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Most Health Science Center employees use a computer or other electronic equipment that depends on an internal time and date clock.

This year’s change to daylight-saving time (DST) on March 11 is different from previous years because Congress voted to start DST three weeks earlier this year and end it one week later on Nov. 4. “This is a problem because most electronic equipment being used today was programmed to operate using the old DST dates,” explained Dr. Frank Stafford, director of computing resources.

A team of 20 employees from the computing resources, telecommunications and networking, and integrated management information systems departments have been working diligently to correct potential malfunctions. “We have installed software patches on most campus computer workstations to recognize the new DST dates. In addition, we have attempted to correct Exchange electronic calendars used by many on campus for the extended DST period. However, this Microsoft-provided tool is not perfect,” Stafford said. “Double-check your electronic calendars for the extended DST period of March 11 to April 1,” Stafford continued.

For other equipment and mobile devices, check with your departmental technical support representative (TSR) or your equipment vendor to make sure your device is prepared for this new DST change.

Personal computers
“Don’t forget to check your own computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) at home to make sure they are patched,” Stafford said.

∙ For Microsoft-based computers go to update.microsoft.com and select the DST patch. Many computers may have already received the patch via Microsoft’s AutoUpdate feature.

∙For Apple Mac computers, first launch “softwareupdate” and then launch “Microsoft autoupdater for Office 2004.”

Turn your clock forward
And don’t forget to set your clocks at home forward one hour before going to bed on Saturday night or you may be late to work Monday morning.

If you have any questions or concerns about your Health Science Center equipment, contact your department’s TSR or the triage help desk at 210-567-2069 or triage@uthscsa.edu.