Question: I read an article (in a Canadian newspaper) recently that brings up another date problem possibility for computers. It said re: April 9, 1999, that it's the 99th day of the year and translates into an internal message of "9999" in some programs. However, 999, it claimed, means "end of file" in many programming languages and may signal a computer to permanently close its files that day. Is this some kind of a cheap thrill hoax like the hard-drive erasing e-mail fiasco or is it a genuine concern? If it is legit how do we deal with it?

-- J.T.

Answer: The story seems to have been picked up by the newspaper from a June 24 USA Today story at http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctc990.htm.

It's sourced from Y2K (that's Year 2000) guidelines published by the U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Regardless of where the information came from, simply test the machine with the date that you're worried about.

The Y2K bug is a problem with the date on computers.

Old computers and programs traditionally used a two-digit number to indicate the year.

But when the Year 2000 arrives, some systems will think that 00 refers to 1900 and not 2000. This, as you can imagine, will create all kinds of computer confusion.

"My cure-all solution to most Y2K 'problems' is to simulate them," explained Edmonton-based adviser David Peterson of Open Concept International. "Change the date in the BIOS to the offending date."

You can do this in Windows 95 or Windows 98 by double-clicking on the toolbar clock at the bottom right of the screen.

"The only problem is that if you set the date, and your computer doesn't like it, you will have to get into the BIOS to change it back."

BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is a part of the computer that includes basic settings about how the machine is set up. It contains vital information so that when the computer starts, it knows a little bit about itself.

A crude comparison would be if humans had a BIOS in their body, it would likely store information on how many legs and arms the body had, what organs were inside the body and how often to beat the heart -- information about the body so it can stay alive and perform basic life support functions.

Crucial computer data in a BIOS includes information about hard drives, date and time, etc.

You'll sometimes hear a BIOS referred to as CMOS, which refers to the chip the information sits on call a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.

Before you try any kind of testing, be sure you know how to manually get into the BIOS.

It's usually a function key command when you start up the machine and is displayed when the computer first comes on.

"If the machine boots, and doesn't cough up a lung when you try to run date-dependent applications (programs that rely on the date), then your potential Y2K problem is solved," said Peterson.

"If it does have a problem, reboot the machine, change the date back, and then look for a bug-fix solution from the software vendor."

Most software makers have Web sites that include patches that can be downloaded and installed to fix the problem.

Peterson says he has had numerous people phone him, asking about "whether a machine I sold them a year ago is Y2K compliant.

"They also ask if they should be looking at Windows 98 for a solution to Windows 95 Y2K problems."

He suggests the date change test.

"Usually they laugh because, for some reason, they never thought they could change the date on their computer.

"More often than not, the computers and programs are just fine."

Besides Peterson's help, I found most of this material by using the search terms "+April +9 +1999" at http://www.excite.com. The plus sign next to each piece of the phrase tells the search engine that the sites it finds must contain that word or, in this case, number.

There is also lots of Year 2000 bug information available at http://www.year2000.com.

If this column still doesn't fully help you with questions about computer memory or if you need personalized help with a problem, please see: Emergency Help.

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