In 2005, Congress passed the
Energy Policy Act, amending the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that first established DST. According to the new rules, DST starts on the first Sunday in March (March 11, this year), and ends on the first Sunday of November (Nov. 4, this year), instead of the last Sunday of October as it did before. This four-week-longer DST is the new status quo for the U.S. and Canada. Mexico will not be affected.
The DST changes will also impact the time zone settings on computers' internal clocks. Not updating a system could mean that programs will be an hour off. Interactions of one system or device with another, whose time settings don't match, could result in all kinds of difficulties. This issue is especially critical for many automated products, as well as devices that perform transaction logging, historical and current date tracking, and other date-sensitive operations.
Windows Embedded OSes that were released before 2005 have the old DST rules hardwired in, so it's important to update devices running these OSes to avoid potentially serious problems.
Here are some of the ways to update these devices to avoid potentially serious problems:
- Windows XP Embedded -- For updating Windows XP Embedded-based devices, a patch was bundled with Microsoft's December 2006 XPe security update to handle the DST change. According to a blog post by developer Andy Allred on the XPe team blog, the Windows XPe DST patch can be obtained from the company's OEM secure site. "The XPe componentized update for the DST change was made available in the February 2007 rollup of updates from WinSE and can be downloaded from the ECE portal; when logged into the portal you can download directly from this link to 'February 2007' under the Windows XPe updates page," writes Allred.
- Windows CE -- For updating Windows CE-based devices, Microsoft offers step-by-step instructions on how to update DST settings for Windows CE here.
- Windows Mobile -- For Windows Mobile devices, similar guidance is available here.
For more information, you may wish to review our
prior coverage of the issue.
According to Microsoft, technical support services are standing by to help Windows customers prepare for the change. Among these services are a Q & A blog on the most common DST problems on
MSDN Blogs and
TechNet, daily
chat rooms, and
daily updates on matters affecting Windows DST updates.
Further details on adapting Microsoft's desktop, server, and embedded OSes to the new DST regulations are available on the company's special
DST page.
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