# Is Windows going to auto-update Daylight Savings Time wrong this year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201 "2005-08-08T22:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/1 "2005-08-08T22:39:59Z")
Twice a year, Windows pops up a little window informing me that Daylight Savings Time has gone into effect (or lapsed) and would I like it to update the clock for me? Now that Congress has extended DST, is Windows going to be screwed up, or does it get the DST information from a time server somewhere or something? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/2 "2005-08-08T22:43:01Z")
No, because the mandated change to daylight savings time doesn’t take place this year but next. This will be corrected by a fairly trivial patch. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/3 "2005-08-08T22:51:02Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > No, because the mandated change to daylight savings time doesn’t take place this year but next. This will be corrected by a fairly trivial patch. > **[An Overview of Daylight Saving Time and How It Works](https://www.thoughtco.com/daylight-saving-time-1433455)** > > Daylight Saving Time was created as a way to save energy. Learn more about why and when we spring forward and fall back. “August 8, 2005 Update: President Bush signed into law the Energy Policy Act, which extends Daylight Saving Time (DST) by four weeks from the second Sunday of March to end on the first Sunday of November. Extended Daylight Saving Time will begin in March 2007. See below for the new “spring forward, fall back” dates for the next few years” ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/4 "2005-08-08T23:36:10Z")
However, it sounds to me like you’re running Windows 95/98/Me, yes? At least, I don’t think that Windows 2000/XP have that popup. If that’s the case, I’m not sure if Microsoft will still be patching the OS by then. It will also cause problems for Canadians (or South Americans running an English version of Windows). They’re going to have to be sure that Windows knows they are not in the U.S., so that they _don’t_ get the new DST change dates. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/5 "2005-08-09T04:03:07Z")
Microsoft will have to jigger up a patch to add Canadian time zones since they’ll presumably stay with the current schedule. If they can already cope with the eccentricities of Arizona and some parts of Indiana, making a GMT-8:00 US Pacific Time and a GMT-8:00 Canada Pacific split should be trivial. The whammy will be everything else that’s Daylight Savings-aware. Thermostats, VCRs, traffic signals, elevators, fax machines, etc. Essentially, this will be a pico-Y2K, (not a mini-, not even a micro-Y2K) but this time, the threat will be trivial. About the worst will be faxes going out with the timestamp off by an hour, or elevator systems not “homing” enough elevators to the lobby to handle everyone going to their offices in the morning for a couple of weeks. Really, really minor stuff. Banks should be entirely unaffected - we run our servers on CUT (coordinated universal time, formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time) so they’re unaffected by Daylight Savings or time zones. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/6 "2005-08-09T04:13:55Z")
Microsoft already has three Canada-specific time zones - Newfoundland, Atlantic, and CST-Saskatchewan. They’ll need to add 4 more though, assuming that Canadian governments don’t harmonize with the new US policy. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/7 "2005-08-09T09:05:05Z")
It’s a hell of a thing when someone fucks with the clocks, isn’t it? I’m honestly interested to see if this new law survives to March 2007 unchanged. If the DST rules can be changed by Congress, they can be changed _back_ by Congress just as easily. As for patches: [Here is the official MS lifecycle page.](http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/8 "2005-08-09T10:12:52Z")
How about our VCRs? Do we all have to disable the auto DST feature? ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/9 "2005-08-09T11:05:12Z")
[grammar nazi] Windows doesn’t do anything “wrong”. Wrong **ly** , almost certainly. Incorrectly, definitely. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/10 "2005-08-09T14:37:20Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Microsoft will have to jigger up a patch to add Canadian time zones since they’ll presumably stay with the current schedule. If they can already cope with the eccentricities of Arizona and some parts of Indiana, making a GMT-8:00 US Pacific Time and a GMT-8:00 Canada Pacific split should be trivial. Minor nit, but Indiana now observes daylight savings time, or at least NPR told me the legislation finally passed. On the other hand, Hawaii does not observe dst and from what I’ve read, Maine is looking to change its time zone to be the Atlantic Time Zone (1 hour later than Eastern). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/11 "2005-08-09T14:42:53Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > [grammar nazi] > > Windows doesn’t do anything “wrong”. > > Wrong **ly** , almost certainly. Incorrectly, definitely. No, you could most certainly argue that it’s a noun. “Did you do something wrongly?” That doesn’t work; the question isn’t asking if something you did was done in a wrong manner. You did _wrong_. Windows, then, does lots of things wrongly, but it also does a lot of things wrong. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/12 "2005-08-09T22:43:57Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > Minor nit, but Indiana now observes daylight savings time, or at least NPR told me the legislation finally passed. On the other hand, Hawaii does not observe dst and from what I’ve read, Maine is looking to change its time zone to be the Atlantic Time Zone (1 hour later than Eastern). It’s true that the law passed, but it hasn’t taken effect yet. To make things a little more complicated, the part of the US Dept. of Transportation that actually has the authority to make the change has not yet held a hearing on the matter. We will almost certainly go on DST, but some of the details are still up in the air. Our governor (who recently also gained the title of Shogun) wants to have DOT time hearings in each county, but the DOT says there won’t be that many. The political show in Indiana may not be as entertaining as some other states, but it isn’t dull. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/13 "2005-08-10T00:59:19Z")
[grammar nazi] It’s daylight _saving_ time. [/grammar nazi] ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/14 "2005-08-10T19:35:37Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Banks should be entirely unaffected - we run our servers on CUT (coordinated universal time, formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time)… Another nitpick - Coordinated Universal Time is abbreviated as “UTC.” ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/15 "2005-08-10T19:36:50Z")
And while I’m at it, UTC is not “formerly known as GMT,” it’s what replaced GMT. The technical details are very different, and GMT can vary from UTC by as much as one second either direction. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-windows-going-to-auto-update-daylight-savings-time-wrong-this-year/316201/16 "2005-08-12T02:42:06Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > And while I’m at it, UTC is not “formerly known as GMT,” it’s what replaced GMT. The technical details are very different, and GMT can vary from UTC by as much as one second either direction. What, you mean a _whole_ second? 😃