saturday the 13th, the elkhart pc users group in northern indiana hosted a free clinic to test and fix home computers for y2k. a total of 27 were tested, all failed at least one hardware test. 22 had their computer fixed for free, but they had to buy the $50 Fix2000 software package that we were using, from intelliquis. actually, 2 computers were from churches, one belonged to an obstetrician. 5 people said they will fix on their own as they didn't have any money with them that day.

it was fun, hardware and OS was the focus. we had 286s, 386s, up to new pentiums. also half a dozen people still using DOS or windows 3.1. they were thrilled with the results. why don't more groups do this?

the 2nd meeting was on sunday at my church. about 100 attended. being a mennonite church, it was fairly sedate. there was good panel discussion of endtimes theology, but the panel didn't address realistic readiness, as the program had promised. audience questions made it clear that they wanted answers on personal preparedness. there's a long ways to go yet, obviously. i saw that people were in various stages of anxiety, more than the panel was prepared for. the head of communications for mennonite disaster services wasn't there, but he at least has a clue, as i've determined from talking to him. there are supposed to be more panels in future, hopefully they will improve.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 15, 1999

Answers

I'm sure you mean well, but I wouldn't do this. There are basically four things to worry about: RTC (real time clock), BIOS (basic input output system), operating system (Win95, Win98, DOS, etc) and the application software. There can be (and often are) issues at every level. Most of these package fixes only deal with the BIOS (and indirectly with the RTC). The OB/GYN guy may think he has no further problems when in fact his Win95 op system and Excel spreadsheet are about to be morbid. He won't be happy and theoretically could sue you for falsely advising him that his system was "fixed". Download fixes for Windows from (2 FILES W95FILUP.EXE AND WIN95Y2K.EXE): http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/LNP195.asp

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), March 15, 1999.

Download fixes for Windows from (2 FILES W95FILUP.EXE AND WIN95Y2K.EXE): Downl oad Fixes

-- Mr. Kennedy (getit@the.link), March 15, 1999.

I would like to cover several points that have concerned people about my wife's posting.

First, the software we used does the most complete testing of the hardware that I have found. Fix 2000 Pro meets the British and International standards for Y2K, unlike most fixes sold in the USA. Second, we checked to see if the person had Windows 95, 98,NT 3.51, or NT 4.0 and loaded the most current patches from Microsoft's web page that were downloaded that morning. The patches were copied to their hard drive and then installed.

Third, we in no way warrantied that software, it comes with its own warranty so we were only installing it. That was stated clearly before the software was installed, each and every time.

Fourth, the Elkhart PC Users Group did this, not a private person or business. They can come and get EPCUG if they want. Our total treasury is less than $2,000 so they will not get much.

Fifth, and last, the person was given the disk(s) for the checking software with the manual. They were told that they could check their own software applications as we would not do so. IF they do not, then it is their problem not ours.

I will repeat a quote that my late father used often, "Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed." We tried to work on the ignorance part of the Y2K problem.

-- Jon Slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 16, 1999.

This mentality is part of the problem, "don't fix anything, you may get sued". You did a service to the community, keep up the great work.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), March 16, 1999.