Daylight Saving Time FAQ

The following Daylight Saving Time (DST) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is provided for your utilization.

Q: What is the issue with Daylight Saving Time (DST)?

A: The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub.L. 109-58) is a statute that was passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. The bill amends the Uniform Time Act of 1966 by changing the start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time (DST) from 2007. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time (DST) will be extended in the United States. Daylight Saving Time (DST) will start on March 11, 2007, which is three weeks earlier than usual, and it will end on November 4, 2007, which is one week later than usual. This results in a new Daylight Saving Time (DST) period that is four weeks longer than in previous years. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.

Q: What are the symptoms of the Daylight Saving Time (DST) issues?

A: Time-based events will be one-hour off, including:

• Calendar events and reminders
• Appointments
• Home screen time

On 4/2/07, the start of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in previous years, all events will display normally again.

All other functionality will work normally

Q: Do I have to update my computer or laptop Microsoft operating system?

A: If you use Windows Vista or have Automatic Updates turned on, you may not be affected by the change in daylight saving time.

Q: What happens if I use multiple computers and if not all the computers are updated?

A: Particular attention should be paid when you use a combination of updated and non-updated computers. Appointments that are created by using non-updated time zone information and then are viewed on an updated computer will be incorrect during three weeks in the spring (March 11, 2007 to April 1, 2007) and during one week in the fall (October 28, 2007 to November 4, 2007). You must manually change these calendar items in order to update these appointments. Additionally, if you later create other single-instance appointments on the updated computer, the Time Zone Data Update Tool is likely to try to incorrectly update them also.