Daylight saving time change: What your PC needs to know
Daylight saving time signed a change-of-address form, packing up its old home on the first weekend in April for the pre-spring locale of the second Sunday in March. With modern operating systems adjusting the time automagically, the shift to an earlier DST means your computer needs to be (or may already have been) informed of the change. For users of Vista, updates have already been applied to compensate for the change. XP systems with automatic updates turned on should be OK as well but, if you're still using Windows ME, 98 or 95 you'll need to manually update your clock (and then manually re-adjust when the OS changes your time for you on the old date). Oddly, Microsoft's own advisory on the DST change makes no mention of Windows 2000, or Microsoft server environments.
For Mac users, Apple's auto update system should have taken care of things already. If you're paranoid (like me) and want to check things for yourself, Mac OSX Hints has published a great guide on making the changes required for the new date which, given OSX's Unix underpinnings, is also valid for Linux users. Taking a few minutes now to make sure you're all set for the switch will save you any embarrassing moments come March 11.
