Get ready to set your clocks ahead earlier this year because daylight savings, usually on the first Sunday in April, will begin earlier on March 11th. This change is expected to cause issues with computers and devices that automatically adjust their time. In 2005, an energy bill passed by President Bush will start daylight savings time three weeks earlier and end one week later. The change will hopefully cause a savings in the amount of energy used throughout the year.

If you are running Windows operating system, you will have to download the update (if your computer is not set up for automatic updates) and install it on your PC. If you use any operating system older than the most recent version of Windows XP Service Pack 2, you will have to manually change it since the older Microsoft OS’s are no longer supported. To manually make the change, do the following:

1) Right click the time in the bottom right hand corner of your screen
2) Select Adjust Date/Time
3) Uncheck the box that says “Automatically adjust clock for daylight savings changes”
4) When March 11th rolls around, you will have to manually make the change to the time

The change may affect also other devices. If you still use a VCR to record your favorite shows, you may have to manually change the time. Watches that automatically adjust during daylight savings may be affected. Any technology using the time and date, could potentially be affected.

For the average computer user, this is no big deal and life can continue on as usual. There may be some minor inconveniences, but be aware of it and verify everything scheduled in your Outlook Calendar or any other device that automatically adjusts to the time change. I honestly can’t wait, because I like having the extra light in the evening. More time to play outside and get away from the computer and TV for a while.

To learn more about the Microsoft update, click here.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836