When do you
need to be concerned about personal files that have dates entered
with two (rather than four) digits for the year? Of particular
importance are any files that use dates that will later be involved
in some type of calculation. This might include financial
spreadsheets, database files, or any file in which a specific date
triggers something important to happen.
As a rule of thumb,
it is best to consistently use four-digit years in all files that
are important to you or to others. Since two-digit year
shortcuts risk inaccurate interpretation, many
risks can be eliminated by changing the way that you specify dates.
In summary, getting ready for the year 2000 means that you
will need to consider ALL the parts of your computer system: its
hardware, software, and personal (data) files.
Now that
we've explained HOW the year 2000 challenge may affect personal
computers, let's develop a plan for you and your own PC.
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