Home users donΓÇÖt escape the effects of the millennium bug because all but the most recent PCs will have problems handling the new century. ItΓÇÖs not just a software issue - thereΓÇÖs a millennium bug in the computer itself. The problem is that the Bios chip and the internal clock, two devices which together control the most fundamental aspects of a PCΓÇÖs operation, donΓÇÖt always agree on the date.
One of the jobs of the Bios is to pick up the date from the PCΓÇÖs battery-operated clock and pass the information to Dos or Windows every time the PC is booted up. In this way PCs keep track of time even when theyΓÇÖre not turned on. Unfortunately, the majority of Bios chips and clocks cannot handle the transition to the new century correctly and although a PC will happily tick over into the new century while it is switched on, when you restart the PC the Bios does not recognise the year 2000, gets confused, and resets the date to the Bios default of 4 Jan 1980.
