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Your questions: “do we need to update all of our PCs and Servers for Daylight Saving Time?”

I think that I may have to change the name of my blog to the Daylight Saving Time 2007 Blog. 😉


This from a call today “do we need to update all of our PCs and Servers for Daylight Saving Time? We have operations outside the US and Canada, so do we still need to update our systems?”


In short, yes, we recommend that customers update the OS on all systems (client and server machines), especially global customers with operations that touch US and Canadian systems, or other countries with updated time zones (Australia comes to mind). Generally, if you have a business that operates mainly in an unaffected time zone you may not have a pressing need to update your systems as many customers in the US and Canada. Even in areas that are unaffected by the DST change (think Arizona, Hawaii), chances are that businesses in these areas interact with customers in other states where time zones are impacted.


For instance, if an end user outside of these new updated time zones schedules a meeting (using Outlook, for instance) that occurs during the extended DST period (e.g., between Mar 11 and April 1, 2007). The scheduler includes someone who is in or uses a time zone that has changed but has not updated their system with the Windows DST OS update. In this case, the meeting will appear correct on the scheduler’s calendar. But the may be off by an hour for the invited participant if the invitee does not have the OS updates applied. 


Overall, updating your personal computers, handheld devices and servers is a good path to follow, and we provide more info on the newly refreshed Microsoft DST 2007 site. (See here for more details.) And the updates for computers with currently supported operating systems are available now on Automatic Update. 


Another question: “why are you spending so much of your blog on this issue?”


Well, the daylight saving time change over this year is important and timely, and we want our customers and partners to be aware of the changes. Overall, it’s not just Microsoft products that are impacted, but products from many companies that reference or utilize date and time information in the applications and services.


Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, SBS, Daylight Saving Time, DST.

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Daylight saving time (DST) impacts on Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS 2003)

Sean on his Windows Small Business Server blog posted today that “there are no unique SBS 2003 updates required, although there are updates required to several SBS components (windows Server, Exchange Server, Outlook 2003, Windows SharePoint Services).”


This applies to all versions of SBS, That’s SBS RTM, SBS SP1, SBS R2, etc.


And as I said previously, please stay tuned for more information on a possible encore live event, as well as for general introduction and coverage of DST impacts: watch our Daylight Saving Time 2007 web page on Microsoft.com for more info. (Please see http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007.) 


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Outlook tip: Delay or schedule sending an email message

I wrote previously (on work-life balance) that “one manager I know is so serious about work/life balance that he all but forbids his team from sending emails late into the night (sure, there are exceptions to the rule). But he is able to live within the boundaries by responding to mail ofline after the family goes to bed and then sync’ing mail the next morning at the office.”


I admit it: after the kids go to bed, I’ll use Outlook in offline mode and answer a few mails. (I’ve even been known to respond to a few urgent ones that tend to hit my mailbox late on a Sunday night…)


Well, there’s another way to do this if you use Outlook on an Exchange Server: you can delay delivery of an individual message.


To do this in Outlook, while the message is open, click ‘Options’ and under Delivery options, click on the ‘Do not deliver before check box.’ You can then select the delivery date and time you want the mail to be sent. (This tip is also available on Office Online here, but without the lovely graphic.)


According to Office help, you can even set up rules to delay delivery of all messages by having them held in the Outbox for a specified time after clicking Send. (This is also summarized in the OO article above.)


Not a bad idea for those times I hit ‘send’ in error: no more having to ‘recall and resend’ mail.


More Office Online “Outlook 2003 Help and How-to” is available, including these tips on organizing your emails. Many of these tips also apply to Office 2007.



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Also available at http://tinyurl.com/worklife07

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Now available: WebCast on Windows 2000 updates for daylight saving time

In case you missed Jorge Lopez in the Support WebCast on Daylight Saving Time and Windows 2000, the WebCast is now available for off-line viewing here  (at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930688/en-us). In it, Jorge covers the daylight saving time (DST) changes for 2007, and we also answered a number of questions on DST in general.


Offline viewing download: If you wish to download a copy of this broadcast to your local hard drive for playing off-line, we provide this as a separate file (.zip archive) that you can download.  (http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/5/3/8535cb71-6c90-4375-87fb-8908d692cb70/wc011807.wmv.zip


And please stay tuned for more information on a possible encore live event, as well as for general introduction and coverage of DST impacts: watch our Daylight Saving Time 2007 web page on Microsoft.com for more info. (Please see http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007.)  As I said previously, this public page on the Microsoft.com site will be revised regularly to include new product updates, compatibility information and links to Knowledge Base articles.


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WebCast on DST and Windows 2000 today was a success

Kudos to our fearless presenter Jorge Lopez in the Support WebCast on Daylight Saving Time and Windows 2000. Today’s WebCast covered the daylight saving time (DST) changes for 2007 and provided an overview of the changes to Microsoft Windows 2000. From the response I think that Jorge did a very good job.


Due to the popularity of this WebCast, it will be available in on-demand and downloadable format at here. (http://support.microsoft.com/pwebcasts).


And please stay tuned for more information on a possible encore live event, as well as for general introduction and coverage of DST impacts: watch our Daylight Saving Time 2007 web page on Microsoft.com for more info. (Please see http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007.)  As I said previously, this public page on the Microsoft.com site will be revised regularly to include new product updates, compatibility information and links to Knowledge Base articles.


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