Hardware

The first thing you should do when you start looking at your Year 2000 status is to check your hardware. Even the most compliant piece of software will probably not perform correctly on a non-compliant machine.

In general, there are three categories of hardware:

1. Fully compliant systems will be able to complete the rollover to the year 2000 without any help.
2. Some systems may need to have their clocks manually set once after the new year, but will then operate without any problems. It is also possible to run a small program that will do this for you.
3. Completely non-compliant systems cannot be set to the year 2000, or will not retain the setting. In most cases, this means you will need to replace your hardware.

In order to verify the status of your hardware, there are two steps you should take. First, you should check the web page of your computer's vendor. A list of common vendors with their Year 2000 pages can be found below. You may also want to check the vendors of other parts to your computer, such as storage devices and printers, especially if they did not come with your computer.

Second, you can use a Year 2000 testing program to verify that your hardware is Y2K compatible. Once again, some common testing programs can be found below.

Vendors

• PC Year 2000 Alliance - Acer, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard, IBM, NEC, Packard Bell, Toshiba, and BIOS manufacturers American Megatrends and Phoenix.
• Apple
• Intel
• Iomega
• Motorola
• SUN
• Unisys

Tests

• How to test your Macintosh - from Apple
• YMark 2000 - NSTL's Year 2000 Testing Program
• Virtual Labs - from ZDNet, allows you to test your Windows 95 or 98 computer online, without rebooting.
• Test2000.Exe - from RighTime
• Holmes Fix - If your computer needs help setting the system clock once it reaches the year 2000, you may want to run Holmes Fix.