Get Your Tech Gear Up to Date Before March 11 Daylight Savings Time Switch

Congress has lengthened daylight-saving time so that it will begin on March 11 - three weeks earlier this year than it used to. The idea is to provide more daylight hours so that people will save energy by reducing the amount of electricity they use at home.

Now try explaining that to your computer, says the Wall St. Journal. The time change may mess with functions of Microsoft, Blackberry and all sorts of electronic devices' software, which is set for the way Daylight Savings used to be.

The latest versions of Microsoft and Apple software have already received patches in automatic downloads. Those who don't allow automatic downloads or who have older versions of the operating systems will need to download patches from the companies' sites.

Back at the turn of the century, all manner of gloom and doom predictions were made about computer software. Luckily, nobody is sounding the four alarm drill this time, at least not yet. But it's a great idea to make sure your software's clock is up to date on all your devices before March 11. Do it now!

Oh joy, I hope all the charlitan Y2K consultants come back.