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If you thought you had prepared your computers for Y2K, you might
check again. Microsoft has posted over 500 changes to product's Y2K
status in the past month.
I had fixed my computers last summer so thought all was OK. But I
decided to check anyway and found a lot of problems that weren't
there last summer. Many of the problems were in DLLs that were not
previously identified as problems.
Here is what I finally figured out was the best process. I hope this
is useful to others. The experts on the list can probably improve
this process and I would welcome their inputs.
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1. Run a Virus Checker first
Download the latest virus definitions and scan your machine. I use
Norton Anti-Virus with Live Update but there are other good ones.
2. Update NT4.0 machines to Service Pack 5 or later.
There are patches for earlier service packs but they are complicated
and the wording on the Microsoft web site for the patches doesn't
sound too encouraging. I found no issued with updating to SP5. (SP6
is out but I tend to wait several months to apply new versions.)
3. Update Microsoft Office to Office2000 with Internet Explorer 5.0
While not required, this update also updates many of the DLLs used by
other applications. I did not update one of my old Win95 machines
(with Office 95) to Office2000 because of disk space limitations and
the Y2K download patches were very big - over 15 MB - but it now
shows Y2K compliant.
4. Run Internet Explorer 5.0 and run "Windows Update"
Under the "Tools" menu in Internet Explorer 5.0, you will find an
item called "Windows Update". This connects to the Microsoft site and
analyzes your machine for needed updates. It will list "Critical
Updates", "Recommended Updates" and several other categories. Most of
the Critical Updates will be security patches which you should
download. This process is automatic and works very well.
5. Download and run the Microsoft Y2K Product Analyzer
Download this from:
<http://computingcentral.msn.com/guide/year2000/msy2k/learningmore/ana
lyzer.asp>
Get the new version even if you have downloaded it before as there
are many changes. You could possible just update the data base but I
just downloaded the whole thing again to be sure.
You run this and it tells you the Y2K status of all the Microsoft OS
and Microsoft applications on your machine. The results are displayed
in the web browser so you need to be connected to the Internet for
patches. Some items will be listed as "Compliant (prerequisite
required)". This appears to be Microsoft-speak for "not compliant".
Select the first item on the list then click on the link provided to
go to the web page that describes the issue. Read it if you want but
you can just scan the page to get to the place where you download the
patch.
6. Download and install the patch for that one item
The patch may update more than one thing so you need to follow the
instructions. The process is slightly different for some patches so
follow the instructions.
7. Reboot your machine and run the Microsoft Y2K Product Analyzer again
The item you patched should now be listed as compliant. Since each
patch may update more than one item, the new list may have fewer
non-compliant items.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 over and over until everything is compliant.
9. Now check your machine for Internet security
Go to Steve Gibson's "Shields Up" web page at:
<http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2>
and check you machine. Unless you have a dedicated IP address, you
should download the "Free IP Agent" before doing the test. There are
two tests:
Test My Shields!
Probe My Ports!
Run both and look at the results. First check to see that the IP
address that it reports is your correct IP address. If not, get the
"Free IP Agent" (since it is not testing your machine).
If your machine is setup with the Microsoft defaults, you will be
shocked at how vulnerable you are.
Read the stuff of his web page to understand how Microsoft has
everything linked to everything as defaults and then print and read
his directions for how to fix it. It requires changing the bindings
in the "Network" control panel which is complicated but easy to do if
you follow the instructions exactly.
Run the test again to see the improvements.
10. Install a Firewall (Optional)
Step 9 above helps a lot but your security can be improved a lot with
a firewall. I use BlackICE available at:
<http://www.networkice.com/>
If you install this and then retest at "Shields Up" you will find
much improved security.
BlackICE also logs attacks so you can see how often someone is
scanning your machine for open ports.
11. Update other applications
I ran Norton2000 to check other applications. It provides a Live
Update facility to get the latest data base but it seems to be behind
the Microsoft data on Microsoft products. It checks your machine
BIOS, and all common files for two-digit dates so will show lots of
potential problems. Most of this was not new information for me. Only
the Microsoft applications seem to have changed a lot since summer.
As we all know the latest release of TradeStation 4.0 is build 24.
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Hope this is useful.
Suggestions for improvements in this process are very welcome.
Bob Fulks
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