Microsoft Windows systems and daylight-saving time changes in 2007

Microsoft Windows XP operating system

To be compatible with the upcoming daylight-saving time changes on the Windows platform, you must be running Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later. No earlier versions of Windows have been officially updated by Microsoft to support the changes from the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

You may notice that Exchange calendar events from the period between March 11, 2007, and April 1, 2007, are displayed with an incorrect time when viewed in Microsoft Outlook. This will not be fixed by updating Windows, but updating Windows is an important prerequisite and ITS will be announcing additional details about this shortly.

To summarize:

Please install all critical Microsoft updates* by visiting the Windows Update site (see below). You may confirm that this particular update is installed by looking for it in the "Add/Remove" Area of the Windows Control Panel. Check the box at the top called "Show Updates" and scan through the list for an update with the following title: "Update for Windows XP (KB933360)." Updated
Please contact ITS or your systems administrator about an upgrade to Windows XP if your operating system is Windows 2000 or older (or if you are unsure what version of Windows you currently have installed).
Ensure that the "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes" check box is checked.

* = Please visit this site and review the section related to IE7. If you use or need access to any RIT web-based applications that are incompatible with IE7, then please omit that critical update.

The Windows Update website can be found here: http://www.windowsupdate.com/ Microsoft's clearing house web site for all DST 2007 related information can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007/

Earlier Microsoft Windows operating systems

Unfortunately, there is no automatic update available for Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Microsoft Windows. We recommend that users of earlier versions of Windows upgrade to at least Windows XP if at all possible.

If this is not possible or feasible next week, DST updates may be applied manually. The process for this is complex, so we strongly recommend that you contact your systems administrator or the ITS HelpDesk so that the necessary changes can be applied. Our Microsoft Windows systems and daylight-saving time changes in 2007 for systems administrators page outlines the process and provides instructions for support staff.

RIT Exchange calendaring

Consult the RIT Microsoft Exchange and daylight-saving time changes in 2007 page for collected information related to the Exchange system.

The extended daylight-saving time period is:

between March 11, 2007 and April 1, 2007
between October 28, 2007 and November 4, 2007.

To minimize confusion during the extended DST period beginning in March, Microsoft also suggests following these additional steps when working with your RIT Exchange calendar:

When a meeting is organized during the extended DST period, write the correct meeting time in the subject line or the body of the message. For example: “Project planning meeting—8:30 a.m.”
Consider any calendar items in the extended DST period to be suspect. If you are not sure, verify the correct time with the organizer.

In addition, you may want to post an all-day event — repeating each day through the extended daylight-saving time period and marked with the free/busy status of "Free" — to your calendar to remind yourself of the extended daylight-saving time period.