the Microsoft Knowledge Base, article Q182967

http://support.microsoft.com/support/articles/kb/Q182/9/67.asp

Happy New Year's 1999!