Here are some quick and easy tips to help your computer system make a smooth transition into the new century.
- Change Regional Settings in Windows Control Panel
(For Windows 95 and 98)
Change the Short Date style in Regional Settings to a format that uses four digits to represent the year. (Any option that includes "yyyy" is fine.) This will ensure the display of fully distinguished dates in Windows, as well as in the software programs that use the default Windows Regional Settings to determine their display of dates.
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- Use Four-Digit Years
Make it a habit to use four digit years when entering dates in your personal data files, particularly for dates that might be used in tracking or calculations. Check that important shared documents and spreadsheets also have dates that are specified with four-digit years.
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- Get Excel's date migration tools. (They're free!)
Download the date migration add-in tools for Microsoft Excel 97 to help fix dates in older spreadsheets or to monitor date entries as you currently work. The Date Fix Wizard, Date Migration Wizard and Date Watch Wizard are all available from Microsoft at: http://support.microsoft.com/support
/kb/articles/Q176/9/43.asp.
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- Change the way Word 95 and 97 display dates
If you enter dates using the "Date and Timeà" dialog box, specify a style that will display four-digit years. To do this, choose the "Date and Timeà" dialog box from the "Insert" menu, select an option that includes "yyyy" for the year, click the "Default" button, and then click "OK" to close the dialog box and accept the changes.
If you insert dates using the "Fieldà" dialog box, you can also select a format display with four-digit years by clicking "Optionsà" from within the "Fieldà" dialog box.
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- Change the way Excel 95 and 97 display dates
Change the way that dates are displayed in Excel so that 4-digit years are always shown.
To do this, change the Short Date format in the Windows Regional Settings (in the Windows Control Panel) to an option that includes 4-digits for the year. (Any option that includes "yyyy" is fine.) Changing the date display for Windows will allow you to see the fully distinguished year (with its century) for each date that appears in Excel's spreadsheets.
You can also change the date display for specific cells of a spreadsheet directly in Excel. To do this, choose a date format with a four-digit year on the "Number" section of the "Cellsà" dialog box (located on Excel's "Format" menu).
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- Make sure dates are entered with four-digit years in Access 97
In Access 97, the best way to ensure that dates correctly specify the century is to create an Input Mask that allows only a four-digit year to be entered. For instructions on how to create an Input Mask in Access 97, see question # 30 in the Frequently Asked Questions document.
It is also a good idea to change the way that Access displays dates. This can be done by making sure that the Windows Regional Settings specify dates with four-digit years, or by choosing Format properties for date fields (in Tables, Queries, Forms, and Reports) directly within Access.
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- Download tip:
Get help on how to do it!
If you choose to download a software update from the Web, read the instructions on how to download software in the Frequently Asked Questions document on this site. See question # 23 for step-by-step downloading instructions.
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- Download tip:
Create a desktop folder
Any time you plan to download a software update from the Web to install on your PC, download the items you need into a folder that is located directly on your Windows desktop. This will allow you to easily find what you need to install at a later date.
For specific instructions on how to how to create a desktop folder for downloading software, see question # 24 in the Frequently Asked Questions document.
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