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Daylight Savings Transition
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Reason for Daylight Savings Transition
The United States’ Energy Policy Act of 2005 enacted a transition of Daylight Savings time to occur throughout the country as a means of reducing energy costs. This transition has the potential to affect computers and other devices that rely on exact time keeping.
Daylight Savings Time used to begin on April 1st, but this year it will begin on March 11th. Although this law changed in August of 2005 few computer companies have done a good job of preparing for it. Several companies have release last minute updates, patches, and utilities to resolve the issue. No company has released a consistent fix for this issue. This change directly affects any schedule or timekeeping device, so there is a high chance that an appointment may appear an hour later than it was intended on systems that have not been patched.
It is very important for you to verify all times for scheduled appointments between March 11th and April 1st. (This is the official recommendation of Microsoft). Be sure to verify with the manufacturer of your PDA or digital organizer to ensure you have all the proper fixes applied. The same will hold true for cellular phones and other time keeping devices that rely on network time keeping.
It is recommended in order to ensure that meetings remain scheduled appropriately between University Calendaring software that you specify the exact time of the meeting in the subject field of the appointment. This will ensure that regardless of the transition in Daylight Savings Time, the meeting can be scheduled appropriately on the individuals calendar.
Recurring appointments are very vulnerable to this transition as the time frame was set before the computer was made aware of any patches to repair the software. Be certain to check the timing of all meetings in order to ensure that you are not late during this time of transition.
Microsoft Windows Patch
Microsoft has released a Windows Patch to address this issue. This patch will need to be installed before March 11th to ensure that your system time will be accurate when the change occurs. However, this patch will not update your Outlook Calendar. This will be handled on the server side by the IT department. In order to avoid potential complications, it is imperative that all Concordia laptops and desktops be patched before the IT department updates the calendars.
The patch number is KB931836, and it can be installed through Windows Update or downloaded directly from the Microsoft Downloads Page.
Your personal computer:
To test your computer to see if the Daylight Savings Patch has already been applied click here: http://dst.cdes.umn.edu/
Important things to note
Outlook changes when you apply this patch, it will offset your calendar by 1 hour, which will stay offset until the server updates on March 11th. To avoid the confusion, or the waiting for Day to fix your calendar you may go Here to address it before hand
Related Articles
Correcting Calendar after DST Patch
Windows Mobile Patch
Microsoft has also released a patch for its Windows Mobile platform to address the Daylight Savings time change on mobile devices. These devices include the Palm Treo 700w, as well as any other Windows Mobile 5.0, Windows Mobile 2003, and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition smartphone or PDA. Please go to the Windows Mobile Daylight Savings Page for instructions on updating your device. Be sure to follow the correct set of instructions based on how you sync your device. There is one set of instructions for those who sync through a PC and a different set of instructions for those who use wireless sync.
Note: This patch does not address the time change issue for other mobile devices (i.e. Palm Pilots, PocketPCs prior to 2003 version). Users of Palm devices please see the section on the Palm Patch. Users of other mobile devices should check with their appropriate vendor.
Also Note: You must be using Internet Explorer to utilize the above link.
Palm Patch
Palm has now released a patch for all of its supported mobile devices. For a list of supported devices, and to download the patch please go to Palm's Daylight Saving Time Update page. If your device is no longer listed as supported by the manufacturer there may be no solution to any potential daylight savings transition issues for that device.
