Check Your Computer for Problems with Time Change

As you may already know, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the dates for Daylight Savings Time, which will happen this year on March 11 instead of in April. A hat tip to both Balanced Legal Solutions and Paul Wagner for alerting me to the unexpected problems this could cause users of common software programs like Outlook, TimeMatters, etc. as well as Windows Operating Systems.

Since this change extends the beginning of Daylight Saving Time by three weeks and the end by one week, if you rely on calendar features in any of your technology - computer, Blackberry, Palm, Trio, etc., - the features you rely on (such as prompts for appointments) will not be reliable. And, according to Paul, "...all Outlook Events will shift and span two days because events are associated with 24 specific hours rather than with an individual date."

You can find information on how to update some of these programs at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst If you have other software that you think may be affected, contact the company ASAP and find out how to fix it.